Airlines' On-Time Arrival Rate Hits Record

Well, schedule padding or not, I think most folks would rather have the truth. Taxi times are fairly consistent at Hub Operations so the time should be built in.
That said, it is good that for whatever reason, OT performance is at least up on their radar now. Wx or something unplanned can generally be understood by all, however begrudgingly, but a lot of folks such as myself are what I'll call day trippers, taking only a carry on for 1 RON, and are very dependent on those posted times, to the point, that while price is important, schedules are moreso, due to meeting times. That is the reason reliability is so important. A price may look real good but if you look at flight stats and see 75%OT performance on a flight, I will look for something else.

Most people don't know if the plane can travel 300kts or 600kts. They just go off the posted times. Maybe the airlines are wiseing up a little and posting times they can meet more easily. Shedule padding yes, happier customers, yes.

OT performance is a game of setting lower expectations, then beating it.

Example: FLL-NYC flight doesn't take 3 hrs..

I would much prefer the airlines to be realistic with their expectations and get me somewhere when they say they will, than race the clock and cause me to miss a connection that was probably impossible to begin with.