Despite being the state capitol, ALB is a relatively small airport and might not be able to handle diversions of many large aircraft very well. In fact, I'm not sure whether they have enough runway for large aircraft, although if DL 414 was going to divert there, obviously they were within the parameters for a safe landing.

I'm glad the flight was able to get into JFK as either waiting at ALB to fly to JFK or taking arranged buses would have been ugly.