Originally Posted by JW411
I once spent over 5 hours in the congo line at JFK with the centre engine and the APU running one particularly foul night about 20 years ago. We were No.54 when we joined and I remember hearing a No.78.
As someone has already stated, holding at the Gate is not allowed.
Strange that..on a similar dark and stormy night some years ago at JFK there were NO departures for about 3 hours. Gate holding all round.
When somebody asked "What is our number for start?" the reply was something like : "If I told you #117, everybody else would ask"
Few others asked.
Pax fed and watered on board before departure so they all got a couple more hours sleep across the pond.