My poor wife and daughter are on today's (Saturday, 3/23) DL 1899 (LAX-BOS)... looks like it finally pulled out of the gate slightly over 5 hours late due to a mechanical. Something with one of the engines. They were kept onboard for the first 2+ hours while mechanics installed a part borrowed from CO. But as luck would have it, the paperwork entanglements kept them from using this part. The crew said that phone calls were being made to GE (engine maker?) to allow the CO part, but at the end of the day, it was a no-go with that part. They were then taken off the plane and told that another DL flight would arrive in an hour and a half, and that they planned to canabalize the part of that aircraft. Indeed, that is what happened. It sounds like DL kept everyone informed. There were no other alternatives (I called SMS myself from back home) due to Spring Break traffic etc... but I had them protected on the same flight Sat AM if cancelled. All of tonight's red-eyes were booked solid. I assume that the flight crew must have timed out and a different crew from the original is taking this flight.

I am not a big compensation whiner. These things do happen. But what would a likely compensation be from DL for a 5 hour plus delay... home at 2AM (with luck) instead of 9PM? A SkyMiles bonus... extra MQMs would be nice!