Irrops happen and one copes with it. It appears that even some DM agents in Delta, are not familiar with rebooking international trips in case of irrops.

Originally booked.
departure from RDU at 8:30a.m.
RDU-ATL-DTW-HKG (DTW-HKG on DL 27).
Arrived at RDU at 6:30 a.m. I had still not been upgraded as, I was told, that people with disruptions due to irrops trump even DMs.

The check-in line for elites was long as there were many affected by irrops. RDU-ATL had been cancelled. I was booked on RDU-DTW departing at 12:40 P.m. arriving in DTW after boarding was scheduled to commence for the HKG flight, with less than 45 minutes between arrival in DTW and departure of HKG flight. The check-in agent said, that was the earliest flight I could get. I asked what if that flight is delayed? I was told by a DM agent that they would have to reoutr me on another airline, such as Korean. No uograde on RDU-DTW as Fiurst cabin had been booked by other passengers affected by IRROPS.
About 11:30 a.m. , RDU-DTW was delayed that would leave me only 5 minutes to connect in DTW.

There was long line at the Skyclub also. Called DM line. First, I was told to wait another day. When I told them I had to be in HKG, she tried to look to reroute me. We got disconnected. Called again. The same thing happened again,and we got disconnected. I was in the line to be helped by a Skyclub agent while doing this. Called the third time and requested the agent that if we got disconnected, she could reach me at the Skyclub in RDU as T-mobile signal was not very good in the RDU Skyclub. but she responded that she did not have the telephone number for RDU Skyclub. Some PE agents on NW and PM or DM agents on Delta have called us back if we were disconnected in the middle of a booking, but this one would not. She also insisted, there was no choice, but to wait until the following day, which I could not do. I suggested that I would drive to IAD, or DCA or BWI to make the connection as long as they book me a car. She asked me how long it would take me to get to DCA. When I told her, about 6 hours under good traffic conditions", She suggested a flight out of DCA at 5:30 p.m., which was really cutting close. At this juncture, we got disconnected.

The nice ladies at RDU skyclub worked very hard as DM line was not very productive at this time. They called the international desk and had them book me nd reticket for RDU-ATL-JFK on Delta and JFK-ICN-HKG on Korean, with nearly 3 hoiur connection in JFK. NO upgrades on any of the flights fto JFK.
RDU-ATL cancelled and was rebooked on a 6:30 p.m. RDU-ATL with a later ATL-JFk connection--still able to connect to Korean, though the connection was a bit tight. No upgrade was available. Arrived at the gate to find F was checekd-in full. By some miracle I GOT THE UPGRADE in the battle field.
Arrived in terminal A of ATL to find the ATL_JFK had been delayed which would mean I would miss the Korean air flight.
Went to the Skyclub in ATL. The agent there was nice and tried to help, but did not know how. She called somebody and said they could not change my ticket as it was T fare. IRROPS require changes. She was also told by whomever she was talking to that there was no way I could depart that day. I would have to leave the next day. It is now bout 8:00 pm, nearly 14 hours I arrived at RDU for my first flight. I told her there are ways to get me out of here, but that they had to work fast and send me to LA or SFO to connect with Transpac flights leaving the West Coast around midnight PT. But she kept coming up with departing from LAX, SFO or SEA on Delta's flights to NRT the next day. They wouldn't look at partner airlines leaving from the westcoast that night itself. I asked her that if I found the connections, would she book them for me. Her response was, "We are not going to send you first class" I smiled at said "Maa'm as of now you say, you can't even send me tonight in coach, why talk about First class when I haven't asked to be flown in the First Class? "
Got on line and found literally 200 connections that would get me into H9ongkong between 7:00 a.m. and 2:0 p.m. day+2 instead of 8:45 P.M. day +1. I called my wife and gave her the information so that she could call the diamond line while I looked for other connections. I had an hour and 20 minutes to make the first choice. The DM agent would say they had to rebook me on Delta. Wife thanked her and called again. The agent was very helpful but not very adept at making bookings. She did sasy that she was not very fsamiliar with international bookings. She came up with a flight that, she thought, departed within minutes of the Korean air flight the same day. But it was P.M. instead of a.M. Got disconnected in the middle of the call.

In an attempt to book ATL-AMS on DL or KLM and AMS-HKG on KLM. Called again and now the there was no availability on that flight. Now it's past 9:00 and too late to get on that flight. This factoid is important.
I gave her four more connections. But she couldn't book find a way to book them. In the mean time, I had received news that my father had been admitted in an ICU overseas. My wife asked for a supervisor, who was very helpful but had to be walked through. The itinerary I proposed was ATL-LHR on delta, departing at 10:35 p.m. and connected with Qatar Airways to get to Hong Kong via Doha. She was able to get approval from the international desk. By the time she knew she could book it, it was 9:50 p.m. I rushed to the nice Skyclub agent who had worked on my itinerary earlier to re route my luggage. She couldn't see the itinerary in the system and doubted that anything had been done. in terminal E while she tried to get the ticket. The DM supervisor told my wife to tell me to go the gate of the ATL-LHR flight while she pushed ticketing through. I rushed to the gate and managed to get to the gate while boarding was still open. I asked if there any aisle seats open. AN older guy said, you have to book it advance. I said, "I understand, but I have been rerouted. SO if there is aisle seat, I would like to have it. A younger guy was going to look and found one, but the older guy said "NO. Give him the middle seat". He would not even listen to my request to give m,e my new itinerary, which involved transferring to a non-oartner airline, Qatar Airways in LHR. He threatened that if I didn't shut up he would not let me board. I won't get into the details here. I got on the plane and an FA told me there were some aisle seats open. I could sit in any of them.

The flight arrived in London late. Went to delta's transfer desk, but the lady who manned it had gone to the toilet. . There were four other guys who handled other Skyteam airlines, and all worked for the same handling company, but would sit there twiddlling their thumbs, which is not Delta's fault. When the lady who handled Delta came back, she gave me my itinerary and Qatar Airways locator and sent me off to Qatar Airways agent around the corner. He had gone to the restroom too. When he got back, he told me that Qatar Airways had closed boarding and had instructed him not to issue any boarding cards. I requested if he could call the gate and ask them if they would take me in if he issued me a boarding card. His repsonse was I don't work for Qatar. So I go back to Delta agent, but now, there were two groups of about a dozen people each, who were transferring to another flight. When my turn came, she booked me on KLM to AMS and on to0 Hong Kong, on the same AMS-HKG flight that had no availability in ATL. It's possible there wasn't any the night before. But it's also possible that they did not know how to look. The only problem was that I had 4 0r 5 hours layover in LHR. I asked for an earlier flight to AMS so that I would be less likely to misconnect to HKG in AMS. No luck there. Now I go to the KLM transfer agent for my boarding cards and for rerouting my luggage. The connection time in AMS was only 35 minutes from D to F. departure from AMS was delayed a little. I asked an FA if I could move further up so that I could deplane to make my connection. I was seated in the back. She helped me move just behind their business cabin.
I made it to the gate and the flight as it had been delayed. KLM even upgraded me to business class without asking. . When I mentioned about using CPAP, I was told requests like that have to be made weeks in advance. I said, I understood, but that I was rerouted multiple times during the last 24 hours. She relayed a message to the crew to check with the rules once we got off the ground. Eventually, I wasn't allowed to use th3e CPA.

I arrived in HKG at 4:30 P.M., I think about 2 hours or so behind schedule. At this point, I was thinking, it would be a miracle if my luggage arrived with me. Sure enough, it did not.

This has been one of the most difficult trips I have undertaken. I did not even have the time to use the meal vouchers DL issued. The crew on the ATL-LHR flight was nice, except a minor glitch which I won't get into. During the meal service, I asked the FA if I could have an extra entre left over at the end as I ha been so rushed that I did not even have the time to use the meal vouchers. Shr]esmiled and said, "I am sure, we will have some left over". But I fell asleep. She did give me an extra entre after the meal service.

Sorry, it's a long story, but memorable one for me. I apologise for lots of typos and incomplete sentences as I feel a bit overwhelmed at the moment. I hope the this gives a flavor of my experience. I might be a bit off in times of some flights as so much happened so quickly.

The things that stand out.

Some agents were unable to distinguish between arrival days when arrival day was day+1. One suggested leaving the next day and thought I could still arrive at the the time and on the day I was scheduled to arrive. It beats me how. One got mixed up between A.M. and P.M.

I'm sorry, but after reading everything here, what was the point?

My takeaway is that T-mobile coverage is very poor at the SC the OP was at, and that if he was on another mobile carrier, or on a landline, his travel plans would have been finalized sooner.

He REALLY said "shut up or I wont let you board?"

If the OP talked as much as he wrote in his post, I agree with the GA/FA.

Wow, I'm very sorry for all you've experienced, Yaatri. It's been a very rough week for DL, as almost all of their hubs has been impacted by weather, and the East Coast is still a CF right now with all this weather. I should know, I'm in DC, the midst of it all.

As for your trip from hockey double sticks, I can't emphasize enough. I went through a somewhat similiar experience on AA (thankfully, not as bad, and I got a comp upgrade to F for all the troubles from BOS-SFO so got to experience their fancy transcon service), and I feel your pain. My suggestion would be to "prune" your post into an easily-read letter, making your points, and consolidating all the problems you experienced. Email or write DL snail mail, or call their Customer Care number at: 404-715-2600, option 8. Personally, I'd call.

There's no excuse for the poor treatment you received, especially by the GA and the employee who claimed a T fare was unchangeable. DL has a long way to go to make sure CS is consisent.

Godspeed, and best of luck to you. Let us know the outcome!

But on a positive note, the OP was not asked if he would move from the bulkhead row to allow a couple with an infant to sit there.

on a positive note he did finally get the upgrade that he consistently reminded us he didn't get throughout the day.

I'm so sorry that you had this experience. Of course it's appropriate to describe it here. Where else will you find people who will understand what you went through?
My experience is that most of the FA's and other passengers, especially DYKWIAs, don't understand what it means to be unable to use your CPAP. Since sleeping without it is actually dangerous as well as painful for many people with sleep apnea, it would be helpful if FAs received some training in this area. Assistance in finding a way to use it would be a reasonable accommodation, especially when IROPs are involved. I'm sure that you planned your original bookings to allow you to use it on these long flights. After this frustrating experience, coupled with poor sleep, I think you did an awesome job of posting facts rather than merely a disjointed rant.
There seem to be 2 points to your post:
DL agents need more training in managing complicated rebookings.
DL staff need more training in accommodating disabilities.
I agree with both.

So was his point Delta sometimes have a spare entre on the ATL-LHR flight? If not I must have misunderstood.

^^^^

Agreed to the first part. However, why could the club staff @ RDU not help? They are some of the best outstation staff in the system always willing to go above & beyond to ensure the customer is taken care of. 2 of their GA's received my JWD certs after a cluster .... of error(s) by DL Global in DFW including my best note in a PNR ever "Ticket is now One Way. NOT AGENT ERROR." If only I could show that agent what an error that would have been....

My experience this weekend was use twitter/Deltaassist. I had no problem getting back to the east coast after the weekend's disaster in DTW and MSP.

@Deltaassist got me to ATL and then BUF. My cost is data roaming charges in JPN.

I had all my alternate routing confirmed while the TA, GA and SC agents at NRT is still trying to figure out how to deal with the cancelled incoming flight and no excess equipment available.

Twitt Twitt

I hope your father is improving in ICU.

What a horrible flight experience.