Immigration Minister Damien Green flustered flight passengers by claiming delays at UK airports are down to disruptive air currents.
In a statement that many put down to just a lot of hot air, Mr Green said of the longer waits: “That will depend on the wind, over which, with the best will in the world, airlines and the Border Force don’t have control.”
On the back of this, we’ve wracked our brains for the strangest excuses we’ve ever heard for travel delays.
Sandwiches, Scorpions, spiders and sunlight have all been to blame for hold-ups, be it for journeys via trains or planes.
A dog darting about on a runway at La Guardia airport in New York was enough to delay three flights, while mice and moose have also made unwelcome appearances that have thrown transport into disarray.
And who could forget the pesky eruption of Eyjafjallajokul, which saw flights grounded by a gigantic volcanic ash cloud?
Cows have stood in the way of locomotives, sometimes with tragic outcomes, but the most bizarre travel delay by far was the closure of the M1 motorway after a 20-ton Marmite spill. Mmmm yeasty.