Here are some ways to avoid what happened to me:

1. Don’t fly Delta. They will treat you like crap, especially if you have to talk on the phone with someone. The girl I spent most of my time talking to would either stop speaking or blame US Airways.
2. Don’t book flights that cross airlines unless they are directly affiliated. Making a connection from United Express to United Airlines is fine, cause it’s all run by one company. Making a connection from Delta to US Airways or United Express to Northwest… your risk of getting screwed just tripled.
3. Don’t trust the guy saying to “deal with it at your next connection” when you think you’ll miss your flight. When I saw a delay would cause me to miss my connection, I asked Delta if there was another route I could take. The guy denied me entry to the rebooking line with that reasoning.
4. Don’t pick flights with lots of odd layovers, even if it saves you $200. Omaha is not an airport with options.
5. Plan ahead. I am partially to blame for trying to buy a ticket just a couple weeks before my trip.
6. If you can’t plan ahead, avoid Kayak. They put me on the odd flight path through Omaha and across multiple airlines. This makes it very easy for airlines to pass the blame when something goes wrong.
7. Fly Southwest. Yes, that means from now on I’m driving to LAX to fly around the country, unless it’s an extremely simple flight, which doesn’t happen often when you fly out of San Luis Obispo.

I do feel like I am partially to blame, but at the same time, I booked this through an online travel planning site. My money should be a guarantee that I will get home, no matter what. If there is no guarantee, the warnings need to be very clear and the ticket price should reflect that.

If my writing skills produce something semi-entertaining when writing letters to Delta, et al, I will post said letters here.