The Delta Debacle

I'm on the road again this week. Down to Chattanooga, TN. No, I didn't ride the choo-choo train, I came on Delta, unfortunately. Actually, I felt things really started out going my way. Because of hunting season, Delta added a direct flight from Sioux Falls to Atlanta. I liked that because generally when I come down here I have to go to Minneapolis then to Atlanta, and then to Chattanooga. I get more frequent flier miles when I do that, but I'd really just rather fly direct as much as possible. So, I'm enjoying that flight while it lasts. Well, on Saturday, I was notified that I'd been granted a first class upgrade. I like those, and is a good reason I fly on Delta, because I like those. So, I had to get up early this morning...really early. Because of the time that flight leaves to Atlanta, I had to leave the house by 4:30. As I've gotten older, getting up at 4:30 really doesn't appeal to me in the least. But, I did, and I headed out. I got to Sioux Falls, and got checked in, and we were a bit late leaving, but not too bad. The flight was rough. Bad weather down here this morning, so we bounced around quite a bit. We landed in Atlanta, and I had to go from gate 48 down to gate 42. It was literally 50 feet. And, because of the weather, there were delays all over the airport. So, there was plenty of time to pull my suitcase off the plan and say, we should send this down to that gate that is 25 steps away, but apparently Delta can't pull that off. So, I got to the airport, and my bag did not. So, I went and reported it missing, to have one lady chewing out the people at the Delta desk. That's a whole different story, but she apparently isn't too familiar with air travel, and apparently feels that just because her flight got cancelled, that she should then be entitled to my seat on the next plane so that my schedule could be all screwed up. Now, she maybe had a point that she should have been on a standby list for the flight she was on, but that's where her being right ended. Anyhow, they had a report on my bag and told me they would deliver it. So, I caught a taxi to the hotel, got checked in and went to work for the afternoon. Once I did that, I waited for the call that my bag was in. I finally got it about 20 minutes ago, about 8pm eastern. I had to laugh. When I got the suitcase, there was a bright yellow tag on it that said "PRIORITY". Since I'd been a first class ticket at checkin, they automatically put the "PRIORITY" tag on it. Apparently that doesn't really mean anything, since it can't even make it from one plane 50 feet to the next plane. Leave it to Delta....