Originally Posted by GagaPilot

Sorry, but no real recourse with Delta other than some goodwill miles most likely, or a full refund if your family decides not to travel on Delta. Other options are to wait and not travel until D1 to VCE becomes available (understandably not ideal with the hotel booking) or to request a partial refund after the trip is flown to get a refund of the fare difference between D1 and coach. You can fill out a request online for this. Some will make the argument that travel insurance comes into play in situations like this, but I would be skeptical of a claim ever actually being paid in such a mass disruption scenario. I remember back in 2017 when I got caught in a DL meltdown that left me stranded in SEA, I was eventually able to book a flight out on WN and after months of hounding DL finally got a refund for the unflown DL segments. I seem to remember getting a large number of miles as an apology in a mass email sent to anyone that travelled on the affected dates.