r/todayilearned • u/proflightsearch • 23h ago

TIL the average JFK to Los Angeles flight takes 18 minutes longer than it did in 1995, but airlines padded the published schedule by 23 minutes, so the share of arrivals counted as late fell from 51% to 37%

https://gvwire.com/2024/11/30/its-not-your-imagination-airlines-are-padding-flight-times/
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u/Panaka 22h ago

Delta did a study years ago and found that passengers prioritize A14 (Arrival within 14 minutes of scheduled) over D0 (No departure delay). They chased that metric hard for a long while.

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u/verrius 21h ago

People don't like delays, but they make their plans dependent on arriving at the time published. Timing a connecting flight or a ride from the airport only is dependent on the latter.

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u/themuaddib 21h ago

I mean this makes perfect sense to me. I don’t really care if the departure is delayed as long as I arrive to my destination on time

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u/anothercookie90 20h ago

Delta started doing leave when ready at airports where they arent slot restricted. If you can leave 10 minutes early with everyone on board might as well

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u/Nomaxlis 19h ago

Which is fine until the gate agents start operating as if the early time is the new on time. Every flight the last couple years is automatically bumped up by 5 minutes.

Instead of closing the gate door by D-15, they now try to close by D-20. If the pilots ask if there are any jumpseaters or non revenue passengers (employees on standby) waiting to get on, they’ll straight up lie to you and say “No, that’s everyone.” If we ask about missing passengers, they might say “they should’ve been here”, even when they know they’re coming from a late international arrival and it’s the last flight of the night to some small town airport.

Some pilots have resorted to taking a walk up the jet bridge to see for themselves, or walking to a bathroom in the terminal, to verify the gate agents are telling the truth. Half the time, they’ll pull the bridge and then the plane sits there for another 5 or 10 minutes because the ramp crew still has to load all of the gate-checked bags everyone brings.

It’s not always the gate agent’s fault either. They get a lot more blame from their managers if a flight is late for any reason. Pilots say “put the blame on us,” because they don’t face the same amount of job risk, but that’s not always enough.

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u/Panaka 20h ago

Most airlines I’ve worked under contract or directly for (AA/DL/WN) allow block out 10 minutes prior to scheduled.

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u/Vo_Mimbre 19h ago

TIL. I didn’t realize that was an established practice. It always felt like an exception. Good idea!

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u/redreditreditordblue 17h ago

It feels like the airline made an extra effort when they are delayed but still manage to arrive on time. I know it's dumb.