REPORT: Airlines Padding Flight Times to Avoid Compensation Payouts

Does it feel like your flights are taking longer than ever?

A new report claims airlines are allotting more time for each journey in order to avoid compensation payouts.

According to research conducted by English news outlet Which?, carriers are padding their flight schedules by as much as 30 minutes to ensure their planes land on time. By giving each journey a bigger window of time to arrive, the airlines will have fewer compensation payouts for late arrivals.

The report found that flight routes are longer than they were 10 years ago despite continued advancements in air traffic control and airplane technology. An astonishing 61 percent of the flights examined are scheduled to take longer than they did in 2009.

“Passengers are likely to feel that schedule padding is another case of airlines pulling the wool over their eyes,” Which? travel editor Rory Boland said. “Instead, longer scheduled flight times are likely to mean passengers spend more time sitting around at the gate or on the plane itself, just so the airline can pat itself on the back for being ‘on time’ at your destination.”

In Europe, 87 percent of the British Airways flights analyzed were longer than they were a decade ago, while 82 percent were longer for Ryanair, 75 percent for Virgin Atlantic and 62 percent for easyJet.

Which? also provided examples, including a British Airways flights from Heathrow to Bangkok that was extended by 20 minutes and the length of a Virgin Atlantic flight from Heathrow to New Jersey growing by 35 minutes.