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Why airlines don't provide accurate flight times

Airlines may not be giving out accurate information when it comes to a flight's estimated duration.

In fact, Travel & Leisure claim: "Airlines exaggerate how long a trip will take so that even when there's a delay, the plane still arrives 'on time' a strategy known as 'schedule padding'."

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Reports suggest that planes are given more time now than they were in the past despite enhancements in technology.

For example, travelling from London to Edinburgh had been estimated to take, at most, 75 minutes in the mid-1990s but that time had been extended to 80 minutes nearly 20 years later.

As a result there have been allegations that airlines have been padding their timetables in order to boost their on-time arrivals.