Early arrivals and a lower number of delays should make airplane travel less stressful for passengers, but there’s a catch. In exchange for these improvements, you’re actually spending more time on board the plane. Airlines have been padding their schedules by increasing flight times, which helps them ensure that they’re able to arrive on time or even earlier than scheduled.
What Exactly Is Schedule Padding?
Airlines adding extra time to flights is known as schedule padding. All airlines do it to some extent, which helps them account for factors, such as inclement weather or needed repairs, that might cause delays. This has become more common during the past 20 years, especially as a way for airlines to improve their on-time performance rates. Padding also helps airlines stay on schedule as much as possible while also dealing with increasing congestion on tarmacs.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Schedule Padding?
Improved On-Time Performance Rates
Longer flights mean that planes tend to arrive early or at least land on time if they encounter any delays. For airlines that focus their efforts in on time perfornace (usually legacy carriers since low cost carriers tend to use their planes as much as possible to reduce costs), schedule padding is one of many strategies applied.
More Idle Time on the Plane
Schedule padding has reduced delays for passengers overall, but when it comes to early arrivals, keep in mind that you’re not always able to immediately leave the plane. One of the drawbacks of schedule padding is that passengers often spend more time sitting on the plane when it arrives on the tarmac. This is usually due to congestion when there are several planes arriving or departing at similar times.
Higher Costs
Longer flights can end up costing you more when you purchase your ticket. Airlines have to spend more money paying flight crews for working longer hours due to schedule padding. In some cases, this means airlines pass those added costs on to passengers by raising prices.
Who Pads the Most?
In the US, the amount of padding varies from airline to airline. A Wall Street Journal report shows that Delta tops the list with an average of 6.4 percent added to flight times in 2017. United Airlines and American Airlines padded their schedules at lower rates of 4.5 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.
