Flight times grow as airlines pad schedules, or why a six-hour flight now takes seven

The WSJ, on why “Your airline seat may not have much padding, but the airline's schedule sure does.”


In short, airlines are padding the schedule to account for unexpected delays, figuring that arriving early is better than arriving late. (Also, planes are flying about 2% slower, in order to save on fuel.) I wondered why, last year, on a Vancouver to SNA flight, how it was we arrived 10 minutes early! Now I know.