Today's instance of AA stupidity
 

Today's version of how stupid can AA be...

5582 CLT/IAD sched takeoff 15:35, arrival 16:57
5582 IAD/CLT sched takeoff 17:28, which makes boarding time 16:58

So they really think 1 min is enough? No wonder they can't operate on schedule

That flight will operate on time far more often than not. Most often it will arrive early, and with an aircraft barely larger than a VW bug, they can turn it very quickly. They also get a chuckle out of you calling them stupid.

So you are saying they bank on it being ahead of schedule? That makes no sense.

I’m saying that keeping an asset in operation is far more important than being able to board an aircraft that takes maybe 15 minutes to board at exactly T-30.

i guess this is somewhat normal? took jal at the start of this year, my 1st flight was delayed, so i only had 20-25 minutes from the time i touch down to my connecting flight taking off. when i informed the check in agent that i had an extremely short transit time and will likely miss the connecting, she replied that they expect the 1st flight to be ahead of [the new] schedule, so i would be fine. lo and behold, we didnt arrive ahead of schedule, but even later than expected, 10-15 minutes before connecting flight took off. it was a mess at the connecting bridge; there was a ton of jal officers trying to get hold of passengers as i think many others also missed their connecting.

Looks like they got off a few minutes early with a very early arrival expected into CLT which will get eaten up by taxi delays placing them right about on-time.

30 minute turns for ERJ-145s and CRJ-700s are pretty common. As Dlnewbie says above the plane arrived in today at 4:51 (6 minutes early) and departed at 5:25 (3 minutes early) and expected in CLT 10 minutes early after a very long taxi time at IAD (although that could easily change due to CLT taxi times). One could argue AA does a lot of stupid things but 30 minute outstation turns and schedule padding are both reasonable airline operations.

realistically, prob more appropriate for the “Stupidest and Least Substantive Thing You Can Complain About” thread (esp since OP’s profile says AA Plat and FT member since 2009) :p

this, x1000

I get that today it worked out. However, in the event that things are simply on schedule and not early (or heaven forbid a few minutes late, this is AA after all), how is this possible?

Was this the only way to book this trip? I would never take that chance!

AA is famous for their unrealistic departure times. Yesterday at 9:39 PM, AA was saying the flight is departing at 9:40 PM. Meanwhile I'm at the bar nearby as they haven't even started boarding.

This is not normal - far better performing airlines (see DOT data) don't do this.

OP wasn’t ranting about a published connection; the comment deals with the fact that the jet’s arrival and departure times for the IAD turnaround don’t comport well with the reality of ground operations, even at an outstation that only sees half a dozen AA flights a day

It's a 322 mile flight blocked for 82 minutes. Yes, they should plan on it being ahead of schedule most of the time.

A 30 minute turn makes sense, sure. But this isn't scheduled to be a 30 minute turn. On paper, it is a 1 minute turn.


What's the point of having a schedule then? If you can reliably count on it arriving early, adjust the arrival time and allow for a proper turn time.

Not really a 1 minute turn. Sure, it is 1 minute from the scheduled boarding time, but in reality those planes don't need more than 10 minutes to board. I fly out of MHK and it seems like most flights have a scheduled 30-35 minutes between plan arrival and the next one leaving. If the arriving plane is anywhere close to on time, the departure is on time. American knows the true time it takes to turn and is willing to schedule the flights like that. They don't want to publish a later boarding time because they don't want the passengers to cut it too close and of course there is a decent chance that the plane arrives 10 minutes early and they can start boarding 30 minutes ahead.