Originally Posted by
RobertS975
As far as the Captain leaving the cockpit, I can certainly tell you that in the US, unless there was a significant ground hold delay after leaving the gate, it would be a small minority of flights of that length where a member of the crew would leave the cockpit. The fact that the Captain left the cockpit so soon after departure would be most unusual in the USA.
It may be pure coincidence and I only fly four times a week on short 1 - 1.5 hour flights,
but I have noticed that the crews seem to be taking toilet breaks as the pax self load. I had not noticed this before.