Some drama at the airport this morning as a U.S. Airways flight to La Guardia was delayed because... the crew members were late. (This wasn't my flight.)

Announcements kept reverberating throughout the airport that the crew members for this flight were late. Then the announcement changed: just one crew member was late. Since I was at gate 74 and this flight was at gate 82, I don't know what happened when the guilty crew member finally arrived.

It must have been fun being on the same plane as the impatient passengers whose trip was delayed because of your personal screw-up. Maybe the announcement was too honest. The crew member could have had a good reason. They could have said something like "due to air traffic control," which nobody is able to verify. At least the flight was only an hour, and not quite as bad as, say, catching a baseball above your home team outfielder's glove.