Genesis once bubbled...
Airlines are legendary for lying to their customers about the cause of delays.
They do it out of the profit motive - a little-known fact (which is going away as the paper ticket disappears) is that you can endorse a ticket over to ANY airline, and if it is on the same route, they can recover from the issuer the face value!
So, here you are in Chicago, with a flight due to leave for LA. Its on United. They KNOW they have a mechanical problem with the plane and it will be an hour late leaving - if it leaves at all.
Two concourses over, American has a flight going to LA 30 minutes later.
Now, as the United Gate agent, do you tell the truth, and have me, as the customer, turn around and walk down the two concourses, fly standby on the American plane - and have your company EAT the price of my ticket? Remember, that really didn't cost your company anything (you didn't take me anywhere if that happens), but you WILL have to fork up the money to American.
Or you can lie. You can tell me the plane is boarding "in 15 minutes", and that they are just about done solving the problem.
If you do that, and I buy it, I sit there and wait. The American flight departs. You now have my stuck in a box, and even if the plane NEVER leaves the ground, you have my money.
So sorry, so sad, so nice.
Think this doesn't happen DAILY? It certainly does! In fact, its part and parcel of these "agents" TRAINING to lie to their customers in such a situation.
You want to see me get mad at an airline counter? Lie to me about the status of the flight and by doing so keep me from getting where I need to go, and you will make an enemy out of me.
The Federal Government recently started threatening to FINE carriers over these practices. Their "solution"? Getting rid of paper tickets so that you no longer have anything to endorse over! So, in response to the government stepping in AS IT SHOULD and keeping people from LYING for financial gain, the companies again, instead of responding to the problem, eliminate their cause of concern.
Oh yeah, now you'll get the truth about the delay once the paper tickets have gone the way of the dinosaur. You just won't be able to do a damn thing about it.