Right place, wrong time

A crazy thing happened before my recent nonstop Delta flight from the Durham, N.C., to Boston. The flight was scheduled to leave at 4:25 p.m. I got an e-mail at 1:25 p.m. saying "we have just been advised of a time change." The flight was rescheduled for 5:36 p.m. On the way to the airport, around 4 p.m., I got another e-mail and an automated call to my cell saying there was another time change -- to 8:42 p.m. I headed back home.
Around 7 p.m. I checked the status online, only to learn that my plane was on the runway awaiting takeoff!
I called Delta and was told "we're sorry for your misunderstanding. You should have gone to the airport at the time your flight was originally scheduled to depart." Now that’s ridiculous.
I had to rebook for the next morning, greatly inconveniencing many people and missing a meeting.
Later, Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott said in an e-mail, "occasionally we are able to recover from the delay more quickly then expected.... In certain situations, and it is not often, customers can find themselves with circumstances where they are unable to make their flight."
There was no "misunderstanding." I did the right thing, which turned out wrong.

Posted by Diane Daniel, Globe Correspondent