"We have arrived 20 minutes early"

[Mattg]

I flew from CBR to SYD yesterday, and when we landed the FA very proudly announced that we'd arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

The thing is, we landed 20 minutes before the scheduled arrival time but after a long taxi from the third runway we only really arrived at the gate ~5 minutes early.

My understanding is that the scheduled arrival time is based on the time the plane reaches the gate, not when it lands - so why do airlines do this? I've seen this happen many times on a range of different airlines, so this wasn't just a one-off.

 

[JohnK]

Makes the airline look better for performance?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Even if you were to arrive at the gate early more often than not an aircraft is already occupying the gate as it isn't yet scheduled to depart.

 

[jb747]

Time is gate to gate, so the FA was wrong.

 

[drron]

Some airlines add in extra time just so their on time arrival stats are better.
AA certainly dn our last trip our flight from LAX-HNL left on time but arrived near the gate nearly an hour early.Had to wait until someone was found to operate the airbridge.

 

[jb747]

Some airlines add in extra time just so their on time arrival stats are better.
AA certainly dn our last trip our flight from LAX-HNL left on time but arrived near the gate nearly an hour early.Had to wait until someone was found to operate the airbridge.

That's not quite how it works. The flight times and taxi times are based on the history of the flight (or similar). So, the taxi times could well vary from place to place ('cos some airports are just slow), and even by time of day. Or, they could just use the average. Flight times vary enormously, with the winds aloft capable of making changes in the order of hours, in some situations. Padding the flights beyond what is likely, has the effect of running crews out of planned hours, whilst under allowing, has the effect of actually running them out of time. Given that this is managed to quite narrow tolerances, fiddles of the schedule just to look good would have a habit of coming back to bite you.

On many flights we adjust our cost index (i.e. the cruise schedule), not to make up time, but to ensure we don't gain too much. Not only is access to the gates an issue, but arrive too early and you'll simply be sent to hold until you reach your 'slot'.

 

[ethernet]

Flights from Malaysia often get favorable wind and often arrive an hour early in Sydney , and do 30-40 mins on the tarmac - which is better than doing a circuit over Sydney.

My question is running the power packs on the ground for 40 minutes costs X in engine wear/tear/hours.

How much would be saved docking at a terminal straight away?

It seems to me Sydney Airport is spiteful , and some vacant terminals are not used by cheapie carriers.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I flew from CBR to SYD yesterday, and when we landed the FA very proudly announced that we'd arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

The thing is, we landed 20 minutes before the scheduled arrival time but after a long taxi from the third runway we only really arrived at the gate ~5 minutes early.

My understanding is that the scheduled arrival time is based on the time the plane reaches the gate, not when it lands - so why do airlines do this? I've seen this happen many times on a range of different airlines, so this wasn't just a one-off.

I think it's part of the spin (propaganda) cycle Every time the plane is early there's great stress on the 'early' bit and how the [insert airline or pilot] has done a great job. Every time the plane is late there's a myriad of excuses from the flight deck blaming ATC, weather, 'circumstances beyond our control', 'late inbound', 'waiting for gate to be made available'.