RangerNS

The simple answer is because AC doesn't care.

Or, they care about their own internal OTP concept, which might be +/- 30, as opposed to the industry standard. Possibly because they set longer MCTs than is otherwise normal; they have a schedule that allows picking up stragglers easily, and ultimately customers are not boned as often as the OTP would suggest, and they do care about the boned-factor.

I mostly don't care that a flight arrives over 15 minutes late for a connection, only in time enough to make a connection. 15 minutes is industry. Make a connection is me. I mostly don't care that a flight arrives within hours if it arrives "sometime Sunday night". So far as I care, both those scenarios are "on time".

SearsTower

Not to defend AC, but is part of it that they set up poor expectations? Looking at YYZ-ORD, both AC and UA use a 175 on the route. AC consistently publishes it s a 50 minute flight while UA publishes 57 to 60 minutes.

ChrisA330

I'd be curious if their Cargo ops are included in those stats and if there is a OTP difference between PAX and Cargo.

Adam Smith

Why is that the primary discussion? The answer to why AC's OTP is so bad is obvious - as you've pointed out, AC controls its own schedule, so AC either is bad at setting the schedule or doesn't care about its OTP (at least as it's commonly measured in the industry). When you get right down to it, weather, YYZ runway construction, whatever, those things are all known in advance. AC chooses not to factor them in to their schedule in the same way other airlines do.

So the OTP sucks, we all agree about that. The question @RangerNS raised was about what you do with that information and how it factors in to your trip planning process.

How can you say block times don't explain why AC doesn't meet the schedule? Block times are the schedule. If AC consistently sets block times too short, it is guaranteed to impact OTP.

Short block times are not at all an excuse for poor OTP, because AC determines the block times. But you said you want an explanation; you want to know why? That's a huge factor.

Indeed. See here and here for more.

respectable_man

It is impossible to believe that, if AC could operationally do away with this statistics by simply publishing arrival times that are 15mins later without any disruption to their operations, they would not seize the chance to do so. In fact the airline would be unique in purposely seeking self-inflicted reputational damage by insisting on poor OTP when such a simple solution was at hand.

Not saying they they aren’t using +/- 30 internally, just saying that if they could publish a schedule so that all flights show as on time, they would be truly stupid not to do so.

RangerNS

Which might be strong evidence that lying about being faster is better, reputationally, than not being as fast as they say they are and missing metrics only the super geeks GAF about.

rankourabu

Not to mention that there are people who do sort their Kayak searches by 'duration'. It may pay to be at the top of those results. If price is same on numerous daily YYZEWR for example, wouldn't some people choose the "faster" flight?

canadiancow

I can't imagine anyone would take the 55 minute flight at 1300 over the 65 minute flight at 1500 due to the duration.

rankourabu

Do you kayak? I cant imagine taking a connecting flight for $50 less vs a nonstop either, but talk to some kayakers.

canadiancow

$50 is very different than $0.

RangerNS

+1 segment, +1 lounge access and I save $50? Downside?

rankourabu

51.1% chance your flight will be late, miss your connection and then spend 3 hours on the phone trying to call AC? Think like a kayaker

RangerNS

(oh, if I was smart enough to troll to this point)

I've never missed a CX on even an hour late inbound. And 50/50 there is a concierge at the gate with paperwork in hand to take care of me. AC has only failed my concept of ontime around 5%, not ~50%

rankourabu

Massive improvement for September.
Still worst by far in North America, but AC flyers may get a couple months in before back down below 50% in winter!

Sopwith

The frustrating part of this is that the AC execs know, have known for years, and aren't doing anything about it. They just don't care.