SteveinA2

What happened to those 3 hours?

Uzzar

Not familiar with time zones, are we?

razzaba

I’d like to solve the puzzle, Pat

guv1976

Unfortunately, there's still a problem, but of a different sort.

How can AA get you from PHX to LGA with a connection in CLE in just over 4½ hours? PHX-CLE (when it operates) is just under four hours by itself. (And AA's PHX-EWR nonstops are scheduled as 4 hours, 50 minutes.)

Flying for Fun

Particularly fun are those flights that arrive the day before you depart. A late afternoon flight from AKL-PPT arrives the night before while CXI-HNL arrives 21 hours before departure on the 3 hour NW flight served by FJ. HNL is GMT-10 & CXI is GMT+14 after they moved the International Date line reference East in 1996. It is the same time in HNL & CXI, just a day apart.

Time travel at it's best!

James

FlyingEgghead

Yes, this is the real issue. The itinerary cited by OP uses AA1231, which has the following schedule filed from March 26 to May 6, 2023: PHX 8:30am(MST) -> CLE 1:47pm(EDT). This allows 2h 17m to cover 1,737 miles, which is indeed impossible (it would require supersonic flight). Very interesting -- if booking this flight, one is essentially guaranteed to have a >1h schedule change!

It seems that not only OP but also AA is confused about time zones in this case (somehow AA's internal scheduling program must have wrong data). And OP happened upon this genuine anomaly, yet at least in their phrasing seemed to be coincidentally confused about something else (the nominal calculation of elapsed time, which was correct, rather than the physical possibility of the flight).

DNM50

Is it possible that AA’s system doesn’t know that PDX is on Mountain STANDARD time, not Mountain Daylight time? Maybe the computer thinks that there is only a two hour time difference?

gerstperson

OP doesn't include the date for the itinerary. Perhaps he is looking at flights in the late fall, after DST is over, and there would only be a two hour time difference at that time, but the flight duration shown is programmed to use current time, which would be three hours time difference.

mozilla

lightbulbs

yeah I checked this and AA gets the PHX time zone weirdness right. On 3/11 and earlier when Arizona in mountain standard the flight is blocked from 9:30AM MST to 3:24EST for 3:54 total flight time. On 3/12 Arizona stays on MST which effectively is same as PDT and the same flight departs at 8:30 MST/PDT and still arrives at 3:24EDT, also still 3:54 blocked time.

where things go wonky is on 3/26 the prior flight number 1464 switches to flight 1231 which is only blocked for 2:17 (departs 8:30 MST/PDT and arrives 1:47 EDT). That’s a mistake unless they secretly are the launch customer for Boom Supersonic and Boom has convinced the powers that be to allow for overland supersonic flights and they are moving up their production schedule by a few years and choosing to launch their plane on the high profile Phoenix Cleveland route. Maybe team transport for Suns Cavs game.

FlyingEgghead

Now that the pertinent time frame has arrived: AA is apparently not running PHX-CLE this spring at all. They are planning to restart it in September 2023. The schedule now extends to the start of DST next year, where we see the much more sensible PHX 8:30am(MST) -> CLE 3:20pm(EDT) on March 10, 2024 (i.e., 3h 50m -- this is also the timing in fall 2023 before DST ends).

james318

I think the good people of PDX would beg to differ and insist that they are on Pacific time.

IADCAflyer

Try flying FWA to ORD. You land before you take off.

enpremiere

This thread is exactly why the DeLorean was always featured in a north/southbound orientation as time travel makes sense but add time zones in and it's just not credible anymore.