The Delta blues... Or.. how I spent my Christmas holiday...This story, as incredible as it sounds, I am sure is duplicated by thousands of holiday travelers.

Day 1: I find my flight will be 300 $ cheaper, if I connect from distant Huntsville ,Alabama, even though I have to fly the extra flight, just to connect with the very same flight out of Atlanta. So, they make it cheaper to take the extra flight. Go figure. Oh well!

I arrive at Huntsville international airport, 4 hours before my flight.I am suppose to depart at 1;35.As I am killing a couple of hours, I glance at the departure board, and notice my flight now says" delayed til 3;50"...

I get to the ticket counter, and the lady informs me that Delta didn't schedule enough flight crew rest to meet FAA standards. She then checks my flight, and informs me that I will miss my connector flight in Atlanta, and must be rescheduled the next day, and be rerouted thru Salt Lake City.

So,, Delta puts me up in a room, and the rep tells me to be at the airport by 5;40.I now have an evening to kill in a motel. I ask for a 4;30 wake up call, and figure, I'll be one day late.to Oregon

Knowing how . airports are, I allowed an extra 20 minutes over her reccomended 5;40 arrival time.I get to the airport , When I arrive, there is a line with about three hundred soldiers, returning to their homes for the holidays, It is a 45 minute line going thru security.They informed me that the soldiers flights were mostly afternoon flights, but the local Red Mountain Arsenal base, dropped them all off at 5;00Am

I now am forced on a later flight, but am assured I still have time to connect to my Atlanta flight. From Atlanta to Salt Lake, then on to Portland ,Oregon.I know it is a bit out of the way, and a hassel, but, it's the holidays, so I go with the flow.

I arrive in Atlanta, for my 3 hour flight to Salt Lake. I have a 40 minute layover(which isn't much in Atlanta) Just as I feel my trip is back on track, we promptly board the plane, and wait for take off...and wait... and wait.

Finally,, after some announcement about maintanance, the flight leaves 45 minutes late. but the passangers are assured that all flights will be waiting in Salt Lake, due to weather conditions..

As we prepare for our final decent into Salt Lake, the plane suddenly pulls up. The pilot says the runways are iced over, and that we were going to circle the Lake for a few minutes, to see if we could land. If not, we were going to go to Twin Falls Idaho, because of fuel.

30 minutes later, they clear us to land in Salt Lake, where there are blizzard like conditionsII rush up to the ticket counter, and the very young girl, say she thinks my flight as already gone, but says she can't really tell. Another girl is called over, looks at the screen, and says, yep, it's gone.

I am then sent to the other side of the airport.They tell me at the counter, since my flight was weather related, I would have to buy a room. I explain that i should have been in Portland 2 days ago. The lady then says"That's True", and gives me a hotel voucher, . I look at the voucher, and it has somebody else's name on it. I am told"They never look at those, just present it to the motel." She then informs me that my original flight was boarding now, but I couldnt make it across the airport in time. The flight I was told an hour ago, had already left.

Another night, another motel.. freezing cold..blowing snow..I wait for the shuttle for over an hour. I have now been traveling all day. I get to the motel..present my voucher, hoping they don't ask for ID... and ask for a razor(not suicide, yet.. I just needed to shave).. I get to the room, and with my very first stroke of this ultra cheap razor, put a huge gash in my faceI bleed for atleast 40 minutes, until it finally clotted up..

Day 3 I arrive at the airport at 5;35, for my 8;10 flight. . opps.. She had booked me for the 11;35 flightt... Which was delayed to 1;50.They then put me on standby for the 1;40 pm flight that was scheduled.As it turned out, the 11;35 flight was delayed until 1;15 pm.

The ticket agent called me up to the counter about 1:00, and says the flight was 10 passangers overbooked, and I would get the standby flight, and a 400.00 travel voucher, if I would take the flight 10 minutes later. I agreed. I have been on the road for 3 days, with my 90 year old mom, calling me every 10 minutes to check my progress!I ask about my luggage, and I am told they can't find it in the system, but it was probably already in Portland, ahead of me.

As I arrive in Portland, I check the luggage, and see if it arrived earlier.. It had not, so I figured it must be on my flight. i went to the ticket counter, and asked about my voucher. She handed it to me, and it was for 200.00 dollars. I told her the man said 400.00. She said Delta didnt really have a phone # for such matters, but gave me an email adress and said she couldnt over ride it, but maybe they could help.. Oh well, I'll worry about that later. The weather in Portland was bad, and getting worse by the moment. Better get my bags, for there was talk of shutting down the light rail.

After 30 minutes, of watching the carousel, endlessy recycling the same bags, it was apparent my bag was not among them. back to the desk, where I filled out a claim form. They assured me they would deliver my bag as soon as it arrived.

The metro rail takes me to the bus stop.2 feet of snow and 30 mile an hour winds . I am given the wrong bus # by the rail driver, and end up getting out in the middle of no where..

I finally find a little italian place with a bar, and my hands are completly numb...My mom calling and crying like I am surely going to die.At this point, I must confess ,I had my doubts as well!

Some weird guy sat at the bar, saying he was from Idaho, and it pissed him off, how these Oregon people couldnt drive in the snow.. a cab was a 2 hour wait, , Although the roads were shut down, to people without chains,, this tetesterone driven"superior driver" stated he could get me across town...as soon as he finished his whiskey!

Normally I NEVER would drive with someone who had been drinking. Not even in good weather, much less a blizzard..but I was desperate...

After about 3 near wrecks, I finally arrived at my destination, gave the guy 50.00 and waited for Delta to call with my luggage

And waited ...and waited.. My Christmas gifts for people...my clothes...my phone charger etc.....I have had the same clothes on now for 5 days..atleast the last 3 days I have been able to wash them. Can't get to the stores, because the city is snowed in.

Delta won't answer their phones, and I am into my 5th day ,and no luggage.Christmas is the day after tomorrow. I will be the one at the Christmas Eve candlelight service in sweats and a tee shirt! But!!! Ya know what? I am lucky enough to be with my 90 year old parents for Christmas...and a difficult trip, to visit live wonderful parents...beats a convinent trip to a cemetary, during the holidays Signed, a very Thankful, Mike the salesman