I love a proactive airline pilot. I’ve been experiencing a string of airline delays and cancellations for almost a year now. In fact, I can only recall two uneventful on-time flights in the last 12 months. Suffice it to say, I wasn’t entirely surprised when I arrived at Philadelphia International Airport recently, after a meetings junket to Global Traveler world headquarters in Yardley, Pa., to learn a “low ceiling” in Boston had initiated a domino effect of delays. While my 4:15 p.m. departure was still listed as “on time,” the two earlier flights (scheduled for departure at 2:45 p.m. and 3:15 p.m., respectively) were already showing as delayed by an hour. Working on the assumption there was a pretty good chance my original flight would be the next to fall in the game of Delay Dominoes, I decided to grab a seat on the scheduled 2:45 p.m. with an anticipated departure of 3:45 p.m. As I was getting my new boarding pass, I overheard the pilot discussing strategy with the gate agent. The plan was to board and push back by 3:10 p.m. to get in queue for takeoff, rather than take a wait-and-see approach. The plan worked brilliantly. We taxied out to the runway and killed the engines for about 10 minutes before rejoining the queue at 3:40 p.m. as No. 2 in line for takeoff. I made the right decision, AND I love a proactive airline pilot! Lisa Matte, editor in chief