I was flying out of LAX not too long ago when I had a 4 hour delay on the flight. When I asked the airport staff for info regarding the delay, they told me that the airplane parked at the gate wasn't the plane we were flying in and that it couldn't be moved until the pilot got there, and the pilot was currently in Arizona. This seemed strange to me as it seems like it could be towed out of the way if needed.
Additional info: I was originally supposed to be flying out of gate x (don't remember the exact number) and about 30 minutes before boarding got switched to gate y which had the airplane that couldn't be moved. I asked some of the people who were at gate y (they were switched to gate x) if they had been delayed at all, and they had already been waiting 4 hours and were given the same info as I was. The airplane was a bit bigger plane than I flew on which was a United Airlines plane with two rows of 3 seats (I think it was a 737). The plane was eventually moved (didn't seem to be towed or anything) after about 8 hours of total waiting.
Is there any reason why an airport would need to wait 8 hours for a pilot to arrive from somewhere else to move a plane, or is this just an excuse they made up?