Yes I hate that - and then there are the people who have a hard time choosing a ship and just cycle through them all for what seems like several minutes.
There should be a kick function for that kinda stuff , but I guess if you were the host you could just start the game anyway and he'd be stuck with whatever ship he's cycling through.

I have not tried PA myself yet. Did not know that it could be such a hinderance but it's good to know that you can't get up there with your stats with PA activated.