Some of the other departure desks were not crowded, but Delta was. For one, it was a Saturday. For two, there was some inclement weather in Atlanta (Delta's hub), and that forced a delay in some of the morning flights.

Also, anyone who was running late got to cut in front through the special needs line, so not only was the line long, it was slow. The guy in front of me had waiting in another line first, and he was going on three-plus hours.

That said, I won't fly Delta again. They charge for bags (American is free international), and on a past trip to New York, I had left a pouch under the seat on the plane with my business cards and flight stubs in it -- easy to figure out whom it belongs to -- and was never able to get it back; I was mad.