168 Hours Wasted

Although we boarded early, my flight out of Detroit was delayed by 63 minutes.

The weather was clear, there were no mechanical issues, and the crew was ready to roll. The cause of our tardy takeoff? A bureaucratic procedural glitch that required sign-off from airline headquarters. This completely avoidable issue impacted 177 travelers aboard our MD90 aircraft, causing a total of about 186 wasted hours.

Everyone seemed to accept the setback in good spirit. At least it appeared that way — air mar...