Thank you for this information. This was certainly not the least expensive ticket I could locate. We have not come close to meeting our MQD requirement for the year, so I was not remotely concerned about saving a few hundred dollars. I did not even shop for the cheapest ticket.

There are, indeed, multiple ways to reach Istanbul on any given day, but ultimately there are few flights across the Atlantic. Generally when I book 6 weeks out I have to problem meeting my personal flight criteria.

I wanted to purchase two seats together for myself and my husband, and, as unbelievable as this seems, the only flight from the US to Europe with two seats available next to each other was the flight from CVG to CDG. I could find a few flights with Air France, but we much prefer to fly Delta metal as long as possible. I also cannot select seats on Air France flights until 24 hours before the flight, and when we have done this in the past we have huge problems getting seats together. I also could not find an Air France flight that offered Economy Comfort seating. So with a preference for Delta and a desire to have two seats next to each other I used these as my decision criteria.

I am physically disabled, and flying is difficult for me at best. It would be much more difficult if my husband were sitting in some other area of the plane.

I used the Delta Medallion line to book tickets because I was using two Delta vouchers, and I can only use one of them per purchase when I book online. I had the flights selected before I called Delta. I really thought that the 34 minute connection was a mistake, and that they would put us on one of the early flights from MCO to CVG. I had checked and there were still plenty of seats on at least three of these flights. I also asked if we could take the MCO-CVG leg the day before, pay for our own hotel room and then catch the CVG-CDG flight the following day. There was no way they could book that either.

They refused to do this because they said it would create an illegal ticket because it would involve too many flight changes. I really do not understand this. We fly to Istanbul at least twice a year, and we have changed planes more than once to reach our final US departure city. Nonetheless, Delta would not budge on an earlier flight to CVG.

I mentioned the 45 minute rule at the gate in the first two minutes of my conversation. I was assured that this rule was only for passengers who were beginning their journey at CVG and that it certainly could not apply to passengers who were connecting, because there are many flights each day that have less connecting time than 45 minutes.

I am still within the 24 deadline so I can cancel the whole thing and start over. I would have never selected this connection time myself. I always try to allow for a minimum of 2 hours when we have connecting flights. I would rather wait and be bored than worry and be stressed having to race for a plane.

Everyone on the Medallion Line insisted that there would be no problem with this connection. I can see lots of problems beginning with the issue of the MCO-CVG flight arriving even ten minutes late.

I asked what Delta would do if I missed the CVG-CDG flight because I know there is only one per day out of CVG. They said they would put us on another plane, possibly with another carrier. I am not excited about that either.

Worse case scenario, if we miss the CVG-CDG flight and we have to wait for the CVG-CDG flight on the following day, who is responsible for our hotel room and meals? Does the 45 minute rule mean that Delta can hold us responsible even though they refused to book us on a flight that had some realistic possibility of making the connection?