Early Flights: Another Air Travel Hassle
Late flights are bothersome, and so are early arrivals. When your pilot announces that your travel was faster than expected and you arrived early at the airport that is not all good news. Your gate may not be available yet and you may need to have a stop at the penalty box or longer taxi time.
Air travel has been improving its service with a 79.1 percent on-time arrival high last April. This is partly higher than March and a point higher than last year.
Flights are arriving more on time lately since there are fewer flights scheduled and better air traffic. Air companies have been giving more time from 5 to 30 minutes in some domestic flights to keep their on-time record going.
This air travel tactics has an obvious downside: early arrival on airports and more time in the penalty box. Some passengers complain that they spent more time on land, waiting to get off the plane, than the actual air travel.
The usual taxi-in time ranged from 5.5 minutes 9 years ago to 8 minutes last year. During the first four moths of 2009, planes took less than 7 minutes from touch down to the gate.
But that is not the case for everyone. An American Eagle flight last April had to wait for 2.5 hours before getting into a gate, and two others flights for 2 hours. American had 3 of the 5 most delayed flights last April while the other two is with Continental Airlines.
The airlines explained that the unexpected snowstorms or bad weather has caused these travel mishaps.
Airlines have done these extra travel schedules to improve their late-flight image. Arriving early may sound better, but making your passengers wait in a plane to have an available gate is annoying too.
Here are some tips on how to avoid the penalty box:
- Consider alternate airports. Smaller airports are not as busy as the bigger ones, decreasing the risk of getting the penalty box.
- Have an early flight. First flight of the day means less competition for gates. Avoid the last flights, where the airport might be the busiest.
- Choose a larger plane. Air traffickers avoid holding Boeing 747s while regional carriers usually get the penalty box.
- Pass up air travel in a bad weather. This is the common reason for bad air traffic and taxi-in delays.
Remember: travel to a small airport with a larger plane, avoid peak time arrival and bad weather.
But the best trick would probably to know what to expect when you arrive early. Your air travel is not yet done until you exited the plane.
