Try not to take the day's last flight

Q. We were scheduled to fly from Chicago to Orlando via Atlanta for a wedding. Our flight from Chicago to Atlanta was delayed and we ended up arriving at the gate for our connecting flight (the last flight of the day) with five minutes to spare, only to learn that Delta had given our seats away to standby passengers. So we couldn't get to Orlando in time for the wedding, which was the following morning. Under what circumstances are airlines allowed to give away your seat to standby passengers?

A. You really put yourself on the last flight of the day flying through Atlanta? Whenever you're flying for a "can't-miss" event (wedding, funeral, cruise departure), it's a bad idea to take a connecting flight and a worse one to schedule your arrival at the last minute on the last flight of the day. Delta probably gave away your seat because they figured you wouldn't make the connection and a standby passenger is the proverbial bird in hand. This has happened to me as well, and it's annoying, but apparently it works for the airlines' bottom lines -- otherwise they wouldn't keep annoying passengers like this.