Even at the risk of some thread drift:
Originally Posted by CaptainMongo
Monday I had a taxi which was 97 minutes gate to runway.
Now, the operational area I am familiar with is Europe and its closer surroundings, and I may not have come across the yet unmentioned airport that this took place on. However, this does strike me as exceptionally long - possibly longer than the subsequent flight. Does ATC allow startup and pushback without taking runway queues into account? Is there no CDM or "first come-first serve" queue along which startups are approved while both allowing sufficient taxi time and keeping the queues at the holding point somewhat within a reasonable limit?
Surely, such a system would be desirable from an efficiency, fuel saving and engine lifetime saving standpoint and beneficient to ATC and airlines alike? If you are not going to depart for another 90 minutes, why not wait at some parking spot with, possibly a remote one, with ground power and aircondition plugged in?