I don't know the rules about this as well as others here, but it wouldn't hurt to ask, and if the answer is no, you can always contact DL via email to see if anything else is forthcoming. Out of curiosity, what is your wife's final destination?

we live near GTR but her ticket is to BHM where she flew out of... so a one way rental from ATL-BHM to pick up her car then drive home

I'm not sure I understand the routing, but I think it was LAS-BHM with a stop in ATL. Is she going to arrive in ATL too late to get a flight to BHM, and is therefore going to have to rent a car to drive to BHM to get her car? If that is the problem, there is a 1230 flight on DL from LAS-BHM, with a connection in MEM. That would at least save her going through ATL where it is my understanding that the weather has been messy, and she would avoid the car rental and drive from ATL to BHM.

They wouldn't let her change her departure flight even though it kept getting bumped back. She was scheduled LAS-ATL-BHM with a 2 hour layover...she wouldn't make her connection and the flights are booked the rest of the day....i tried the MEM route but DL said no when i called SMS

Send them an email complaining via their website and you will likely get a credit voucher....it has worked every time for me when there has been a significant delay.

Unless there are rules that I am unaware of, that is absurd on DL's part. If there are seats on the MEM route, they should put her on that route to BHM and save the hassle and expense of the car rental from ATL. If she is not already aloft, I would call SMS again and try another operator who might be able to help you get her the MEM route. Finally, even if the flights from ATL-BHM are booked, if the missed connection is due to mechanical problems, couldn't they book her anyway and VDB/IDB someone else? If there are still BHM flights when she arrives in ATL, even on another airline, if she winds up being unable to take the MEM route, you might have her go to DL and see if they can put here on one of them instead of going straight to the rental car company.

yeah, i spoke with two SMS agents and both were unwilling to send her through MEM. They won't VDB someone else for her since she has no status with DL, its only me. They wouldnt even note it in her record to provide a rental car...they said "it's up to the airport personnel"

It sounds like you've already tried all of my suggestions. I would still have her go to DL in ATL and see if there is any way they can get her on any remaining BHM flights. Perhaps someone else here can help, but I simply cannot understand why, if there are seats available, DL would not get her to BHM via MEM in this situation. Mechanical stuff does happen, but none of this is the customer's fault, and going through MEM basically solves the problem. If anyone here with ExpertFlyer is reading, perhaps they can check and see if there are in fact seats on the LAS-MEM flight and then the MEM-BHM flight today.

thanks for all the suggestions...she is in the air to ATL as we speak...i did get her on the ATL-GTR flight where we could go pick up her car tomorrow in BHM but she's only got about 15 min to make the connection....hopefully the GTR flight keeps getting delayed like it has been all day

Good luck to her. By the way, is her DL flight landing in the same terminal in ATL that the GTR flight leaves from? Also, is there any online checkin for the ATL-GTR flight and if so, can you go ahead and check her in? Finally, does she have checked baggage?

ASA flies it...three flights daily...she had her ticket reissued so she has to get her BP in ATL which sucks...no checked bags so we are lucky there

Going to be tough. Her ASA flight leaves from Terminal C and her LAS flight arrives in Terminal A. Looks like there are 1830 and 1930 BHM flights which might be full, but if she doesn't make her GTR flight, I would still have her try for the BHM flights before the rental car.

luckily the GTR flight was delayed long enough for her to get on it in ATL...now i just have to drive her to BHM to get her car

I know the two of you had a long stressful day, but it sounds like it worked out as well as could be expected. One final question, were there no other LAS-ATL flights between 0630 and say, 0930 DL could have put your wife on?

there was a 745, 958, 1058...all were sold out