A closer look
When the gate agent announces that your flight is delayed due to 'operational issues,' it is usually just a clever linguistic smokescreen. The FAA clearly states that weather events account for over seventy-five percent of all systemic airspace delays. However, airlines notoriously hate admitting this because they cannot legally control the atmosphere, and blaming it on generic 'maintenance' or 'crew routing' stops passengers from screaming at them about thunderstorms occurring three states away that are actively ruining their vacation.
