How to Read Times on a Plane Ticket

The departure and arrival times are listed on the plane ticket. (Photo: BananaStock/BananaStock/Getty Images )

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Plane tickets contain important information about your trip -- but that information is not always easy to read. In fact, due to limited space, your flight information may appear as nothing more than a bunch of jumbled-up letters and numbers. Even something as straightforward as your arrival and departure times may be difficult to read or understand. Fortunately, although plane tickets vary in appearance depending on the issuer, they all follow the same basic guidelines for displaying times.

Step 1

Look for the word TIME or the letters ETD and ETA. American airlines usually use the latter two abbreviations. The first stands for the estimated time of departure. The second represents your estimated time of arrival.

Convert the arrival time to your local time. This will tell you how long the flight will be. In most cases, the ticket times represent local time. Your departure time is your local time. If your ticket says you are leaving at 0800, you will be lifting off at 8:00 am local time -- your watch will read 8:00 a.m. The arrival time, however, is also in local time. If you're flying from Seattle to Honolulu, the flight itself will be a little less than six hours long, so your watch may read 2:00 pm upon arrival. Your ticket, however, may list your arrival time as 1200 hours, or noon.