Originally Posted by
Stranger
Schedule is merely a best effort thing. For planning purposes. Running an airline is not like running a railway. And even railways typically do not offer guarantees.
One exception being the Italian railway and their high speed service. I once got a cheque in the mail.
Even Via rail gives refunds when they are late (as evidenced in another thread on the Aeroplan board).
JR rail in Japan refunds limited express charges should a train ever be 2 hours late. I have collected on it (blizzard stranded the train). No mailing it in, just go to the ticket window and get your money back in cash. None of this Italian mail nonsense.
Various rail companies in Japan will give you some kind of document if a train is late so you can show it to your employer (IE if someone queries why you are late to work).
Imagine the volume of paper AC would use in a year if they had to give out paper documents any time a plane was say one hour late.