Originally Posted by
MiamiFlyer
At EA, we used to call those "kickoff" flights EOM's - Early Morning Originators, and yes aircraft were scheduled so tightly that any early delay cascaded throughout the day. However, we were not allowed to push back a flight early unless everyone was on board. We also had to carefully control the time that went into the public side of the FIDS system.
Hence why you often see flights that "Left the Gate" (according to AA.com/gates) on time or early, but then spend so long in line to take off or for whatever delays that by the time they are airborne, they have a 2-hour arrival delay.
Thank god for EF....at least that way you can see the OUT/OFF/PRE/ETA/IN times exactly how the agents and system record them.