Good point Cactusjack. I remember the Big Q doing the same thing in Brisbane late one night when the Sydney bound aircraft blew a gasket and the Melbourne pax got punted off their ready to go 737 so the Sydneysiders could make curfew.
A well meaning but rather ill advised terminal PA by the CS manager went something along the lines of 'we know all our Melbourne customers will be understanding of the delay so the Sydney passengers can get home tonight'. The loud, heartfelt and fairly fruity comments from the Melbourne departure gate suggested that those passengers didn't believe in the big picture
. FWIW, thanks to the LAMEs they got out about an hour behind schedule, so everyone slept in their own beds that night (unless they'd planned otherwise
). Probably bad
PR practice on the part of the CS manager, but at least he was honest. I'm one of the dwindling number of people who appreciate that.