Delta (because I'm too mad to think of anything more creative)

I'm HOME! We had such a great visit during the holidays.. seriously.. probably the best one ever.. but traveling to and from was a massive nightmare.

I know this is long, but take the time to read it.. especially if you are a frequent flyer. If you just so happen to be an airline employee, especially from Delta, I'd love to hear what you think of all this!

I took a chance and made some changes to our traveling ways. Note to self: change isn't always good. If in ain't broke, don't fix it.. and all that jazz.

We usually fly American Air through Dallas into Charlotte. This time, I chose Delta, it being the best deal I could find. On the way we did, home > Dallas > Huntsville. On the way back, Columbia > Atlanta > home.

Here are the reasons (I'll try to shorten it up as best possible) I'll never fly Delta.. unless they offer me a free ticket for my troubles.... again. Nor will I ever use the Atlanta airport.

- The Atlanta airport closed while we were en route. We circled the sky for an hour and 1/2. A 3 hour flight with a toddler became a 4 and 1/2 hour flight... yeahhhh.. about that...
No fear though.. the whole airport is closed, so our connecting flight can't leave either. Apparently, they can't leave for another 4 hours, we find out when we finally deboard! Our pilot hadn't even left his prior destination so they couldn't even guarantee that the flight would leave at 11:30pm. Remember the toddler, folks.
I get all that. We can't control the weather. Neither can airport/airline employees. But we can drive to Huntsville and make it there before the flight does. We ask for our luggage. They wouldn't have been able to get it to us for another few hours, they say. Really?
We decide to let our luggage go on and we rented a car. End of story. We get there a little after midnight. All is as well as possible.
I foolishly thank my lucky stars that the bad leg of the trip was with Trey and not while I was flying alone. Ha!

- We get on the plane in Columbia, back away from the door, and sit.. and sit.. annnddd sit. Atlanta airport is closed again.. because there is fog. We sat for an hour. Wonderful.

*Then there's the whole thing about being the first to volunteer for a different flight and voucher, but them giving it to some man that didn't even vocalize his desire to switch. After she told me I could have it. Whatevs.. I didn't fight it.. figured I was on the plane I was supposed to be on.

- My connecting flight home wasn't affected by the airport closure apparently, and still left at 11:05. My plane touched down, never mind all that time it takes to get to the door, at 10:30. I didn't even wait for the stroller to come off the plane. I ran like 10 miles, with Drewsky in my arms, and breathlessly got on my plane, thanking God that I made it and wasn't stuck at the ATL airport until 7pm.. with a toddler. Yes, my stroller is still sitting in Atlanta somewhere.

- Now we wait to take off for a while because there is more luggage than expected and they have to take the time to get it on. They brought someone's instrument on the plane because there wasn't room. Remember these facts. They'll be very important in the next bullet. We finally take off and all is right again. I'm 3 hours away from being home. A very long 3 hours, but I digress.

- We land.. have a nice, much anticipated reunion with Trey, go to the luggage area and wait.. and wait.. and wait. Along with half the other passengers on that flight. Enter in the Delta employee that nonchalantly tells us that if we don't see our luggage, it never made it on the plane in the first place. There wasn't enough space on the carrier. For reals?
That would be something worth mentioning, dontcha think? And they thought an instrument is important enough to put on the plane in a closet to make sure it goes through, but not a friggin car seat?? A car seat is pretty much mandatory!
I'll save my full reaction and move on... I fill out the proper paperwork, leave with promises of a phone call within the hour to get my reference number and enough hope instilled by them that I'll have my luggage later that night.

- Enter in this morning. Never got a phone call. Still don't have luggage. I called and turns out that ALL of my information was entered in incorrectly in the computer. Wrong cell number. Wrong street number. Wrong street name. I have precise, very pretty I might add, handwriting. They added a letter into the street name. Complete carelessness. Good thing I called to see what was up.
I hung up with more hope that my stuff would be on the plane that landed at 12:45 and I've still heard nothing.

I'm irate. I would have never complained about the weather incidences themselves, but all of this together? Too much. They'll hear all of this from me. I'm just waiting to see my actual luggage at my door before I start my rant to them. In the meantime... my complaint list just keep growing and I look like a bum with no hair straightener or makeup.