When is a flight delay not a delay?

[preiffer]

I checked in for the LAS-LGW flight a little while ago - It's the 16:05 flight home.

My e-ticket says 16:05.
The monitor says "scheduled" 16:05.
EF.com says 16:50.

The monitor ALSO says "expected 16:25".

So, I take that to mean a delay. No probs, s**t happens, etc - and it's only 20 minutes.

But here's the thing, my boarding pass says 16:25 under "time", and the boarding time matches to the 'delayed' departure time. So someone, something, somewhere knew about this a while back - I didn't realise they dynamically adjusted the timing on BP's... [:w]


So, what gives? Is it a delay? Is it a con? [:?]

[mcmbenjamin]

Send email. collect 5,000 miles. pass go.

Should have came to NYC for the weekend.

If I'm not mistaken there's a certain amount of minutes it has to be late before they class it as a delay, not sure how many but I think its 25, 30.

Kev.

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by mcmbenjamin
Send email. collect 5,000 miles. pass go.

Should have came to NYC for the weekend.

Get in an elevator, 30 second ride turns in to 90 minutes.

Go to the pool..5 min beer run turns into 30 mins

Story of your weekend huh

Well no but........[:w]

[preiffer]

Originally posted by Scrooge
Get in an elevator, 30 second ride turns in to 90 minutes.

Go to the pool..5 min beer run turns into 30 mins

Story of your weekend huh

Well no but........[:w]

Careful... [:#]

When I worked for Comair we had what was referred to as D10/A14 which said that a departure within 10 minutes of scheduled time was considered "on time" as was an arrival within 14 minutes. Towards the end of my time with them, right around the time that Operation Clockwork was implemented in ATL, that changed to D0/A10 as part of the push to get flights out on time.

Most airlines have these types of policies, especially in large airports.

Let's say for a minute that you're sitting on an aircraft at gate B53 and there is another aircraft next to you at B52. That aircraft came in late, and ground control clears them out of their gate first since they're delayed. Their push will probably hold you up a few minutes, and most airlines call the "out" time, or the time when the aircraft leaves the gate, as the time when chocks are pulled. Should your flight take a delay due to the other flight's delay? In the states, "delays" are reported to the DOT and published in a public report which I believe comes out quarterly. A D10 rule (or similar) gives you a little flexibility for such events. There are also times when the flight crew will call out out on time regardless of a delay depending on the sutuation. We had an instance where the FO got sick and had to run to the bathroom before departure. As opposed to us logging a delay using a First Officer code, he just called us out on time so nobody knew.

At Comair we had a book of delay codes, for example if your fueler showed up late and delayed the flight, or if the flight attendant started boarding late. There was about 100 codes if I remember right, allowing for ground weather holds, dispatch issues, ATC, etc.

[preiffer]

Mike, let me guess - the UK only has one "delay code", which I hear time and time again:

"We apologise for the delay in departure, this was due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft"... [:w][ii]

Originally posted by preiffer
Mike, let me guess - the UK only has one "delay code", which I hear time and time again:

"We apologise for the delay in departure, this was due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft"... [:w][ii]

Hahahaha... so true...

I don't know a lot of the behind the scenes reasoning (or lack there of) of UK airlines, but the way our system worked we had to tell the computer the reason for the delay of the inbound aircraft (ie: crew, fueling, mx, etc.).

Now of course weather or not the root cause of the delay makes it to the passenger is another story.

My favorite delay was with VS in EWR about 6 years ago... I went up to the gate agent to ask a question, and as I turned around to leave asked if we'd be boarding on time. I think I caught him off gaurd as he just blurted out, "not sure... we've lost the aircraft and aren't quite sure when it'll be here... emmmmmm.... I mean it's delayed and we're not sure when it's going to land... we'll make an announcment when we know more."

Of course it was nothing more than a flow control delay into EWR/JFK, and the aircraft landed only 15 minutes late, but I think he realized his mistake for using the phrase "we've lost the aircraft"...