Originally Posted by
TPAtoAnywhere
Many passengers aren't aware that buried in the conditions of contract with DL, is language similar to the effect that they "may divert you to other modes of transport".
I've had air freight shipments diverted to rail carriage for the same reason.
I used to hear that a lot of flights to LEX out of CVG ended up being bussed.
Only happened to me once, when trying to get to PSC. Bussed in from GEG due to fog
I assume that a passenger would have the right to wait for the next available seat on a DL flight or alternatively get a complete refund for the segment since when DOT says that mainline to DeltaConnection change counts for this, surely mainline or RJ to bus would be entitled to the same privileges. Many people would prefer to rent a car rather than waiting to be loaded onto a bus and dropped off at the airport anyway. Of course, the logistics for passengers are a bit different when a flight diverts somewhere and the continuation is performed via bus.
OTOH even a short flight earns at least 500 MQMs and 1 MQS plus some RDMs and MQDs, so some people prefer to put such short flights on their ticket and might prefer to accept the bus to ensure SkyMiles credit. I suspect that choosing to rent a car would be considered voluntary and thus not eligible for ORC.