For a 45 minute delay one shouldn't complain. Had he said nothing what would be the complaint? "A 45 minute delay, unacceptable, we weren't told why, yada yada". Now had the delay been extensive to, let's say, an hour and a half then a complaint would be warranted IMHO. But not for 45 minute delay. The pilot did a mea culpa. It's forgiven. I'm sure the ground staff knew they screwed up. I see no reason to escalate this to the point where pilots might be instructed just to say nothing from now on.

I too would be glad my bag was on the plane and not following me on another flight.

I sat for 2 and 1/2 hours Saturday at JFK (not like the Sun Country 6-hour delay on Sunday) and the pilot was very informative. We saw other planes taking off. He told us that because of the direction we were to fly we had to wait until the weather cleared (JFL>FLL) while westbound and northbound flights were okay to take off. Had he said nothing or just blamed the weather I suspect many passengers would have complained that "others were taking off why not us."

I just appreciate honesty so much now that I find it hard to make a formal complaint when an airline gives a full mea culpa regarding the issue that is, in the grand scheme, minor.

I did not mean that all complaints should be withheld just because the airline was honest.