We've all had our fair share of delays at airports. I, for one, am sick and tired of the excuse "delay to the incoming aircraft." If that is indeed the reason, why don't airlines tell us precisely why its arrival was delayed?
But of all the excuses I have heard, I experienced a new one on my South America trip. Returning to Buenos Aires from Puerto Iguacu, the small airport on the Argentine side that serves the Iguacu Falls, two planes had arrived on time from Buenos Aires and disgorged their passengers via the two airbridges. One had loaded up and was taxiing toward the runway, whilst the one I was on was about to commence boarding. Then, surprisingly, the other plane returned to the gate and all the passengers got off again. No announcements. With no loos in the waiting area after the security check, people were understandably getting impatient. Eventually, an airport official arrived and announced in Spanish that the airport had been closed because there had been an incident on the runway which now had to be checked. This would take an hour or so.
Eventually, the nature of the "incident" became apparent. A single-seater aircraft had been coming in to land when its undercarriage failed. It then crash-landed on to the runway. The pilot was apparently OK, but his plane had to be scraped off the single runway and any damage fixed before commercial flights could resume. I had built a 5-hour delay into my schedule prior to an international flight to Chile. I was convinced I would miss it, but the airport re-opened in the nick of time. I guess in future "delay to the incoming aircraft" will be infinitely preferable to "delay due to crash of an incoming aircraft!"