[jimworcs]

When flying to Europe, you should always try to book on a european airline. You would have been entitled to up to $750 compensation for this delay under EU law, 261 had you been booked on Air France or another EU based carrier. By travelling on US based carriers you are not protected in the same way. It is NEVER better to travel on US based carriers. The standard of service is generally lower and the legal protection provided by the DOT is very poor.

There are two flights a day from Atlanta to Paris operated by Air France, so instead of connecting via Philly you could have connected via Atlanta on Delta. (Be careful, as Air france code shares with Delta who also operated many Paris flights.... but there are a couple of options which would connect with the actual Air France operated flights). You are buying a ticket and reasonable protection when you do it this way. The golden rule is never to fly US based carriers to europe.