Bad Airlines, Bad Airlines

This is more of a rant than anything...this past weekend Jim and I went to a wedding in Charleston, SC and had a great time - except with the companies we had to deal with. So below are all the bad things that happened to us, when times are hard you would think companies would really work on customer service...guess not.

The vacation went great, until we were heading back to the airport to come home after a long weekend of celebrating. So here it starts :

• Discover our flight is canceled due to weather. Drive to the airport to get on a new flight.
• Delta informs us that there are no flights back to our home until Tuesday (it's Sunday)
• We provide them the idea to look for flights at surrounding airports near our home, for example Indy. - nothing
• We then provide them the idea to look for departures from surrounding airports
• The agent tell us she has found something from Columbia to Dayton for that evening, but we would have to rent a car and drive there. We take it.
• A couple next to us has been at the airport since early morning and their agent didn't offer them this idea. We watch them explode at the agent who was terrible and clearly did not care that she made a mistake.
• Rent a $160 rental car and drive 2 hours in traffic and rain to Columbia, SC.
• Go to get tickets only to discover the agent misread the flight information and reserved our seats for a flight out the following night (after she promised it was that evening)
• Columbia informs us that the earliest we can get out from anywhere at this point is the flight the following night.
• Check into a hotel for an additional $200
• Eat out again for an additional $100
• Confirm with the rental car agency, Thrifty, that we can keep the car an additional day for no charge. An agent named Michelle in Charleston, SC confirms this with us.
• Spend night and wake up to go back to airport, even though our flight isn't until 5PM
• Receive a call from Michelle that she made a mistake and had to charge us $360 instead of the original quote. She tries to hang up on us, doesn't accept her mistake and says there is nothing she can do. Is afraid to give us her name, but must, and says she will call back...she never calls back, even after we call her back and leave a message.
• Get to the airport, the Thrifty Agent in Columbia was great and only charged us the day....good job Thrifty here, but gotta do something about that Michelle lady.
• Wait at ticket counter in fear as the agent tell us the Charleston agent made another mistake, she should have issued us tickets on the spot and didn't. Fortunately this man was able to override the system and get us on board.
• Finally, get on a plane after it was delayed awhile and arrive home almost two days after our original date.

I know it was weather, but the extra $500 was not weather related. It is because the Delta agent was rushing, didn't care about her customers and had horrible training on using the system. I will definitely try to not fly Delta when possible.