"It's certainly an unfortunate delay. We regret the
inconvenience; we apologize. We work hard to avoid this. It happens
to other airlines as well."
Source: Northwest Airlines spokesman Kurt
Ebenhoch, on the 43-hour delay of a flight bound for Tokyo from
Minneapolis last week. NWA Flight 19 was originally due to leave
Thursday afternoon, but was delayed first for a maintenance issue,
and then again due to crew availability issues. The 747
finally left Minneapolis Saturday morning.