In a separate post, I shared some thoughts on our China Airlines A350 business class flight from Phoenix (PHX) to Taipei (TPE). In this post, I’d like to discuss one other thing about the flight that was remarkable — just how early we arrived!
In this post:
My earliest flight arrival in over a decade!
Airline schedule planning is of course a complex process, given how many variables there are that can impact operations. We’re talking everything from winds, to airport congestion, to air traffic control delays, and more.
Airlines often add a bit of padding to their schedule, since they don’t want to be late, both for the purposes of having good on-time statistics, and also in order to run a reliable operation, and minimize the number of people missing connections.
Anyway, our Phoenix to Taipei flight had a scheduled block time of 15hr20min. I was a bit surprised when we boarded, and the captain announced that our flight time would be 13hr50min, a full 90 minutes shorter than the scheduled block time. Okay, there’s always things that can go wrong, so I wondered if we’d actually make such good time.
Well, we left exactly on schedule, had a short taxi, and were airborne within 10 minutes of our scheduled departure time.
Then the flight time was in fact 13hr50min, as predicted, and we touched down 80 minutes ahead of our scheduled arrival time. We had a five minute taxi to our arrival gate (I was worried that might not be available, given how early we were!), and pulled in 75 minutes early.
Immigration and customs was a breeze, and we were in our hotel room in Taipei before our flight was even scheduled to arrive (and it’s quite a trek from TPE to the city!).
The Pacific is known for its strong jet stream, especially in winter. The winds just seemed to be especially light on the day we were flying, and that also made for a very smooth flight. Funny enough, our flight was the fastest since the route launched a few months ago.
The longest flight time has been 15hr20min, and the shortest flight time (aside from ours) has otherwise been 14hr4min.
What’s your record for earliest flight arrival?
Thinking back to my millions of miles of flying, I can only think of one other time I had a flight arrive well over an hour before the scheduled arrival time.
Around 14 years ago I remember flying American from Shanghai to Los Angeles on a 777. We had absolutely wild tail winds, and the flight time was under 10 hours, and we ended up touching down a little under two hours ahead of schedule. So I think that remains my record, but I can’t say with certainty exactly how early we arrived at the gate. Either way, nothing has come close to these two flights for me, in that regard.
So I’m curious to hear from others in the OMAAT community… what’s the earliest you’ve ever had a flight arrive? I have to imagine that most of the “records” in this regard have to be across the Pacific, simply given the extent to which the jet stream can impact flight times. You’re only going to arrive super early if you have a minimal jet stream going west, or a very strong jet stream going east.
Bottom line
It’s always nice when flights arrive on-time, but an arrival 75 minutes ahead of schedule isn’t something you often see… yet that’s exactly what happened on our China Airlines flight from Phoenix to Taipei.
We benefited from a strong jet stream, with the 15hr20min block time flight actually taking 13hr50min. It’s the shortest flight time there has been since the route launched, and we were happy to be at our hotel before the flight was even scheduled to land.
What’s your record for earliest flight arrival?
AA had a flight out of LAX that was scheduled a bit over 4 hours heading east. The same plane then flew back to LAX with just over 5 hours scheduled. The eastbound plane left on time, but arrived an hour late. We boarded/departed the westbound leg an hour late. We landed at LAX looking like we'd actually be at the gate as originally scheduled. The very unusual heavily westbound winds delayed the eastbound and...
AA had a flight out of LAX that was scheduled a bit over 4 hours heading east. The same plane then flew back to LAX with just over 5 hours scheduled. The eastbound plane left on time, but arrived an hour late. We boarded/departed the westbound leg an hour late. We landed at LAX looking like we'd actually be at the gate as originally scheduled. The very unusual heavily westbound winds delayed the eastbound and helped the westbound by an hour each way. Unfortunately, those same winds required LAX planes to take off/land in the far-less-common direction. This causes taxiing delays. And, after a long time heading to our gate, we had to stop and wait for our gate to free up. AA very kindly had someone at the arrival gate to let me know I needed to hurry to Bradley for my Australia flight (though I, of course, was well aware of it). I think this wasn't long after you could finally go from AA domestic to Bradley within the security zone. I was flying Y, so good on ya AA.
In 1998 I took a Northwest 744 from SEL to DTW. Got some major tailwinds over the Pacific and got into Detroit over an hour early. Unfortunately we then had to sit in the plane for 45 minutes because we were the first scheduled international arrival of they day and Immigration and Customs were not set to open until 15 minutes before our original scheduled arrival time.
Last month my FRA-ORD on United was 64 minutes early, and last September my NRT-DEN on United was 65 minutes early. Those are the two earliest arrivals that I can recall.
The Saturday before the big storm in NYC my delta flight back to sf took over 7 hours flight time. The opposite was taking around 4 hours and 20 if I remember mover correctly. That’s pretty wild I’ll say.
Singapore to Melbourne on lightly loaded SIA 747-200. Arrived so early due tail wind that I was through customs and waiting to be picked up over an hour before scheduled arrival time!
AC YVR-SIN, almost 2 hours less than scheduled.
They delayed YVR departure by about an hour as the plane would be way too early in SIN otherwise.
There’s not really such thing as a “real” flight time vs padded. What would the “real” one be; shortest departure and arrival vectors and closest gate to the runway on both sides? My point is, I don’t think it’s “padding” so much as an estimation of the average time. Besides getting the door closed on time, there’s not much else in the airline’s control.
many years ago but took a CX flight SFO HKG that arrived ~95 minutes early into HKG
(this is not too uncommon: check out the CX893 that reached HKG 1h13m early this week!)
One hour early NRT to LAX on a 787-9 last year. I was still full from the first meal and they started serving the pre-arrival breakfast.
A domestic flight in China, two tour groups were the only passengers with reservations on the flight, when everyone was checked in and through security, the flight boarded two hours early, took off and arrived two hours early.
What happens to flights going in the opposite direction? Do they just arrive terribly late or do they take a slightly different route?
They’re just blocked for longer times.
Back in September I had a Delta flight JFK-LHR that ended up being basically 5 hours on the nose. The captain came on to say it was his personal record and one of the fastest he'd ever heard of for that route, thanks to crazy tail winds. The downside was I didn't sleep at all and we had to wait for close to an hour for a gate to open, since we had arrive a full hour early.
Yeah that’s almost a negative. Especially considering how early American turns on the lights for breakfast.
About an hour early MAD-DFW.
Did you hit Centurion or Chase in PHX?
I'm not sure how early we were but once did an eastbound TPAC, don't remember exact route maybe PEK-SFO. Probably a 777. United flight, they had seat back monitors showing ground speed, at one point it got up to 770mph. That's a good tailwind for sure.
The closest I’ve come is having my flight delayed at SIN because an on time departure would’ve meant arriving during the curfew at SYD. If I remember correctly boarding was delayed more than an hour but we arrived on time.
I think I've had a couple International flights arrive about an hour early. Winds on an International flight can really speed up the flight. Domestic probably 35 minutes early.