what words or things should we ask delta to prepare ourselves for when booking awards with them going forward?

what were the conditions of your situation? was it a matter of them not wanting to give you a seat because you were a lowly award, or because awards somehow get lower priority in the minds of those at the gates, or because plane 2 was slated with no seats available for your type of--or any type of awards, and so they merely couldnt figure out how to key it in to make a stuck person fit in that otherwise never would have been there standing before them to pose such a problem?

I was thinking, for example...

"hey delta, i just booked this itin with 25k miles that connects thru slc. let's say it gets delayed and I need to take another DL plane out to make my other DL connection. Does this award prevent that?"

if they say "no, that wont be a problem," I will get a name and employee ID to have with me in the airport.