Originally Posted by
TangoAlphad
I don't see any issues with increasing the block times? Infact I'm amazed it seems to bother someone enough to bother writing a bloody article on it. Airports are busier as is airspace so flights are delayed due to congestion more often than 10 years ago. If you book a ticket expecting to be there at 10:00 what does it matter if the scheduled block time is 1:30 now and not the 1:20 it was before.. as long as you arrive near enough the expected time.
Yes, it's as if the media is outraged that airlines are trying to make sure people arrive on time by allowing extra time for delays en-route. What will they moan about next?
Anyway, my 2 cents. When you're in the terminal and hear the old "delayed due to operational reasons" or "late inbound aircraft" it's because of 2 things. The gate agent has been told to say that by their superior and also tannoy announcement time is supposed to be as short as possible. Other staff waiting to do calls for their flights and other passengers waiting to hear calls for their flights don't really care fort he intricate details of why YOUR flight is delayed. You'll find out on board if they crew want to tell you all about it in the confines of your own cabin. The whole terminal doesn't really need to know. Some terminals have gate rooms, so can do localised calls for your flight, fair enough, those are usually the ones where staff go into a bit more detail, but thinking of EDI in particular, they have open terminals and while one person is blithering on, everyone else has to wait for their turn. Calls can be recorded to be played when a chance comes up, but then you get delayed reaction with a call going out 5 minutes after it's meant to...which could cause delays...due to operational reasons.