Pitiful excuse
 

DL 1868 LAX-MSP delayed because "co-pilot stuck in traffic". Doesn't inspire much confidence in the right seat, does it?

While I appreciate the honesty, it is quite infuriating. I could have understood someone getting sick with the flu or a car breakdown, but given the forecast ran in LA, shouldn't the co-pilot have allowed extra time to get to work?

Um, I've left my sister's house (75 miles from LAX) 5 hours before a flight before...only to have it take 3 1/2 hours to drive to the airport due to SoCal traffic...and that was at an "off peak" time. I'd be cautious to judge whether or not the pilot gave it adequate time to get to work.

Playing devil's advocate, if you as a passenger planned enough time to get to your flight, why can't the co-pilot? Obviously the co-pilot did not give it adequate time to get to work. If he gave adequate time, he wouldn't have been late :)

If he wants to live in the LA area, he may need to routinely allow 5 hours to drive 75 miles.

Would you rather have them lie to you?

Like that's never happened before. :D

At least they were honest. Having worked in a profession where being on time is critical (teaching), I know that no matter how cautious you are, things are always going to happen. The times I was late, usually once a year, it was less "stuck in traffic" and more an incident where a major thoroughfare was completely shut down for a period of time. Anyone who has been stuck on a major highway when it had to close, knows that there is no escape.

Now if you want to complain about something, you could argue that at a focus city like LAX, a major airline like Delta should be able to adjust; I could by that rationale.

Another possibility is that the co-pilot was called in from reserve. If something happened that the original co-pilot could not work your flight, another may have had to be called in from home. Not all reserve crew are ready on-hand at the airport.

A month or so ago I was doing a quick MR...LEX-ATL-MCO-ATL-LEX. Everything was going fine until after everybody was boarded on the ATL-MCO segment and waiting for the "turn ya cell phones off the door is closed".... instead the First Officer comes on the PA and says that the Captain is stuck in traffic due to I-75 being closed and he would keep us informed. 15 minutes or so later he comes back on and says the captain had checked in from the employee parking lot...and should be on the plane in about 15 minutes....being on a MR and only having about an hour in MCO I was a little concerned. But I thought the same plane turned right back and was my flight back to ATL.

Once the Captain got on board we made record time to MCO. Once we parked I dashed off the plane and grabbed the first GA i could find...sure enough I was on the same plane back to ATL...the GA checked me in while boarding the flight...I scarfed down a quick Nathans Hot Dog...boardrd and the flight left less than 15 minutes late for ATL. We landed in ATL "on time".

Just wonder what kind of issues that Captain might have gotten from DL for being late?

Not meaning to hijack this thread but I thought it was close enough.

The flight is in the air. Departed 33 min late - ETA 22 min late. No so bad. Of course it could put a crimp on people's connections, and negate the chance of a coffee (or other ;)) at the SC!

Too many ASSUMPTIONS with alot of these posts :td: If you do not have all the FACTS, then you really do not know what happended with the 1st officer. Bottom line, he was late and hopefully everyone got to their destination safely. For Me, thats a good day ^

Yeah, I don't quite get the harping on something like this as a pitiful excuse. ANYTHING could happen on a normal commute. The co-pilot could have allotted the same amount of time he does every day, or even more, and still have been caught by something unplanned. An accident can close down an interstate for an hour or more, and if you're between exits, you might have no choice but to sit there.

Maybe they were kind-of lying. Maybe the scheduled pilot was hung-over and the last-minute replacement was stuck in traffic. ;)

LA based crews have to cover three airports, LAX, SNA and ONT. As was said, if he/she was called in from reserve, it could take a while.

A few years ago I was on a NW flight from SEA-NRT which was delayed for an hour or so because the 2nd FO was stuck in traffic. It can happen in any city and it doesn't sound like your flight was too late.

Update from the OP
 

The copilot came on the com after we took off and said it took him four and a half hours to drive to work due to a concatenation of accidents along his route.

While I sympathize with the traffic struggle, I don't find this to be a great excuse. We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel by LAX so we could be at the airport promptly without wrestling with traffic. We could have stayed further out with family, but I doubt they would have held the plane for US if we were half hour late.

In the big picture, there was only a twenty minute delay, and I doubt many people missed their connections. And I am grateful to have arrived safely at my destination.

Maybe putting up with crappy traffic conditions, and keeping people delayed, is acceptable in LA. Not sure it would be acceptable here in the upper Midwest.