Delta Airline's Black Hole System

This experience I'm going to explain was about a year or two years ago when I flew to Salt Lake City, UT for our Church General Conference. I bought my ticket from Delta and was ready to fly few days before the event. Of course, GA 400 and I-85 South are so unpredictable sometimes even on weekends in terms of the traffic volume. I got in at the airport and made it thru the security check and I only had 5 minutes left before my plane leaves. I rushed to the gate thinking I will be able to make it because I had 2 minutes left before the plane leaves. But the gate was closed and nobody there was able to help me out..actually there were 5 of us who got into the same situation.

So, I went to one of the Delta help desk and ask how can I get into a plane as early as I can. They pointed me to one corner that has several telephone booths and call a specific number to talk to one of their representatives that can reschedule my flight. The earliest available flight was 2 hours after I talked to with the representative and warned me to call her 45 minutes before the flight to confirm I have a seat for that schedule. So I did and was confirmed and told to go to this terminal where I can get my boarding pass. To my surprise, I have to pay $50 because I missed my flight and fees apply for the flight change. I...was...not...happy! But I didn't have a choice but to pay it and get over it.

I was on board for my rescheduled flight and arrived in Salt Lake City smoothly. I stayed their for 5 days. It was time to leave and pack up my stuff. I got in at the airport "on time" because traffic was good plus I did my usual "arrive at the airport 2 hours before the flight". I was infront of this lady checking me in and she was not able to locate my information on their database! It appeared I have no ticket going back but I had a round trip ticket paid! She asked my flight from Atlanta 5 days ago how it went and I told her my story and frustration. Finally she figured out that "Delta Airlines" automatically deletes your travel information if you missed your first flight and I was not told about it. The Delta employee who took care of my new boarding pass for Salt Lake Flight never told me this! So the end result, was that I have to stay at the airport for 6 hours because that's the only flight available heading to Atlanta and I'm so glad she did her best to put me as the #1 in the waiting list because the plane that arrived 6 hours later only had 1 seat available! 

So both flights were terrible! I hated the fact that Delta never tried to maintain my return flight information or at least re-process it so I will have a smoot entry at the checkin and flight back.

Bottomline is never ever be late with your flight(s) if possible so that wont' happen to you. I never got any perks or compensation to make me happy about the mishap. Delta will automatically delete your return flight from their system and will make it appear you never bought a return flight ticket from them even if you have.