Originally Posted by
flymonthly
The way I read it, it was an hour until departure when the daughter talked to her parents, not when she arrived at the airport. It sounds like she had already spent some time at the counter checking her luggage, trying to check-in and talking with (or trying to talk with) Delta on the phone. I can imagine those activities easily taking an hour or so.
I've had this happen before. You get to the gate and a ticket has not been "electronically reissued" properly and something complicated (multiple carriers) makes them call the Global International Support desk.
Giving his daughter the benefit of the doubt (which is completely fair) this is what happened is this: she arrived airport 2-3 hours before takeoff, she got to the agent at 90-120 minutes before takeoff, they called global support 70 minutes before takeoff, and something was not correct in her reservation. She called her parents 60 minutes before takeoff. It was already too late when she called her parents.
Ironically, the reason the hold times were probably so long is because of the volcano. One of the good things about a global system: more support when things go wrong. One of the bad things about a global system: your hold times are affected by things nowhere near you.