Talk:Estimated time of arrival

Shouldn't this be in Wiktionary?
This looks an awful lot like a pure dictionary definition. Dfeuer 05:51, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Mh, my dictinary doesn't explain e.g. how to calculate a ETA. I cannot think of anything like say "history of ETA" or "ETA in the U.S." which could make it more encyclopedic. There's simply not much more to say about, imho. --85.179.144.255 (talk) 17:38, 11 May 2008 (UTC)


 * iN that case does it really have its own article space? Lihaas (talk) 08:28, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

Really used much more widely.
I believe that ETA is commonly used as an abbreviation for Estimated Time of Arrival. Not only in science and military, but also in day-to-day life. And similarly not only with vehicles, data, services and cargo, but also with persons. I don't have references handy, but one shouldn't come across many obstacles proving this right. Could you? 88.222.96.125 (talk) 09:08, 25 August 2014 (UTC)


 * looked into this, not many people talking about this abbreviation unfortunately, even dictionaries just say "estimated time of arrival" and leave it at that. Pigeonbloodblues (talk) 22:08, 18 November 2022 (UTC)

Miller, Vandome, and McBrewster
Sources written by Miller, Vandome, and McBrewster need to be double checked (and possibly deleted) as per VDM Publishing § Wikipedia content duplication. Ihaveacatonmydesk (talk) 20:44, 29 October 2014 (UTC)

ETA is absolute and not relative
Estimated time of arrival describes an absolute value and not a relative value. The relative value would be estimated time enroute (ETE) or time to go (TTG) as written at the German Wikipedia:

“time and date“ is also used at the definitions at and

Voomdoon (talk) 20:06, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

Telegraph Acronym
I believe the ETA acronym originated in the telegraphs that were used alongside railroads. In morse code E is just a dit, T is just a dah, and A is just a didah. Telegraphy was a great source and impetus for the development of acronyms. Many of these are now in common use. Convenience of an acronym like ETA in terms of economical telegraph speed would be a great incentive to make the terms popular. Journey Completing could have been an acronym of JC used in much the same way as ETA but J and C are didahdahdah dahdidahdit. ETA is a simpler sending with di dah didah. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.200.151.7 (talk) 19:26, 21 June 2015 (UTC)

what about submarines?
84.48.255.36 (talk) 08:40, 9 June 2021 (UTC)

Proposed merge of Time to completion into Estimated time of arrival
currently a little more that a WP:DICTDEF, where target covers synonym as metaphor. Widefox ; talk 22:14, 30 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Opposed. Two entirely different concepts with essentially no overlap. For most people (certainly for architects or engineers), which is my space, 'time to completion' is a contractual term indicating days to the due date for practical completion, a period of time. Estimated time of arrival is when my train arrives at its destination at a specific point in time, usually in hrs:mins. Personally, I do not recollect seeing the whole phrase 'Estimated time of arrival' spelled out like that, it is always ETA or ETD. Ex nihil  (talk) 22:00, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Opposed, per above Libcub (talk) 03:51, 11 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose; they are indeed two different concepts, and it would make little sense to merge the two. DFlhb (talk) 13:59, 14 January 2023 (UTC)


 * Oppose Agree with those above. Topics are entirely separate and should not be merged. Jadedhippo (talk) 00:54, 11 February 2023 (UTC)