Early Departure
Sep 17, 2021, 2:51 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Programs: Delta DM (3 MM) ; Sky Club (Lifetime)
Posts: 327
Early Departure
This is not a complaint...just a question.
Seems recently that, day of departure, flights are posted as leaving 10-15 minutes ahead of scheduled departure time.
Is this to be expected? For what reason(s)? How early can they (legitimately) depart?
Appreciate any answers, and apologies if this has been posted previously,
Seems recently that, day of departure, flights are posted as leaving 10-15 minutes ahead of scheduled departure time.
Is this to be expected? For what reason(s)? How early can they (legitimately) depart?
Appreciate any answers, and apologies if this has been posted previously,
Sep 17, 2021, 3:18 pm
#2
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: ATL
Programs: Delta PlM, 1M
Posts: 6,363
This is not a complaint...just a question.
Seems recently that, day of departure, flights are posted as leaving 10-15 minutes ahead of scheduled departure time.
Is this to be expected? For what reason(s)? How early can they (legitimately) depart?
Appreciate any answers, and apologies if this has been posted previously,
Seems recently that, day of departure, flights are posted as leaving 10-15 minutes ahead of scheduled departure time.
Is this to be expected? For what reason(s)? How early can they (legitimately) depart?
Appreciate any answers, and apologies if this has been posted previously,
There are plenty of valid reasons that they might want to leave early.
Sep 17, 2021, 3:48 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2006
Programs: Delta DM (3 MM) ; Sky Club (Lifetime)
Posts: 327
My recent experience has been the flight departure times have been adjusted from 1-2 hours prior to boarding.
For me, that's usually while I'm in the Club availing myself of cheap red wine.
So really not a problem, but certainly could be on tight connections and/or late arriving originating flights before an onward connection.
For me, that's usually while I'm in the Club availing myself of cheap red wine.
So really not a problem, but certainly could be on tight connections and/or late arriving originating flights before an onward connection.
Sep 17, 2021, 4:13 pm
#5
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: NJ
Programs: DL DM, Marriott Plat
Posts: 867
I've never understood why they bother to do this, since it never really seems to correlate with when they end up closing the door & pushing back from the gate anyway.
Any time I've had a flight post an "early" departure time, it still ends up leaving the gate only about 2-3 mins early, at most.
Any time I've had a flight post an "early" departure time, it still ends up leaving the gate only about 2-3 mins early, at most.
Sep 17, 2021, 5:46 pm
#6
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In the past, I noticed this regularly at AMS for DL TATL departures. It can cause real panic. When I asked, an airport agent told me that they do this to *encourage* passengers to rush to the gate. NOT GOOD.
Sep 18, 2021, 12:17 am
#7
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: ANC
Programs: DL DM
Posts: 1,856
My last DL TPAC flight through ICN in October 2019 I had the same experience. I made a mad rush through T2 only to find out it was just “encouragement”’as well.
Sep 18, 2021, 6:17 am
#8
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: CHS
Programs: UA GS, Bonvoy Amabassador, Hertz PC
Posts: 2,589
This is not a complaint...just a question.
Seems recently that, day of departure, flights are posted as leaving 10-15 minutes ahead of scheduled departure time.
Is this to be expected? For what reason(s)? How early can they (legitimately) depart?
Appreciate any answers, and apologies if this has been posted previously,
Seems recently that, day of departure, flights are posted as leaving 10-15 minutes ahead of scheduled departure time.
Is this to be expected? For what reason(s)? How early can they (legitimately) depart?
Appreciate any answers, and apologies if this has been posted previously,
Happens a TON at smaller airports - at least IME (During covid when it was 3-4 people on the plane - I think I left 27 min early once (30 min window to stop check ins - all ticketed passengers on board and we were trying to outrun a storm)
Plane has XX passengers booked
All ticketed passengers board plane
Any standby's processed and boarded
close out flight and shut door
If that is 15 min early, so be it
No reason to sit there with door open for 15 min when every passenger is on board, baggage is loaded and fuel is on board - if we can takeoff and get there early why not?
Sep 18, 2021, 7:23 am
#9
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When I flew AA the first flight of the day from JFK to LAX had “unpublished” early boarding. I left the lounge at T-45 and enroute I heard my name being paged on the airport PA “…proceed to your gate for boarding”, when I got to the gate all pax already at the gate were boarded, the door was shut at T-20, BUT pushback didn’t occur until T-0.
Sep 18, 2021, 7:49 am
#10
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Huntsville, AL
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Posts: 7,860
Sep 18, 2021, 9:53 am
#11
Moderator: Hyatt; FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Ok, but in that case you haven't lost anything, you've just shifted the waiting from the beginning of the trip at the origin airport to the end of the trip at the destination airport.
Sep 18, 2021, 9:55 am
#12
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 1,885
I have had a lot of early departures a lot pre-covid and now. Primary reason was a lightly loaded flight so they might as well get the flight going rather than sit around and twiddle thumbs. Sometimes they are trying to get ahead of weather. The weirdest one was I was flying out of PDX on the night that the AS mechanic stole the a/c and was doing loop-de-loops around Puget Sound - they wanted to get the flight out early because they need the gate space because so many flights had to divert to PDX from SEA.
Sep 18, 2021, 9:56 am
#13
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Sep 18, 2021, 11:12 am
#14
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: VPS
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For Southeastern short haul, once or twice there’s been the explanation that if we load quick and get out to the runway a few minutes early, we might be able to avoid the common 10-15 minute ‘hold at origin’ order from ATL ATC
Sep 18, 2021, 11:59 am
#15
Join Date: Sep 2006
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I’ve had many flights departing early, usually, not an issue, but when flying to JFK and arriving the NY area early, sometimes we end up arriving to the gate on time or even delayed, after being sequenced and spending some time waiting for a landing slot.