Currently delayed at LGA, going on 7 hours. Why, when flights are all going to the same city (where weather has previously delayed everyone), do they not catch up and leave in the order of their original departure times? I know flights are coming in from different cities, but literally every other flight going to my city (DFW) has now left except us. In a route with many flights per day, seems like this could be more balanced?
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There’s more than just the plane to consider.
The pilots are only allowed to operate for so many hours before they have to have a rest period. If a cancelled flight was going to be the last one of a pilots day, that pilot is probably just otherwise done. If it would be the first, that pilot is waiting around to work.
There’s similar logistics with cabin crew, who will be ending their day based on whatever arbitrary time they started working.
There’s also the gates and runway slots at the destination airport. If there’s not going to be a place to park and deplane, no rush in leaving earlier. Large airports also have specific runway slots for takeoffs and landings. If you aren’t going to have a slot to land for an hour, no point in circling the airport waiting.
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