Early pre-dawn arrivals

[Farjer]

You are flying in to London from the Far East, for example, scheduled arrival 5am, and the pilot announces that you will arrive 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Would that ever be good news to you? I can't see why it could, since nothing will be open, trains not running, meetings not for several hours, etc.

[manintheback]

Better than being delayed?, then again - land early at Heathrow and you'll just be waiting for longer before a gate becomes available to park at.

[lexxity]

Flying in from the US a few years back this happend to me and my family. We landed at LHR at approx. 0500 due to very fast tailwinds. Nobody about, very eerie it was.

We were catching the the train back oop North and had to cool our heels at Euston whilst waiting for a train. IIRC it was a Sunday.

[teleport]

There may still be a wait in the hold for you, or the prevention from taxi without a tug or as mentioned no ready stand. Not necessarily a blessing. But if it is very foggy, then priority over shorthaul is nice.

[Farjer]

thanks for the replies - I was just wondering why pilots don't slow down and save a bit of fuel if they know they're going to be early, instead of arriving unhelpfully ahead of schedule (over the heads of a few million sleeping Londoners in a noisy 747). At other times of day, of course being early is usually a bonus for the customer. And of course, getting down on the ground while you can is better & safer than arriving on time and then being held - waiting for a landing slot (using up more fuel and making more noise). And the pilot and crew possibly want to put their feet up.

[Globaliser]

You are flying in to London from the Far East, for example, scheduled arrival 5am, and the pilot announces that you will arrive 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Would that ever be good news to you? I can't see why it could, since nothing will be open, trains not running, meetings not for several hours, etc.Untrue. I've been fairly regularly on the first scheduled arrival at LHR (the first BA from HKG) which is scheduled at about 0450 (though it obviously varies from season to season). With no checked baggage, I have often just made it to the first Piccadilly Line train at 0513, and be in the office near St Paul's about an hour later. That is good news as I know that I'm likely to be flaking out by about 1600 or so, so I can still get in a full day's work. So I have no problems with this.

It would be a bit more of a problem with a Sunday morning arrival (and, from May, a Saturday morning arrival) because the Tubes don't start until later. But it's not been a problem for me personally, as those trips usually have me arriving back on Monday mornings.

[Final 3 Greens]

I was just wondering why pilots don't slow down and save a bit of fuel if they know they're going to be early

Maybe they slowed down to the minimum safe speed and were still early.

Its not wise to fly too slowly for obvious reasons, involving plummeting out of control.

[Flying Torquewrench]

I was just wondering why pilots don't slow down and save a bit of fuel if they know they're going to be early, instead of arriving unhelpfully ahead of schedule. And the pilot and crew possibly want to put their feet up.

Farjer,

It's never good enough is it? :hmm:

When we arrive late people are moaning and now it even starts when we are early. Your last sentence is correct. While you have been sleeping on your trip across the pond we have been at work.
We have been away from home for probably three days maybe even going up to 7 or 9 days. So yes, we would like to get home and see the family again. If we are lucky we might even see the kids before they are off to school.:ok:

An other thing is the aircraft itself. It might do an other flight just 1.5 hours after you have landed so every extra downtime is helpfull to the groundstaff. And can assure that the aircraft departes ontime or even a bit earlier.

Personally i prefer to arrive early and have to wait around at an airfield where no shops are open or trains running than being late.

ATB, FT