Thanks for the suggestions.

Now the real battle is with DL who refuses to book us on a later flight that day. We are on J award tickets and unless it is DL metal, they won't put us on a partner.

Any ideas?

FYI.. one call had attempted to put us on a AF flight but AF had no seat. 2nd call refused outright to look at alternatives. When asked who was going to pay for the extra hotel night, got a rude "there is nothing I can do for you".