If it makes you feel any better, this could describe pretty much any busy day at LAX. Last time I went through there, they declared a full ground stop just because they lost control of the volume of incoming traffic due to delays caused by eastern US thunderstorms.

While there are some awesome long time DL employees at LAX who are saints, there are also some extremely confused new hires who I am summarily unimpressed with - if the point and click interface can't do it or the slightest modicum of creativity is required, they need to call in a red coat. And that can be an exercise in surliness depending on who answers the call, too.

A few months ago, communication was so bad at the gate that the captain for my flight rolled his eyes and took command of the situation, picking up a microphone and actually announcing what was happening for once...