In Spain, pilots getting SLOT time on their flights,can be punished by the government if they don'treach their assigned SLOT times!! :-hmmm If anyone's wondering: SLOT time is an assigned timegiven to a flight where the pilots have to takeoff!this is usually given to flights going in to heavy trafficated areas!In Europe this SLOT timeis given by a computer system in Brussels!Example: a flight going from OSLO to FRANKFURTat 07:00am can be given a SLOT time for takeoff07:10 if there is reason for it (Heavy traffic etc.)and the pilots MUST be on the runway at 07:10and you cannot takeoff before or after!!should be something like that in FS9, whenever yougot a SLOT time there and did'nt reach it the computer would crash ;)

Slot times are a necessity in the overcrowded European airspace. Without them it would quickly become dangerously cluttered and completely unmanagable.If you loose your slot due to your own faults (for example, forgetting your gate and arriving late at the aircraft, it does happen more often than you think!) your airline may well take disciplinary action against you as it costs them a lot of money (not only do they have to pay for an extra slot but there is also the delay at both ends which costs money and gives customers a bad impression).If you loose your slot due to outside circumstances noone will blame you.

Yes ofcourse it is!! but get my point:YOU MUST NEVER have punishment and penalties for pilotsalready under enough stress, if you think it's right of thespanish goverment to punish the pilots you must be insane!!stress causes errors and mistakes, and this again causes accidents!i've talked to pilots shaking their heads about this new law!!

It seems to me that policies like this would lead to speeding on the taxiways. If a pilot thought he would miss his slot by a couple of minutes, he might be tempted to taxi a bit faster to make up the lost time. This could create a safety problem.Yes, an airline should take a closer look at pilots who forget their gates, or show up at the airport too late and then blame it on security, but in general these are highly trained and dedicated people who really try to do a good job. The problems are created by profit-concious executives who insist that every airplane at every airport take off at 7:30 AM. It's the airlines, not the pilots, who should be fined when their own overcrowding causes them to miss slots at peak times.