John,

You can't entirely blame the crew for tarmac delays. If all components of an airport function correctly, then and only then will there be no delays. Unfortunately sometimes these airport components disfunction because of human nature and mother nature.

Then again. It is true most crew members would rather get paid then sit around waiting.

I am a former Captain at USAirways Express."Could this be the reason for tarmac delays." No! It is a matter traffic flow at the Airport Traffic Area. 2 of the contributing factors for delays are the volume of airplanes scheduled to depart and arrive at a given time period in the Airport Traffic Area, and the weather can reduce this volume."It appears to be in your best intrest to push back and wait." Yes, it would be but there are other reasons for the push back.You have to get in line with" Air Traffic Control" for your departure. Once you push off the gate and call ground control for taxi then that puts you in sequence for departure.The Airline also wants you push off the gate and taxi so that they can use the space for arriving traffic.

Point taken gentlemen. I guess I should have put more emphasis on the "a" in a reason. I realize that this is one of many reasons (poor scheduling by airlines, the lack of a landing slot system that allows an airport to have more flights scheduled to land than possible or simply mother nature) why tarmac delays are ugly but I also know that my neighbor, the airline captain, has stated that she will push back as soon as possible to start the clock.

Better to be paid $25 an hour than $2.20, her per diem rate, while waiting for fog to clear. Her excuse is "getting in line."