Airline on-time arrival question
 

We recently flew from Houston to Charlotte on a United 737. I noticed the left engine cowl was up and mechanics were peering into it. Our captain came on and told us we had to de-plane and wait inside the terminal as the mechanics were going to test the engine. OK, we got off and waited. Meanwhile a gate attendant told me it was an oil leak. All fixed we took off an hour late but still made it into Charlotte within 10 minutes of the scheduled arrival time. My question: How can the airline make up nearly an hour in a 2.5 hour trip?

Oops! I just realized I posted this in the wrong forum.

My just slightly educated answer is that you got lucky on air currents and they probably “kicked it up a notch” I believe that they try and fly a bit conservatively to keep fuel economy in check most of the time. They probably spent extra on fuel to keep the schedule.

The friendly skys.....
 

Hi 911 Dad,

I'm a veteran S.W. business traveler, they build in a buffer so that they can almost always report an 'on-time' record against their competitors....who do the same thing.

BTW: When there is a delay, I amuse myself with asking as many flight/gate/airline employees what the delay is. I NEVER ever get the same answer. They make up their standard B.S. loosely based on rumor or pure fiction. They just want to get rid of me. I also happen to be a pilot, my favorite is when they try to pass some mechanical BS off on me.

What's particularly annoying? I am signed on for email flight updates, can't tell you the number of times I've gotten to a gate only to find the flight, hours late, due to a late departure from say, Pittsburgh. They've known for hours but don't update customers. This keeps people from booking alternate flights.

Sigh, all this said, SW is the least offensive by far, don't get me started on Delta.....SmileWavy

Same thing heading to LGA this past Monday.

Pretty much they just put the pedal to the metal and haul ass.

When you take off on time they are not cruising at their top end.

They are going 55 when they are capable of 80.

But going 80 all the time burns a **** load more fuel so......

All the “trip” times have a lot of fudge built into them. One reason involves the on time arrival statistics that consumer groups pay attention to. The other reason there are so many factors that make up a trips on time success, a degrade in one of them can cause ripples system wide. Sort of a built in protection.
On a side note, some crews actually slow the process down to increase their pay. They get paid in :15 incruments. So if they can leave the gate early and arrive 10 minutes later, they remain in the “window” but receive and extra 1/4 hours of pay. Multiple that by the 4-6 legs we fly daily that gives us 1.5 hrs more pay.

1 word

hyperdrive!

:D

Some airlines pad schedules more than others. Delta pads big time. I believe they pay more for airport services, since there's more downtime at the gates, but in the long run, they're able to be on-time more often and avoid ancillary costs when late/missed connections.

I always know when I take the first flight of the day with Delta that I’ll be in super early. Having flown them all I love Delta, with the Diamond status to prove it.

The schedules/timetables are based on historic values based on time of day and calendar day. Airport arrival/departure times also make a big difference and which way they are taking off and landing does at well. As an example, if you depart ATL and head to LGA at 5:00pm on a Friday, that will be blocked at @3:05. The key word is "Blocked". That is what you see on your ticket/schedule. Actual flight time between those two city pairs is usually only 2:10. So they are adjusting for taxi time during the heavier demand, bad weather, etc. So if your 5 pm flight was delayed and you now depart at 7pm when there is less taxi time, etc, then could arrive :45 minutes faster than the original block time if that makes sense. Pilots really cant fly that much faster than planned mach anyway. Maybe a bit, but not really enough to make that big of a difference. And in some cases, its just plain luck. Taking off to the west, flying west and then landing to the west will decrease the block time by :30 by itself.

Thanks guys for the explainations. Block time and fudge factor makes a lot of sense. The pilot didn't waste any time in CLT, landed with authority, put us on the ends of our seat belts and made the first turnoff. Also, CLT is pretty quiet by 10pm.

The comments about time make sense to me now.
I often fly from Det(Dtw) to Fort Lauderdale.
The flight route always goes over Tampa...where they announce the start of the descent. Then all the way down the gulf before crossing back over the state to land at FLL.
A total of 40 minutes from descent to landing. Easily could be 20 minutes shorter.

could be speed.
could be the route changed.
most likely speed