Dwell-time pressure is a risk score describing how likely it is that passengers will stay in the terminal longer than usual during a stated time window. It is a forecast about behavior that has not happened yet. It is not a measurement of anything.
That distinction is easy to lose and expensive to lose. A door counter reports the past. Dwell-time pressure reports a risk. A HIGH score does not mean the terminal is full right now. It means conditions point toward longer waits inside the window named on the signal, and that the risk is worth preparing for.
Because it is a risk score, it will sometimes be wrong. That is normal for a forecast and it is why every signal carries a confidence score next to the level.
Why it matters for airport businesses
A measurement tells you that you were understaffed. A risk score gives you the chance not to be. HIGH pressure at 14:00 for the next three hours is a reason to hold the afternoon shift rather than release it, and a reason to place the extra bread order before the bakery cut-off at 15:00. By the time a counter confirms the crowd, both decisions have already expired.
It also works in the other direction. A LOW score through a window you expected to be busy is permission to let someone go home early.
How DwellTime uses it
Dwell-time pressure is the first of the three scores, reported as LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH or CRITICAL. It never carries a duration in minutes. Each signal is issued with a time window, a confidence value and a set of reason classes that say what is driving it. All of this describes the planned MVP.
Related terms
See how the score is built and delivered in how DwellTime works.