Sherry Morris was slated to fly from Chattanooga to Alaska on Monday when she learned a computer glitch in Delta Air Lines' worldwide network had caused mass flight cancellations and delays.
Morris was told her flight would leave Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport about three hours later than planned, causing her to miss a connection.
"I won't get home," she said near the airport ticketing counter. "I had another flight to get on board."
Nearly half of Delta's scheduled flights from Chattanooga were canceled Monday and nearly all of the rest were delayed, according to the airport's website. Those and other widespread Delta disruptions created a traveling nightmare for many fliers trying to get home, leave on vacation or go somewhere else for business.
Tracking service FlightStats Inc. counted 2,000 delayed flights - about one-third of the airline's entire schedule - by late Monday afternoon. Delta said it had canceled 451 flights by early afternoon.
At the Chattanooga airport, the outside drop-off area was especially busy Monday morning as cars backed up in front of the terminal. Inside, travelers were making heavy use of their cellphones as they waited at the Delta ticketing counter.
Patrons of Delta - Lovell Field's busiest carrier, handling about half of all traffic - were advised by the airport to call and check on their flights before coming to the terminal.
"Regardless of what airlines you are using, we always urge passengers to check with their carrier prior to arriving to the airport for travel," said airport spokesman Albert Waterhouse.
Traveler Steve Brock of Chattanooga said he was trying to make it out of Lovell Field to fly to Houston, but he learned his flight was delayed more than an hour an a half on Monday.
He worried he'd then be delayed trying to catch a connecting flight at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which already is the world's busiest on a normal day.
Another traveler, Chris Payne of Chattanooga, was supposed to fly to El Paso, Texas, for work. But, his flight was canceled and he was rebooked by the airline so he could leave from Chattanooga today.
"They didn't have anything [else on Monday] going to El Paso," he said of the absence of a connecting flight. "There was nothing there in Atlanta."
Natalie Rice, field manager in Chattanooga for AAA Travel Agency, said Delta was waiving fees for passengers who had to reschedule their flights. But, she said, changing flights doesn't always make sense for some travelers.
"They can't afford to do that. It depends on the requirements of their schedule," Rice said.
Eric Kloss of Boston was in Chattanooga and hoping to get back to the Northeast on Monday.
"It doesn't seem to be terrible," he said, adding that "We'll see what it looks like in Atlanta."
Kim Kloss said the Delta personnel at the airport were taking care of travelers' needs as best they could.
"It is what it is," she said as she made her way to the security checkpoint.
It's unclear exactly what went wrong at Delta. The airline said it suffered a power outage at an Atlanta installation around 2:30 a.m. EDT that caused many of its computer systems to fail. But the local electric company, Georgia Power, said it was not to blame and the equipment failure was on Delta's end.
The airlines depend on huge, overlapping and complex IT systems to do just about everything, from operating flights to handling ticketing, boarding, websites and mobile-phone apps. And after years of rapid consolidation in the airline business, these computer systems may be a hodgepodge of parts of varying ages and from different merger partners.
These systems are also being worked harder, with new fees and options for passengers, and more transactions - Delta's traffic has nearly doubled in the past decade.
"These old legacy systems are operating much larger airlines that are being accessed in many, many more ways," said Daniel Baker, CEO of tracking service FlightAware.com. "It has really been taxing."
The result: IT failures that can inconvenience tens of thousands of passengers and create long-lasting ill will.
IT experts questioned whether Delta's network was adequately prepared for the inevitable breakdown.
"One piece of equipment going out shouldn't cause this," said Bill Curtis, chief scientist at software-analysis firm Cast. "It's a bit shocking."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Contact staff writer Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.