[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

tiredofpoorservice wrote...

I am flying from a smaller regional airport (the larger international airports are at least 4 hours away) and Delta is the only carrier I can take unless I want to take 3-4 segments instead of 2. In theory it should be less time consuming and less hassle ...

Nowdays, what appears to be the cheapest, and most convenient, is sometimes anything but. The deterioriation of service caused, in part, by bad airlines being allowed to consolidate has taken us back in time to the 1930s, and early '40s, when one or more en route "overnights" were required to get from point A to point B by air. Hence one can go for the cheapest, or seemingly most convenient; deal with sociopathic gate agents, flight attendants, missed connections, and non-English speaking phone staff, or, one can recognize the reality of the situation and plan an overnight stop en route. Accordingly, for anyone living in the Chicago area, or traveling to/from Chicago, Amtrak (stand-by for the groans) becomes an option.