4 hr delay to LGA Part 2

Departure +2:00

After getting bored in the plane again, the Capt. and I stopped in the arcade for a few quick games of Tekken 4 (we were bored and really had nothing better to do). So after exhausting our quarters, we headed back to the plane to see if there were any updates on our wheels up time.

Departure +2:45

While querying dispatch about the wheels up time, the powers that be decided to load up the plane early in anticipation of us getting released earlier. So we loaded up the passengers and finally closed the door 3:10 late.

Departure +3:15

I call up ground control and tell them we are pushing from the gate. They advise that they can call center about our release time 15 min earlier that our proposed time off. We still had plenty of time, so we took our sweet time taxiing out to the penalty box (a place that controllers put planes that have taxied out, but are not departing right away).

Departure +3:45

We taxied out on one engine to save on gas. Every little bit helps when you are heading into the east coast. We decided to fire up number 1 a few minutes before the controllers at the airport were to call center just in case they released us earlier. Good thing we did because exactly 15 min prior to our wheels up time, we got the word from tower that we were cleared for immediate departure. I gave the people in back the good news and we were airborne in moments.

There are a lot of similarities between flying cargo and flying pax. Getting delayed is just one of them.