If you're talking about EDCT times from Traffic Management, the answer is complicated. Normally, the earlier proposed times gets earlier EDCTs. But, I have seen situations where an airline has called TMU and swapped EDCT times between a mainline flight at one airport and a regional flight at another nearby airport, essentially giving a shorter delay to one aircraft and a longer delay to another. But that is always the airlines doing it to themselves.

The only time I have done it as a controller is when two regional airlines where both going to ORD on a bad wx day (I was at a smaller airport at the time). Regional A boarded up and parked on the edge ramp for an hour, regional B stayed at the gate and didn't board.

Conditions improved, and TMU gave the regional B a new departure window 20 minutes away (they originally had a slightly earlier proposed departure time than regional A). They couldn't make the new time, so I worked out a swap so Regional A could go instead, and regional B got regional A's slot.

The crew that tried to make the pax for comfy by not making them sit in a regional jet for an hour on the ramp lost out on the deal, but I could put the other airplane in there or no airplane in there. Fair? Maybe not, but that's how the system works.


If you're talking about approach control, I can only speak for Chicago: No priority based on airline or international/domestic. At ORD approach, everyone is already in line from Chicago Center, and for the most part, they'll stay in that line until they land. Sometimes an attempt is made to keep heavy jets/B757's lumped together, but that is because a 747 following a 747 needs 4 miles, whereas a CRJ or 737 following a 747 needs 5 miles.

When there are more arrivals than runways or airspace allow, at least one of the 4 major arrival streams may go into the hold -- then they'll come out and someone else will go into the hold. Traffic management tries to keep the holding balanced so the pain is spread out equally (4-5 arrival streams to 3 runways -- sometimes it just doesn't work).

Approach actually doesn't know where you departed from or how long you've been flying or how delayed you are, so it would be impossible to give preferential treatment to an already delayed flight, or to one that took off 6 hours ago vs. one that took off 1 hour ago.

For anyone that was told to expect 28 or 27L at ORD, but then was re-assigned to 27R, it may seem that we're giving preferential treatment to someone else and screwing your flight, but that's not the case. Sometimes a heavy will state that 28 is an operational necessity, or it would just be more advantageous to the entire operation to move you to 27R.

You don't notice it as much, but sometimes you do see someone who was originally assigned 27R get a last-minute change to 27L or 28, so it does go both ways.