Are flights as long as they say?

One pilot confessed to Reader's Digest that airlines exaggerate their times to make themselves look better. “No, it's not your imagination: Airlines really have adjusted their flight arrival times so they can have a better record of on-time arrivals,” the AirTran Airways captain said.



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Are flights as long as they say? One pilot confessed to Reader's Digest that airlines exaggerate their times to make themselves look better. “No, it's not your imagination: Airlines really have adjusted their flight arrival times so they can have a better record of on-time arrivals,” the AirTran Airways captain said.

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In the 1960s it took five hours to fly from New York to Los Angeles, and just 45 minutes to hop from New York to Washington, DC. Today, these same flights now take six-plus hours and 75 minutes respectively, although the airports haven't moved further apart. It's called “schedule creep”, or padding.

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So why are airlines exaggerating flight times? While it's denied by airlines, industry insiders call the practice “schedule padding” and insist it's all about improving punctuality. Take that aforementioned journey from JFK to Gatwick, which Norwegian completed on Monday January 15 in just five hours 13 minutes.

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Airports are considerably larger, which means that simply getting from the departure gate to the end of the runway can eat up 10 minutes. Furthermore, airlines are more conscious than ever of their fuel bills – and have in recent years adjusted their aircraft's cruising speeds accordingly.

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The short answer is that modern jet aircraft are generally just as fast now as they were near the beginning of the “jet age” (with exceptions like Concorde excluded). While it's true that fuel economy is more of a concern now than it used to be, cruising economically doesn't make airplanes that much slower.

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That requirement may vary slightly between operators. While some airlines require a third pilot for flights longer than seven hours, others may extend it to 10 hours. If the flight is longer than 12 hours, a fourth pilot (second officer) is required.

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Major Differences Between Long and Short Flights. A short flight is one that is 3 hours or less in the air while long-haul flights from for 6-12 hours. Anything beyond that would be considered an ultra-long flight and buckle up for some serious hours strapped down to a small seat with very little moving room.

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What are Last-Minute Flights? Last-minute flights are flights that are purchased close to the departure date and time of the flight. They're usually bought in the days or weeks leading up to the flight but, sometimes, can be bought on the day of or the day before the flight.

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Usually, no. The closer to the departure date, the more expensive the price. More seats tend to fill the closer to the departure date. As more tickets sell for any given flight, the demand increases creating a jump in ticket prices.

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Don't wait until a few days or weeks before departure thinking you can score a last-minute deal. Airlines typically hike up flight prices in the days and weeks before departure – when they know business travelers and desperate flyers will pay whatever it takes to get where they need to go.

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In a world where technology is continually advancing, one might expect airplanes to be faster than ever before. However, counterintuitively, modern passenger planes are actually flying at slower speeds compared to the aircraft of the past, even those from the 1960s and 1970s.

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Do airlines exaggerate flight times? In air travel, as delays are both common and potentially expensive, the scheduled flight time is usually increased to about 110% of the expected flight time, however some airlines are reportedly now padding by as much as 50%.

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What is considered a short-haul, medium-haul and long-haul flight? A short-haul flight is one of up to 3 hours in duration. Medium-haul flights take 3-6 hours. A long-haul flight runs for 6-12 hours, whilst an ultra-long-haul flight is in the air for over 12 hours.

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Short-haul is a flight lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. Medium-haul is defined by flights lasting between 3-6 hours. And lastly, long-haul flights are those that extend beyond 6 hours.

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According to the Department of Transportation (DOT), there are tarmac delay rules that US airlines must follow: Carriers are not allowed to hold a domestic flight on the tarmac for more than three hours and an international flight for more than four hours, barring a couple of exceptions (like if the pilot deems it's ...

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The two-hour recommendation is fairly standard across the industry. It is recommended two hours so that travelers have enough time to get dropped off or park their cars, check their bags and get through security to their gates.

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Remember that anything over 6 hours flying time is considered long haul, but flights of longer than 10 hours are not uncommon either. One important thing to remember is to keep your seat belt fastened at all times in case of unexpected turbulence.

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It is not always the case, but it does happen often that flights arrive earlier than their scheduled arrival time.

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You can't read a novel, but you could read a manual about procedures or about the airplane, ... You can't read a newspaper. You can't use a laptop. That's strictly prohibited. But generally speaking, pilots engage in causal chats between themselves and flight attendants (when they visit the cockpit)1.

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No they do not. The cockpit itself is pretty small in most planes and none of them have dedicated toilets installed in them. Pilots use the same restroom as the passengers, usually the one in the front of the passenger cabin.

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Fatigue is particularly prevalent among pilots because of unpredictable work hours, long duty periods, circadian disruption, and insufficient sleep. These factors can occur together to produce a combination of sleep deprivation, circadian rhythm effects, and 'time-on task' fatigue.

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