The gamble paid off

Way before I left for the Charlotte airport, Delta messaged AND called me that my flight that was supposed to depart at 7:05pm would be an 8:30pm departure.  Several co-workers were going to the airport to catch flights with departures at various times so it was best to go ahead to the airport and wait.  There were no other direct flights on Delta.

Charlotte airport, turns out, has free wi-fi.  I did some work.  Ate some Carolina pork barbeque.  Did some more work.  Found out I have to go to Dallas on Monday which I hadn't been planning on doing.  Ran into a co-worked who told me he noticed my flight was not scheduled for 9pm departure.

I headed to the gate to see what was going on.  Usually when a flight delay jumps like that it is going to the "CANCEL" state.  The gate attendant was trying to help one passenger and it was taking forever.  I called our American Express Travel folks.  The guy at AMEX was very helpful. I asked about a flight from Charlotte to Detroit and then connecting from Detroit to Minneapolis.  The first flight to MSP from Detroit was full but there was another one later.  I took down the information.

The Delta gate attendant suggested we call the rebooking number that was on these cards she placed on the counter.  I did.

The lady at the rebooking center was wonderful.  I gave her the information about the Charlotte to Detroit and on to Minneapolis.  She said if I could get to the gate, she would try.  I told her I was standing in front of the gate.  Then the system wouldn't let her make the change because my direct flight was not canceled.  I asked her if her supervisor could do that.  She put me on hold. 

When she came back, she said that she was making the change I just had to confirm that I agreed to having my direct flight ticket canceled.  I took the gamble that the direct flight was either going to get canceled or continue to be delayed.

My gamble paid off.  The connection in Detroit was close and really needed the Charlotte flight to leave soon even though it too was late.  The Delta staff turned around the plane very quickly.  I was in the very last seat on the plane.  The sky was beautiful with dramatic layers of clouds and sunlight.

The flight from Detroit to Minneapolis was also late and packed.  But when I got to Minneapolis I looked at the arrivals screen...the flight from Charlotte was due to land at 1:50AM...it was 11PM when I landed from Detroit!