What is considered arrival time?

Okay, so you wanna know what counts as "arrival time," right? It's actually kind of a big deal when you're talking about flight delays and getting compensation, especially in Europe.

See, according to EU regulation 261 – and believe me, I've looked this up many times after some of my own travel mishaps! – arrival time isn't when the plane just touches down on the runway. No, no, no. It's more specific than that.

It's actually defined as the moment at least one of the airplane doors is opened and you can actually get off the plane. Yeah, that's right! All that taxiing to the gate doesn't count. You could be sitting there for ages, feeling like you've arrived, but legally? Nope, not yet.

I remember once, I was flying back from Rome, and we landed practically on time. I was already mentally planning what I was going to eat for dinner. But then... we sat on the tarmac for almost an hour waiting for a gate to open up. An hour! Seriously, what's with that?! I was fuming, but, you know, technically, according to this rule, I hadn't really "arrived" until that blessed door finally popped open. So, yeah, that's how they calculate delay times. Annoying, but good to know, right?