I flew DL 5444 RDU-BWI yesterday (23 Nov). At 11:45pm on 22 Nov, I got an e-mail from DL saying my flight was cancelled and I was rebooked. I called and confirmed this with DL and she said my flight was cancelled because of pilot availability. I got off the phone and then started looking for other options instead of taking the later direct flight.

At 12:15am (23 Nov), I called DL back with an alternative flight I wanted to be booked on. The person on the phone seemed confused, saying that my original flight was on-time, so she didn't know why I was ever rebooked. Looking into it further, my flight had been reinstated after it was cancelled.

My question to everyone is, have you seen this before? And doesn't it seem strange that a flight would be cancelled and then reinstated so quickly? Shouldn't DL wait to make sure a flight has to be cancelled before doing it?

For the record, the flight was half-full when we took off (25/50). I think some people never got back on the original flight after they were rebooked because they didn't know about it. The flight wasn't full to start with, as it appears that Delta's thrice daily RDU-BWI flights are getting trounced by Southwest.