Originally Posted by
AllanJ
If a plane is late, it is absent from the queue (takeoff or landing) so others in the queue is advanced by one notch each. Then when the late plane shows up and is given priority, others give back the notch they each gained, suffering on average a net delay caused by the late plane of zero.
Or did I miss something?
Um.... couple of things..A plane cannot just "jump the queue"... let's assume it fails to leave the gate on time, it has to request a new departure slot. There is no physical way for a plane to bump into a line. Also, the planes have been given the new slots... you can't just take them back as there are other considerations (eg, the anti-freeze pads in the winter or the gaps between landing flights and takeoffs, etc). If you're late, you're late, end of story.