I appreciate trying to have good customer service but this totally makes no sense to me, read these two examples.

A few weeks back RSW->LGA was delayed by 90 minutes. I checked in the nght prior but checked my bags and noticed they were being re-routed via ATL. The check-in agent told me Delta re-routed me via ATL as a courtesy due to my delayed flight. Problem is, these new flights were due to arrive an hour after my newly scheduled non-stop flight. They were able to switch me back to the non-stop but had I not noticed the bags I would have been in for a big surprise when i tried to board the original flight.

An FO colleague of mine was scheduled to fly MIA->LGA earlier this week. For whatever reason the flight was delayed 40 minutes. Delta automatically re-routed her MIA->ATL->LGA, due to arrive 90 minutes after her delayed flight was now due to arrive. This time however, they were unable to move her back to the non stop and she was forced to travel with a connection. She was told this is a courtesy service delta provides to help frequent travelers with delays.

I appreciate the idea of letting flyers consider different options when faced with a delay (in fact I was once able to use the app to turn LGA->MSY into LGA->MSP->ATL->MSY when faced with a half hour delay, resulting in many more miles). But the idea of a 'courtesy move' that causes further delays seems pretty counter-productive.

Anyone else have this happen? Why is Delta doing this?