DeltaMD90 From United States of America, joined Apr 2008, 5375 posts, RR: 47 Posted (2 years 10 months 1 week 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 2601 times:
It's no secret that airlines will "pad" schedules (like allotting 1:30 for a 0:30 hour flight) and it's in a way, kind of deceptive. But from a customer stand point, I think it's better. When someone plans a flight, the departure time and arrival time are very important--you block off that time and expect to be at your destination at the scheduled time. Is it not better for the airlines to pad the schedule (to make them look better) and actually get to your destination on time (or early) than it is for them to be completely honest, you get a 30 minute delay, and miss your connection? Or is the big problem extreme padding?
tdscanuck From Canada, joined Jan 2006, 12709 posts, RR: 80 Reply 1, posted (2 years 10 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 2543 times:
Quoting DeltaMD90 (Thread starter): It's no secret that airlines will "pad" schedules (like allotting 1:30 for a 0:30 hour flight) and it's in a way, kind of deceptive.
I don't think it's deceptive at all...they're trying to nail down the true gate-to-gate time, which is what passengers actually care about and what determines the pace of flights. The actual flight time may only be a small part of the trip time, especially for congested airports and/or very short flights.
Soxfan From United States of America, joined Mar 2008, 854 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (2 years 10 months 1 week 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 2527 times:
Correct, especially when flights are delayed. A slightly-delayed departure could still mean an on-time arrival, enabling connecting passengers to transition to their next flight without a problem. (It may also help with airline on-time statistics, but I think this is secondary.)
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pilotpip From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 3084 posts, RR: 12 Reply 3, posted (2 years 10 months 1 week 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 2485 times:
Airlines have historical data to give an average time for the flight. It makes more sense to add time during busy periods where you might be affected by enroute flow or waiting for a gate on the ground.
What makes less sense is people giving themselves only 30 minutes to make a connection in extremely busy airports like ORD and ATL.
dxing From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 4, posted (2 years 10 months 1 week 10 hours ago) and read 2213 times:
Quoting pilotpip (Reply 3): What makes less sense is people giving themselves only 30 minutes to make a connection in extremely busy airports like ORD and ATL.
That would be considered and "illegal" connect for most airlines.
Quoting pilotpip (Reply 3): Airlines have historical data to give an average time for the flight. It makes more sense to add time during busy periods where you might be affected by enroute flow or waiting for a gate on the ground.
Yep. A quick check of schedules would probably show varying published times for the same city pairs.
DocLightning From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 16935 posts, RR: 57 Reply 5, posted (2 years 10 months 1 week 7 hours ago) and read 2183 times:
Padding also allows an airline to make up for late ops earlier in the day.
If you build 10 minutes into each block, and the aircraft flies six legs that day, then you have gained up to an hour "free" to catch back up if there's an unforseen delay.
dxing From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (2 years 10 months 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2022 times:
Quoting DocLightning (Reply 5): Padding also allows an airline to make up for late ops earlier in the day.
If you build 10 minutes into each block, and the aircraft flies six legs that day, then you have gained up to an hour "free" to catch back up if there's an unforseen delay.
Except it's not really done that way or for that reason. Padding will be used based on historical taxi times, enroute times, and several other operational reasons but using your formula you've got an airplane at rest for an extra hour a day and an airplane at rest is not generating revenue. Block time also represents other things inside the airline that have to be accounted for. If there is an unforseen delay the ac will either be swapped or just run late.
Mir From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 19813 posts, RR: 56 Reply 7, posted (2 years 10 months 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 1997 times:
Quoting dxing (Reply 4): Quoting pilotpip (Reply 3):
What makes less sense is people giving themselves only 30 minutes to make a connection in extremely busy airports like ORD and ATL.
That would be considered and "illegal" connect for most airlines.
DL has offered me tight connections like that through ATL. I took it once - it was the only option that fit into my schedule - and it worked out alright. But I certainly wasn't banking on making it.
Quoting DocLightning (Reply 5): Padding also allows an airline to make up for late ops earlier in the day.
If you build 10 minutes into each block, and the aircraft flies six legs that day, then you have gained up to an hour "free" to catch back up if there's an unforseen delay.
And therein also lies the downside of padding - if you schedule flights for more time than you really need, eventually you lose out on the opportunity to fly an extra leg with that airplane, meaning a loss of potential revenue.
Ultimately, it's a balance, and the airlines are pretty good about knowing how much time to add on for each flight. And there's really nothing deceptive about it at all - how often do you go on a car trip and say "hey, let's allow ourselves an extra half hour for traffic"? Same thing.
-Mir
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sancho99504 From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 527 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (2 years 10 months 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1638 times:
Case in point, I took DL1114 GSP-ATL with a block time of 1:08 for a 30 minute flight. STD 1645 STA 1753 ATD1642 ATA 1735. DL4993 ATL-OKC STD 2142 ATD 2142 STA 2300 ATA 2233 for a block time of 2:18 with a flight time of 1:51. Thats a lot of wasted time for each aircraft thats padded like that.....
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