CS not a problem, and what's not known in this is all of the variables that some dispatcher at NW had to balance into the equation which while the OP was late, sounds like they made it to SAN before curfew caused them to not make it to SAN that evening. Its always a pain when late, however, assuming Im flying in the night before a meeting or to get home, would rather be late and still arrive that evening, vs. having to wait for the next day and curfew to lift.

As to your second point, interesting thought and Im sure someone with more expertise or time on their hands can weigh in, however with the higher thrust engines, means in theory they can put more fuel on board and getup and off the ground effectively, more fuel on board means being able to cruise at a faster speed going into the wind (if any) meaning being able to get in under the curfew.

Would NW do this? My guess is yes in that in the big picture, NW had to get the crew into SAN before the curfew so that they could operate the mornings flight to keep the next days schedule in tact and avoid the ripple effect.

Have I been on a similar flight? Yup, on similar flights into curfew controlled airports like SAN and SNA, as well as on non curfew flights that were delayued, however where schedules needed to be kept as close to on-time as possible. For example a MSP-DTW, the flight was delayed for some reason I forget, they added extra fuel during the delay, and basicly kept the plane at as close to full speed as practical between MSP-DTW, was one of the fastest (once in the air) flights between MSP-DTW I have ever been on and some of the time was made up. Likewise a recent MSP-AMS flight was very late departing for mechanical reasons, time was made up enroute and result was about 30 minutes late (of course making time up with the wind at your tail tends to be easier ).

-H