Maybe some of the human ballast left their guns in the restrooms again and were looking for them.

The actual reason for the lengthy delay was a ground stop due to enroute weather.

However, there is a system limitation which causes only the text for the first delay code entered to be displayed on nwa.com (actual flight times and delay codes are entered in a system called WorldFlight, which then sends the data to PARS). As a result, any additional delay reasons entered in WorldFlight are not always displayed in PARS or NWA.com because there is only room for one code there.

In this case, I'm guessing there may have initially been a minor delay in boarding due to passenger accommodation (e.g. unaccompanied minors, wheelchairs, elderly, etc.) but once the weather delay occurred the update to the reason code never made it to PARS; therefore it didn't display on NWA.com.

Another not so descriptive explanation I saw once is "Delayed for security". In this case, my girlfriend was flying out of ABQ, where the security line can be insanely long [often there are actually TWO lines--when the serpentine lines on the departure level fill up, the TSA stations someone at the escaltor to make people line up on the ticketing level; you are then allowed upstairs in groups of 20-30 to enter that line]. It took her about 55 minutes to make it through security. They held the flight to accomodate the numerous pax caught in the security line; the explanation made it sound like there had been a bomb threat ot something similar.

NW doesn't normally do that, in my experience.

Sure we do, often, as a matter of fact. It seems to depend on the situation. Example: 20 inbound connecting on the last flight out to that destination for the day. This is very common on certain routes. An example of this: BUF-DTW These flights are almost always half full of Japanese tourist passengers. They connect to NRT in DTW. Winter=A Mess=30 to 40 minutes delayed inbound. Half of a DC-9 is about 65 people, so we wait. I have been working quite a few Narita flights when this occured.

However, 5 hours is stretching it a bit, I doubt that was the scenario here.

Oh. Well in MY experience they don't wait. Even for about 10 passengers they don't wait 15 minutes.

Had the same status message for a flight I was on. It meant "too many fat people with big bags to take off!" I decided to give the new CRJ direct DEN to MKE service a chance on my return. Picking my seat about a week out I noticed I was the only person in the premium part of the plane (the front 40% or so), so I suspect other elites are shunning it.

However, the plane was closed to full, maybe four empty seats. Then we sat at the gate for half an hour, which the chatty pilot said was while weight and balance things were sorted, and then taxied out to the runway. Then we were told that the temperature had increased (to the mid-80s I think, nothing amazing) and because the weight of the plane was already very close to the limit we were no longer allowed to take off. So we taxied back to the gate and waited.

Eventually, a GA arrived and appealed for five volunteers to fly on the Midwest direct flight, which was holding for for the purpose. She promised $300. So I took it, rushed to the other end of the concourse, and found the Midwest plane had already left, as had all Midwest personnel. I then rushed back again, and told the NW GA. She then sent us all back onto the plane, where we waited for things to cool down. Fortunately that happened fairly quickly in the end, so the flight was maybe 90 minutes late.

Looking around I did notice a pretty high proportion of signifcantly overweight people crammed into the tiny seats. And presumably the total lack of elites on this new flight translated into a lot of families checking big suitcases. But it wasn't even 100% full. Seems like another great reason to avoid CRJs. Anyway, when my wife checked the flight status online she said it was "Delayed due to accomodating passengers."

I had it done for me last year, although more like 5 minutes, than 5 hours! In fact, the nice man at the counter said he would phone ahead to have them hold the door open and in return would I please '"run." I won't say I out and out ran but I did a pretty decent jog considering the size of my carry-on.

This was weather-related, my plane and I think several others were cancelled because of tornadoes in Memphis, so the counter agent wanted to get me on another plane as soon as possible, because he could see that a lot of other pax needing to be re-booked would be arriving soon.

I've seen the same thing on US Air when taking an international flight. I assumed that they were holding the international flight so that late arriving connecting passengers could make the flight. I've seen them delay for 30 - 60 minutes; but five hours seems extreme.

So did you get to keep the voucher?

Unfortunately I never actually got my hands on it. They just took names -- given the tightness of the timing presumably they'd have mailed it.

Here's an interesting "delay due to accomodating passengers"...

Flt 242 was delayed 90 minutes today due to the usual unscheduled maintenance that seems to be plaguing NWA lately. They actually had the plane loaded and the door closed while we were waiting for bags to load (after an hour delay already??) when they opened the door for two passengers to get on. At this point we were already over an hour late, and they still allowed late passengers on the plane? So they get seated and we're still sitting there waiting to push back when they opened the door a second time to allow two more people on! I'm sure the passengers were happy to get on the flight, but I didn't think they ever opened the door once it was closed and the FAs had done their little pre-flight skit.

I've seen it before. it's hit or miss really.

I was on a flight (SAN-MSP) that landed in DEN due to a medical emergency. As we were approaching MSP the pilot announced that two flights had been held back, one was to EWR, not sure where the other one was and the flight we were on heading to MSN (I think) had already left.

Me thinks they went over the pax list and saw a large number of connections to those two chosen cities, or, the later flights were grossly oversold that the missed connections wouldn't be worth it and it's feasable to hold flights for a few extra minutes.

I was on a flight last month while they waited an hour for cx pax... including me! I found out later that had I missed that flight, I actually would have had my upgrade on my protection (next flight) actually clear

ENIAC: As far as the CRJ weights goes, the thing is actually quite a beast. 85 degrees in DEN is remarkable in that it cranks up a factor called "density altitude." Density altitude is a performance reference that takes into account true elevation, temperature, and pressure. I've posted on that before, so try a search for it. Throw that in with some forecasted weather at the destination that may require a maximum fuel load, and it's pretty much an instant bump-fest... and you won't even have to have that many bags either! I can think of other reasons to avoid the a/c, but operationally it is a solid aircraft. For the most part, you can load whatever you want and it will fly.

Be glad it was only 85 degrees in Denver, not 105. The problem with Denver is "Density Altitude" - esentially the air is thinner because of the altitude, but with an increased temperature, the air becomes even thinner. The air molecules become more distant and it becomes more difficult to obtain lift, as a result the weight has to be reduced to an acceptable level depending on the Density Altitude.

Over in the CO Forum, there is a post about removal of pax off from a 737-300 on a hot day. Someone had commented, doesn't DEN have a runway of 16,000 ft when they were speaking with the pilot. While they do have a 16k runway allowing for a long takeoff roll, the takeoff roll would be so long, and at high speeds that the tires on the aircraft would not be able to handle it safely.

DL has problems with Density Altitude (DA) at their SLC hub, primarily on hot summer days despite the altitude not being as high as DEN. For that specific reason, DL purchased the MD-90, nicknamed the "Mad Dog", which is a high efficiency model of the MD-88 allowing for "hot and high" departures at SLC.

On one last note, you'll notice many ultra-long-haul flights, even if departing at sea level, depart either late at night or early in the morning, especially in the middle east. Try passing through DXB in the middle of the night and that airport is full of activity. All my long-haul departures have been in the middle of the night. I have departed DXB during daytime hours, but that was for a shorter 5-6 hr flight (not sure if we were weight restricted or not in a 777-200, but I recall it being well over 100 degrees F outside).

In closing, be glad it was only in the 80's and not 105 degrees (which is rare for Denver) -- but a 105 degree day at DEN would really restrict the CRJ and would have an impact on operations airport wide, even on larger planes such as your 737s.

SDF_Traveler