The reason why airlines don’t tell you how long your flight actually is

It’s a universal fact that waiting around plays a vital role in air travel. But there’s a reason why we spend so much time waiting in airports and planes, and it’s got nothing to do with the actual travel aspect.

The arrival and departure times airline share with their customers more often than not, are never accurate.

Despite advances in technology and efficiency in the air, airlines will exaggerate the time it takes to reach a destination to ensure they are always on time. This strategy is known as “schedule padding.”

A study by The Telegraph found that in 1996, a flight from London Heathrow to Edinburgh was allocated a block time of 75 minutes or less. Fast forward to present day, and the same flight using faster technology is now expected to take 85 minutes.

A pilot with AirTran Airways has revealed to Reader’s Digest that “airlines really have adjusted their flight arrival times so they can have a better record of on-time arrivals, so they might say a flight takes two hours when it really takes an hour and 45 minutes.”

Essentially it's an airline’s way managing expectations, but just to be sure, it's best to still get to the airport on time.