"Change in your flight plan"

[golf yankee one one]

Just received one of those emails with subject "Change in your flight plan"
Your heart sinks, and you instantly think - have they cancelled my flight?, can I only travel on a different day?, will I be hanging around for hours waiting for the connecting flight?, will I have wasted the cost of the first night's hotel stay?......
Then you open up the email and find that the change in your flight plan is that one of your flights will depart and arrive FIVE MINUTES earlier or later!
Why do airlines bother making such a miniscule change?

[davidjohnson6]

A - because if they don't somebody will complain
B - if the new flight time is 5 mins later, they want to keep the same buffer of time against delays to avoid incurring EU261 liability or having their national aviation regulator classify their flight as late in monthly reporting

Sending the emails is entirely automated, and the cost to the airline is almost zero

[Squawk 6042]

At least European airlines round timings to the nearest 5 minutes, unlike the US where times to the exact minute are usually quoted.

[Mr Mac]

GYOO
LH have done that to me recently. My flight totally disappeared until August, so having to leave a day earlier and fly in the middle of the night.
Cheers
Mr Mac

[PAXboy]

Better than some years ago (around 2005, I think) when VS did not tell me that the flight had been brought forward - only by an hour - but had I not been prompt at the airport as usual - I would have had a problem.

[Hartington]

Working for a GDS some oddities sometimes occur.
Many years ago an agency had booked customers on flights from the UK to a domestic US point with an enroute change. Then some friends decided to go too but when their agent tried to book (from a different UK airport but using the same change point) they couldn't find the domestic flight.
It took a bit of digging to discover that not only had the domestic flight been rescheduled, it had also had a flight number change. The airline said it didn't send schedule changes if the time difference was less than 10 minutes but they never addressed the issue of the flight number change except to say they knew and would simply issue different boading passes and bag tags.