GRRRRRRR Delta...I booked my flight out of ATL and not JFK for a reason!!!

I am very sorry as I have no helpful info for you, except that it's spelled "Xanax", just in case that has to be your only way to deal with it :-)

Kelly Kayak.com shows two flights on Delta (codeshare with KLM) ATL to AMS to BRU - one at 5:25 pm and one at 10:50 pm on that date. Might be worth a phone call to Delta to see if they can change your flight. I once had them change my flight to include a 6 hour layover that I wasn't anticipating and was able to work things out on the phone with them. Hope this helps.

Kelly - I agree that going through Atlanta would probably be less stressful on that date. It couldn't hurt to call the airline. Delta changed my return flight from Paris last year - they had me leaving 12 hours earlier than I had planned and making 2 connections in the US... I called and we were able to work it out. I ended up with a flight leaving 1 hour later than my original reservation with 1 connection. I hope you are able to work something out. Good luck!

This just happened to me and after hours on the phone before the trip there was no way for me to get the original flight I had spent HOURS working out. I wanted an easy flight, one stop to Istanbul and I was taking my 10 year old grandson. I ended up with a flight much earlier, 2 stops, layovers and not why I paid a lot of money for one ticket and a lot of miles for the other. After the change by Delta we arrived in Orlando two hours early and when we went to check in they told me that although they had the reservation the change had not been 'ticketed', so we stood there for over an hour while they were on the phone ticketing us. Sitting together was then an issue, which finally got worked out. Not how I wanted to start my international trip that I had planned so carefully to make it as easy as possible. We arrived, had a wonderful trip and after being home about a week I filed a complaint with Delta. I had other itineraries that would have been cheaper, but chose the one I wanted. So far, I have a complaint on file and have been refunded some of my miles as well as a small voucher toward another flight. It has been referred to a manager, but this is what happened on my initial call. So, they did respond and I will see if I get any further compensation. Just be sure they re-ticketed you when they made the change and you have seat assignments...I thought when you had a reservation you have a ticket...apparently not. No one noticed it despite the 5 or 6 phone calls and I did not know to check.

Just FYI, Atlanta is the busiest airport in the world. I'm not saying that just to be dramatic, it actually is the busiest airport in the world. And you're wanting to connect through there on one of the busiest air traffic days in the year. During Thanksgiving week, our local TV news just parks down there so they can tell us how busy it is. That being said, the international terminal won't be that busy, and weather probably won't be an issue. But I would like to hear about how JFK is around that time.

I guess the concern isn't just about being at JFK on TG eve.....It's the fact that there are 3 international airports withing a very close radius that shuts down or slows down if there is a rain storm in California....yes a bit melodramatic but I think one would see my point. Although I did not miss that connection to Berlin from Newark a few years ago, we did have to run, and yes I mean run, to our flight, when we were delayed in Tampa due to NYC air traffic issues. This was a week after thanksgiving. I frankly could not believe we got on the plane to Berlin, with sweat running down our faces as we had to run with our backpacks on our backs. Thank you for telling me that ATL isn't as dreamy as I imagined it would be. But I was enticed by that 50 min flight from Tampa that would most likely not be effected by snow. Every year it seem like the first big storm happens 1-2 days before thanksgiving. I will call Delta to see what the deal is. I can just hope that they re-offer a flight out of ATL but I imagine they cut the flight due to too many empty seats. And it seems that my economy comfort seats are placed closer to the lavatory. I tried to change them away from the lavatory but then the Delta website said I would have to pay another $80 to make the change.....So yes, a nice phone call is in order to make this ordeal less of an ordeal.
Thank you all for the advice, even to the spelling task master, which goes to show how affiliated I am with xanax.

Having grown up in the NE of the US, I can report that significant snowfall was a pretty rare occurrence around Thanksgiving. I remember having any snow cover at all only once at that time of the year. Overall, you're flying on a bad day. I doubt Atlanta would be significantly better than JFK.

I feel for you. Delta has done this to us more than once and it is really frustrating. I hope Delta can work with you on this and that you'll come back and let us know how everything turns out. Safe travels.

Kelly, have you tried doing a fake purchase to see if the flights you really want are still available? if they are, then I would call Delta and explain that you chose those flights for a reason--because those are the ones you want!!! Delta tries to force me (online) to go through ATL or JFK and I refuse. I much prefer (whenever possible) the SEA-AMS or SLC-CDG rather than a potential layover in the US but of course being on the West Coast, we have that option. Best of luck!

Yeah, like the other posters I feel your pain. Delta did the same thing to us...we bought the tickets far in advance to be sure of getting what we wanted, and Delta happily changed us anyway. If it will make you feel any better, I don't know that Atlanta will be any less of a zoo than JFK on Thanksgiving eve, so from that standpoint you may not be much worse off. Not that Delta cares one way or the other as long as they make a buck.

The seat that I chose for ATL to BRU was listed as a good seat on Seatguru; the seat I was listed to be in on JFK-Bru was without full recline. The website was going to charge me to change my seat. On a phone call to Delta, they refunded my $160 ($80 per person), charged me $100 ($50 per person) and moved me to a better seat and away from the bathroom. So the bad news was that I would be flying out of an airport I didn't want to fly out of but the good news is that my economy comfort upgrade was even more cheap flying out of JFK. So it is interesting how the price changes from flight to flight. Since there was a change in price to my benefit, I purchased the upgrade on my trip back to the states for $50 per person. It's interesting how the price changed especially coming back. If I would have stuck with my original plan, the upgrade cost coming back still would have been $80 per person. Even though I am coming back to ATL (hopefully that does not change), I only got charged $50. Weird.

It looks to me that the direct flight Atlanta-Brussels operates all days except Sunday and Wednesday. Days of operation of this flight have probably been changed forcing the airline to book you through another city. Exactly the same happened to me having booked CPH-DUS-MIA. Days of operation of the direct DUS-MIA flight changed so that it wasn't operating the day I had booked. The airline (Lufthansa) changed the routing to CPH-FRA-MIA. I would rather connect througt DUS, as it is a much nicer and less congested airport, but this is of course not possible. OTOH, I get to fly the A380 ;-)

Having flown through ATL on many occasions, I can tell you that ATL is VERY prone to weather delays, it's just rain and/or wind, not snow (usually). I have had flights that connected there canceled or delayed countless times due to weather. In fact, I once sat in the Sarasota airport for three hours trying to get to ATL - the flight coming from there and returning had not been able to leave to come to Sarasota because of a day-long storm. The two-hour layover I had planned became a race for the gate when I arrived. ATL is no paradise, believe me!

Don't want to rain on your parade but Delta was not being nice to you in changing the economy class upgrade price - if your flight is less than 8 hours then the cost is $50, if greater than 8 the cost is $80.