it didn't seem to bother the little guys though, a 737 and 320 departed while it was waiting.
If the Thunderstorm/Cb was the issue:
1. The “little guys” may have had a different route of flight with an early turn away from the weather,
more importantly..
2. Command course 101.. you make your own decision based on your own judgement..you shouldn’t assume it is OK to do something because somebody else did it...
anyhow...do we know what actually happened?