I am wondering whether this is becoming a chronic problem with BA. On a flight back to London from Rio in April, we sat around fully boarded on the runway for over three hours. They said they had a technical fault. I am now sitting in another BA machine in Berlin with at least an hour's wait because of weather some place on the flight path.

I understand both, and yes, there are delays. I fly a lot (I am Gold the past five years or so). The phenomenon of leaving us on the runway however seems to be recent. This happens a lot in the US; is it a new pattern with BA? Usually one can simply wait in the terminal if there is a problem, but now standard operating procedure seems to be to board passengers and make them wait. Any similar experiences? Any way to suggest they leave us in the lounge in the future until they can really push off?

P.s. At least the pilot and crew have been cheery about it.