I finally made it home at 4 am. I really appreciate everyone's insight. More so with some than others. But, let me elaborate. I was flying UA. We literally were the last commercial flight to leave IAD. Yes, I can't confirm that there was another A319 with our seat configuration sitting there, but this has happened to me more than once over the years, at hubs, and I am sure others can concur.

I get this is a delicate dance. But let me elaborate my point just for conversations point.

In my case as I said we were the last commercial flight, the entire crew was already there waiting. We were waiting for our plane to come in. So the hold up wasn't in bound crew or luggage on a plane. I mean maybe a passenger or two was going to RDU from BDL, sure. But again, if another A319 with the same configuration was already at a gate waiting for the next mornings flights to start, why couldn't they just switch everyone/luggage/crew to that gate/plane?

Last week I took the same flight. And our plane had mechanical issues, so they told us we could use the plane coming in from Cancun. So we all switched gates, passanagers/luggage/crew etc.

So how would that be any different? I would highly doubt that at IAD there was no other A319 with our configuration sitting there at the end of a day. And yes, I can't promise that and with all of UAs configurations it could be true that there wasn't. And I don't buy that it's a fuel issue. Wouldn't they have to refuel the plane coming in anyways? Wouldn't the new crew have to do all the same checks regardless of whether the plane was sitting there or just came in?

t325 I just saw your response, after i wrote the above, which I think makes the most sense. Thanks!