I went to pick up my True Blave from the airport this evening, and her flight came in ahead of schedule. Right before I left I looked in on the airline’s flight status page, and next to the ‘scheduled time’ was the ‘arrival’ time. Which leads to this OP. Is arrival time typically the time the plane is supposed to land, or is it the time it is supposed to be at the gate ejecting the passengers. I lean towards ejection time, but am not quite sure. Anyone want to chime in with a quick answer?
Rhythmdvl
Flight times are padded greatly.
Most airlines will tell you that the “arrival time” is the time that the wheels touch down. But, chances are also good that you’ll not get the same answer twice in a row.
However, just because the plane is on the ground doesn’t mean that it can roll right up to the airport and have passengers deplane.
Often, if a flight arrives early, the gate where it’s scheduled may have an aircraft parked there waiting to taxi out. This is especially true of larger/busier airports.
Think of it as the best educated guess that they’re able to provide you.
When I worked in an airline, we measured on-time performance in terms of “off-blocks” to “on-blocks” (the blocks that they put under the wheels). So taxiing time counted as flight time.
My wife is a flight attendant and I concur with Hemlock
I’ll go with Hemlock’s answer. From my brief airline experience, arrival is the local time the aircraft is expected at the gate. FYI, agents usually have four times avilable on a flight:
OUT – time the aircraft left the gate.
OFF – time of take-off.
ON – time of landing.
IN – time at the gate.