I disagree with your assertion that ACMI equal unreliability. I will make the argument that ACMI gives better reliability than an inhouse airline. The reason is that if the ACMI has strict performance goals written into it's contract and if they fail to meet those, they risk being replaced by a contractor who will, with the subsequent loss of flying and probable furloughs of said pilots.

If you knew your job depended on you blocking out and arriving at a certain time, you'd do whatever it took to make it happen. If that means liberal interpretation of the regs to ensure ontime performance, then so be it.