jaysona

If think you're looking at this from a very superficial point of view.

There are several factors that are taken into account when departure/arrival times are established.

1. Push back from the gate

2. Wheels-up time - this really is the important time to meet.

3. Landing time

4. Gate arrival time.

Most airlines consider a flight to be "on-time" if the push-back/arrival is within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. Based on that criteria, I'd say more than 95% of my flights are on-time. Most push back within a minute or two of scheduled departure and landing is within 10 minutes of scheduled landing times.

So, as you can see, departure/arrival is not as simple as it may appear.

I wouldn't say you're unlucky at all, I looked at the last four months worth of flight times for AC701 and the on-time arrival seems to be early is most cases. ^

Stranger

Not sure there is much of a rationale for avoiding YYC in winter. Winter weather performance at YYC is surely much more reliable than most/all eastern airports given the relatively little amount of precipitation we get here. May well be better than YVR too. Of course deicing can become an issue, but that's not worse than most other Canadian airports.

As to AC on time performance, it had become bad a couple of years ago, but it seems to have gone significantly better lately. I don't recall any really bad experience in the last year or so. No missed connection, no significant delay as far as I am concerned.

Wpgjetse

Weather plays a big roll in these %. AC has never been at the top because if YYZ get weather issues, the Canadian system get effected. AC is effected more than WestJet because a greater % of AC fleet passes thought YYZ everyday.

Wpgjetse

Out of my 46 AC flights this year, only 1 was delayed(non weather). I did have a few others delayed due to weather.

lhrsfo

Psychologically, push back is very important as passengers sense that it is something within the airline's control. If there's a huge queue at the end of the runway for take-off, or you have to circle for an age waiting to land, it's irritating (and stressful if you need to be somewhere) but people don't see it as the airline's fault.

superangrypenguin

I am batting 100% myself.

Wpgjetse

Push Back is not controlled by the airline. The airline only informs the tower when they are ready to go. The tower can hold aircraft at gate for many reasons. Some of the reasons are, weather at departing airport, weather at arriving airport, de-icing bays are full, airport congestion, shifting winds(runway change), air traffic control congestion(big problem in Asia), etc, etc.

ffsim

Absolutely. And I say that while waiting to board a flight that just posted a 25-minute delay

acysb87

I have 48 AC segments to date in 2016 and would concur with your point of view

YZF_Elite

I formed my opinion when I was traveling to/from YZF a lot and before the new runway opened so in fairness things may have improved. I have found that eastern airports and YEG handle snow better than YYC. If I need to go to YVR or connect through YVR, I don't have much of a choice to avoid it so it really doesn't factor into my rules. Also anecdotal, but I find that poor weather in YYZ seems to be more predictable than YYC where it can be snowing unexpectedly anytime between September and the end of April.

Stranger

However YYC gets relatively little snow overall. Especially in the middle of winter.

rankourabu

Yeah that sure explains AC being behind AA and DL - those carriers would never have any issues with weather in JFK,DTW or ORD.

Transpacificflyer

Every AC TPAC I have been on for the past 2 years has arrived late. Typically 30-45 minutes late. It is particularly stressful when I have to transit to a domestic on my return. It's why I often cannot use the cheaper fares through YVR because the connection only allows 90 minutes.

I don't enjoy the AC customer response when my incoming late arrival means I miss a connection. With AC's SOP to overbook, I often cannot obtain a seamless remediation. (And yes, I know a few of you super dooper elites with your nexus and who are on 1st name basis with the staff are taken care of. Unfortunately I am just a fool who paid $5000+ for my ticket and is poorly treated by the airline when it is late.) This is why I have reduced my flying with AC this year.

Ber2dca

On-time arrival is of course important but as you mention, it's not really much of a performance indicator in itself given that they calculate on-time arrival not by the objectively necessary time span to fly a route but by their average expected performance.

I suppose it is "okay" in the sense that your connection will be timed on that so you're not going to miss your connection if they perform to their own expectations. However, it's still basically a trick. The airlines can give themselves As because they can decide how many points they need to get an A.

I can totally imagine that airline staff if not given proper incentives will abuse the 'padding' to take it easy if they're ahead of schedule. I am not sure if and how specific airlines track 'real' performance and reward staff that get the job done ahead of the padded 'estimated' time.

quantumofforce

Did you message AC about this? I just have a long layover (3 hours) and don't notice any problems with pricing in that layover. Work is weird. They only allow PY for TPAC but I can spend $200+ on a meal while waiting for connections, so hello good wine!