Shameless Schedule Padding
 

We're probably all well aware of the timetable padding that has become routine on U.S. carriers. (Just think of the last time you were wheels-up 30 minutes late only to land on time for your "2 hour" flight.)Nonetheless, as I was flipping through the Sep 6 to Oct 30 WW Timetable recently, I discovered some utterly shameless padding on the part of UA -- "discontinuing" certain flights only to reinstitute the same flight number the next day with exactly 1 hour added to the flight's length. A couple notable examples of this behavior:

841 LAX-AKL 22:55-05:55+2 (disc. 9/28)
841 LAX-AKL 22:55-06:55+2 (eff. 9/29)
997 MIA-SCL 23:55-08:15+1 (disc. 10/13)
997 MIA-SCL 23:55-09:15+1 (eff. 10/14)

I'll make a point of avoiding UA 841 post-9/28 since deplaning will apparently now be the responsiblity of the Kiwi Navy as the 747 runs out of gas 1/2 hour from AKL...

I believe these particular schedule changes you list have to do with setting the clock back to standard time in the fall. It's confusing, because different countries do it on different dates. As a result, it appears as if the flight is listed to take an hour longer the day after the time change.

This is actually due to Standard Time kicking in in the US, (which btw is real mess in Australia). Daylight Savings time starts the first Sunday of October in NZ.
Daylight savings kicks in in Chile on the first Sunday after October 9 (Oct 15 this year)

[This message has been edited by Droneklax (edited 09-28-2000).]

Agree with JerryFF and Droneklax. Had this happen to be once. Bought a ticket in March to SYD for travel in June. UA did a schedule change sometime in May. Now the question is, what can't they published the correct schedule to begin with to account for the time change???

As for padding, UA has been doing that (at least domestically). Padding is not shameless. It's accounting for the delays that are occurring quite frequently. If someone doesn't like the fact that it takes UA 1 hour and 15 minutes to get from A to B while a competitor takes only 1 hour for the same route, they can always travel on the other guy.

smg77: the examples given are simple local time-changes (summer/winter time).

Well, guess I managed to embarass myself pretty badly on that one. I knew that there were some variations in adoption of time changes worldwide, but had no idea that the varied so much from place to place. Don't some countries (Iran? India?) have 1/2 hour increment time zones? I should have realized, even in the US, I believe Indiana doesn't adopt DST.

Thanks for putting me in my place. (Thank you sir! May I have another!)

Yes parts of Indiana dont follow DST and I know parts of Canada are half hour off the regular hourly time zones. Time zones are a mess http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

smg77: "my advice to you is to start drinking heavily" http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by bks (edited 09-29-2000).]

I think the biggest mess is Australia. First, they have this weird 1/2 time difference in Adelaide. Then, not all states follow Daylight savings, and when they do it's not at the same time. It's a miracle planes land on time.

That little corner of Texas around El Paso is weird too. It's in Texas but in the same time zone as Arizona. But Arizona does not observe Daylight savings while El Paso does. In addition, TV programs are shown on Dallas time, so a shown you'd expect to see at 9pm elsewhere is broadcast at 7pm or some silly thing like that.

The entire China has one time zone. That is bizzare.