[Unhappy123]

I booked a round trip flight from Pittsburgh to Miami connecting in Atlanta. The flight home only had 30 minutes to catch our connecting flight in Atlanta. I was concerned about this and called Delta and was reassured I would have plenty of time to catch my connection or Delta would not have offered that connection. To insure that my friend and I would make the flight and our bags would too, we brought a carry-on suitcase only and purchased preferred seats for $19 each so thy we would be close to the exit. As we were going thru security in Atlanta, I was stopped because my bag looked "bulky" and asked to have it measured. It fit (I knew it would because I had already flown on two planes 3 days prior with the same bag.) As we were boarding and having our passes scanned, the gate attendant pulled my friend aside asking to check my bag. We assured him we already did this, but he insisted it wouldn't fit, took the bag, handed us a baggage ticket and said the bag would be waiting for us in Pittsburgh. Already concerned about this connection, I was upset and feared the bag would never get on our next plane in 30 minutes. He assured me it would. As our plane was about to touch down (10 minutes late), I felt the plane lift up and go back into the air. The pilot announced that another plane had gone ahead of him an he had to circle the airport and try to land again in a few minutes. When we finally got off the plane, we had only 10 minutes to make it thru the Atlanta airport. We landed in Gate A and had to get to gate B. We literally ran there and made it 3 minutes before take off. The door was shut and we were told the plane had already left 5 minutes early. We were offered a standby flight 5 hours later or a guaranteed flight 8 hours later. She could not tell us if we would sit together and assured me my bag would be in Pittsburgh.
I am now sitting in the Atlanta airport furious. Furious because I knew the tight connection was a problem from the beginning. Furious because my bag was taken and I have no personal items with me and will have to purchase tampons and menstrual pads because my bag was taken from me. There was no way I was going to announce to everyone at the gate that I needed my tampons out of my bag before he took it from me. Furious because I won't likely be traveling with my companion. Furious that my children will most likely spend another night away from their mother. I blame all this on the poor scheduling of the airlines and the lack of utter concern for others.
If you have to fly, go with your gut. If the connection seems too tight, don't book it. And finally, drive and don't fly if it is an option.

[Gromit801]

30 minutes? I don't care who held your hand and said it's ok. ANYONE who flies knows that 30 minutes for a connection is a recipe for disaster. One hour minimum for connecting flights.

Bottom line, it's your decision to accept or not, a recommendation.

[miguel fairlight]

Bottom line, Delta should not give recommendations which are a recipe for disaster.

Passengers are not experts in flight scheduling and are perfectly entitled to believe airlines are telling them straight.

Sorry to hear Delta let you down. That sounds a like a bad experience.

[Dooley]

Even if you land on time, it takes 10 minutes to get to the gate, then 10-15 minutes to get off the plane, you are already late. I never book any flight with less than one hour between connections. Delta is in dreamland showing 30 minute connections

[jimworcs]

The airlines need to programme their computers to block any transfer which is less than 60 minutes in secondary airports or 90 minutes in major hubs. Gromit, it is ridiculous in this instance to "blame" the customer. The customer contacted Delta and raised the issue...Delta declined to change it, reassuring the customer all would be well. What could they do?