Flying Delta

K is home. It's a MIRACLE! He called yesterday to let me know his plane was departing Washington, D.C. late. He called again from Minneapolis to say, "DON'T come to the airport!" You see, his "Direct" flight from D.C. to SLC had this stop in Minneapolis. Like my experience on Monday, the "Direct" flight required him to change planes. Not only that, the next plane was in an entirely different concourse. This whole direct flight business required running and when he got to the gate, his plane was still there, but they wouldn't let him on it. Remember, the first flight was late. The flight was closed. So, he went to the magic ticket scanner and it popped out a note that said "See Gate Agent." There were NO gate agents. Anywhere. So, he picked up the service phone and finally got in touch with an employee who told him she couldn't help him and that he needed to see a gate agent. He patiently explained to her that there were NO gate agents around. Anywhere. Her response, "Well, there should be." Well, there weren't. He was informed that all flights were booked until 9:40 p.m the NEXT EVENING! The other option was to get a hotel voucher, spend the night, and then migrate on over to American Airlines (or was it U.S. Air?) to fly to Phoenix and THEN to SLC. So, K had to go to Delta ticketing which required him to go outside of Security. They were all very busy down there, but he finally got to talk to an employee who decided to put him on the next flight as a standby passenger. K looked at the security line and asked the agent if it was even worth a try since the flight was coming up soon. She encouraged him. At the gate, the agent announced that the way they do standby is in the order of the person's name on the computer. K was in seventh place, but didn't know it when they started calling. Fortunately, there were some standby folks who chose not to go because they wanted to keep their group together and some standyby folks were no-shows, so...HE GOT A SEAT ON THE ACTUAL PLANE!!! He called from the seat to let me know when to pick him up. In Delta's "defense" we will say that somehow our luggage never got lost or delayed.