Airlines like to pat themselves on the back for things they’re supposed to do. Like when they promise to get your bags out in a timely manner or make an in-flight announcement about the on-time departure of the flight. We’re all so accustomed to it that we hardly ever notice it anymore.
However, I’ve never seen an airline make such a big deal about a minor thing as what happened on a recent Delta Air Lines flight.
The morning started like any other travel day. We had a short hop from Orlando to Atlanta on a Delta 757-200.
The boarding process went smoothly and we pushed back from the gate a few minutes early. Because it’s Orlando Airport, we had a long taxi to the runway and we were on our way.
I slept for most of the morning flight and before I knew it we were on approach to Atlanta.
As we landed, the crew welcomed us to Atlanta and said they were proud to announce our early arrival.
While still on the airplane WiFi network, I opened the app and there was a burst of confetti for the early arrival.
When I took my phone off airplane mode there was a notification from the Fly Delta app.
Our scheduled arrival time was 10:34 AM. Tripit records say we arrived at the gate at 10:22 AM. All of this fanfare for arriving 12 minutes early.
On our flight to Iceland, we arrived almost an hour early and there was hardly a mention of it by Icelandair. While I understand Delta was proud they arrived early, it’s not a great look to celebrate so much for a small achievement.
What next, celebrating when the crew completes the inflight service quickly enough for you to finish a soda before landing?
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
3 comments
The best is when they announce early arrival on the speakers then we sit waiting for a gate and end up late
It’s a none-too-subtle way of differentiating Delta from their fellow US Big Three competitors by pointing out (on nearly every flight that I’ve taken with them this year) that it’s been an early arrival. I think the value to passengers isn’t making a big deal about being 12 minutes early, but the bigger point that Delta, their pilots, cabin crew, ground crew, gate agents, etc. all care about operating as many flights as possible to not only be on time but actually early (secret: a handful of years ago Delta padded all of their schedules to ensure that if a plane takes off “on time” it will arrive “early”). Maybe AA and UA should give it a try, or something like “we’re ONLY 12 minutes late” 😉
Early arrival is great if you get a ground crew and a gate…Sitting on the tamac for 50 minutes to wait for a gate and ground crew is not fun…