Skip to main content

Ever wondered why flight times seem to be getting longer? It’s called “padding”,

Ever wondered why flight times seem to be getting longer? It’s called “padding”, a phenomenon that helps airlines arrive on time – but at a cost. – The BBC

  • By Kathryn B. Creedy
9 April 2019
“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. And it’s a secret the airlines don’t want you to know about, especially given the spillover effects for the environment.”
“Padding is the extra time airlines allow themselves to fly from A to B. Because these flights were consistently late, airlines have now baked delays experienced for decades into their schedules instead of improving operations.”

Comments

Popular Posts

Who to Contact if You're Impacted by Aircraft Noise

Contact numbers and emails for Maryland politicians Van Hollen 111 Rockville Pike Suite 960 Rockville, MD 20850 Brent Girard (Constituent Services and Community Outreach, Van Hollen) Brent_girard@vanhollen.senate.gov 667-212-4610 Ben Cardin 100 S. Charles St. Tower 1, Suite 1710 Baltimore, MD 21201 Heather_campbell@cardin.senate.gov 410-962-4436 Shannon Frede (Legislative Assistant, Cardin) Shannon_frede@cardin.senate.gov 202-224-4524 Steny Hoyer US District Court House 6500 Cherrywood Ln. Suite 310 Greenbelt, MD 20770 Sana Mirza (Hoyer) 301-474-0119 Noise from Aircraft Operations at Your Community Airport Airport noise issues and concerns should first be addressed with the local airport manager or staff who respond to airport noise issues. Check your local telephone directory for airport telephone numbers. Many airports also have their noise abatement information and contact information published on their website. If you believe the airplanes were flying unsafely...

Inequalities in exposure to noise

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Urban noise pollution is worst in poor and minority neighborhoods and segregated cities Nation Oct 7, 2017 3:43 PM EDT https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/urban-noise-pollution-worst-poor-minority-neighborhoods-segregated-cities "Most Americans think of cities as noisy places – but some parts of U.S. cities are much louder than others. Nationwide, neighborhoods with higher poverty rates and proportions of black, Hispanic and Asian residents have higher noise levels than other neighborhoods. In addition, in more racially segregated cities, living conditions are louder for everyone, regardless of their race or ethnicity.....  Scientists have documented that environmental hazards, such as air pollution and hazardous waste sites, are   not evenly distributed   across different populations. Often socially disadvantaged groups such as racial minorities, the poor and th...

South Side Project

 Southside Express Lanes (South Side project) Virginia VDOT wants to add two new high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in each direction along an 11-mile stretch of I-495 between I-395 in Fairfax County and Maryland Route 210 in Prince George’s County, crossing the Woodrow Wilson Bridge – Greater greater Washington, Spending money to go nowhere: Southside Express Lanes should be a Metro extension,  David Edmondson (Contributor) August 20, 2025  I am against the "Southside Project," I live in Accokeek, Maryland. My home is 17 miles south on Indian Head Highway (210). I have lived in Accokeek, Maryland, since 2003. I am now retired. Before I retired, I worked in Fairfax Virginia, and commuted from Accokeek to Fairfax five days a week. I have spent a lot of time on Indian Head Highway and the beltway trying to get to work. I have come to know the traffic patterns well.  “You don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.” I don’t have to be a traffic exp...