  We show that arrival times for electromagnetic pulses measured through the
rate of absorption in an ideal impedance matched detector are equivalent to the
arrival times using the average flow of optical energy as proposed by Peatross
{\it et al.} [ Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 84}, 2370 (2000)]. We then investigate the
transport of optical pulses through dispersive media with negative dielectric
permittivity and negative refractive index choosing the geometry such that no
resonant effects come into play. For evanescent waves, the definitions of the
group delay and the reshaping delay get interchanged in comparison to
propagating waves. The total delay times for the evanescent waves can be
negative in an infinite plasma medium even for broad-band pulses. The total
time is, however, positive for broad band pulses in the presence of an
interface when the radiation is detected outside the plasma. We find evidence
of the Hartman effect for pulses when the distance traversed in the plasma is
much smaller than the free space pulse length. We also show that for a negative
refractive index medium(NRM) with $\epsilon(\omega)$ = $\mu(\omega)$ the
reshaping delay for propagating waves is identically zero. The total delay time
in NRM is otherwise dominated by the reshaping delay time, and for broad band
pulses in NRM the total delay time is subluminal.
