This is a topic that pushes limits of mindlessness even for travelbuzz, so you could be forgiven for ignoring it.

But, during COVID, a number of flights to/from China stopped at ICN to change crews and add fuel. This drill always took 60 or 75 minutes flat. Now there is an HU flight from Boston to Beijing that stops in Seattle for 90 minutes westbound and CA's JFK-PEK flights do the same at LAX. My question is why they need so much time. Obviously I understand that it takes longer to gas up a plane than my car, but in the case of ICN-PVG, you don't need a lot of fuel, yet the planes still sat there for 60 or 75 minutes. I don't think it was a slot issue because neither ICN nor PVG were busy airports during COVID. So, why couldn't they leave as soon as they were topped off?