ATLANTA -- Dodgen Middle School Teacher of the Year, Patty Smith, decorates her classroom with mementoes of her summer vacation.

"What I'm all about is traveling and sharing that with these children, said Smith. "I want them to be able to leave 7th grade knowing that the world is not East Cobb."

She'd saved up 80,000 Delta SkyMiles for her trip to China.

"The last leg of this trip just fell apart," Smith recalled.

For her flight out of China, Delta booked Smith on a partner airline, Alitalia.

They cancelled her first flight, and news from the ticket agent in Shang Hai only got worse.

"I said 'I have a seat assignment, how can this be?' And he said, ‘Well, we don't accept electronic tickets,'" Smith explained.

Alitalia would not honor Smith's free electronic ticket, even though she still had the receipt on Delta letterhead.

"Finally I said 'I need to go home, what am I supposed to do?' and they said 'Buy a ticket home.'"

Smith Spent more than $1,000 for a second ticket, and still was charged 40,000 SkyMiles for the rejected ticket.

"I knew that it was going to be a lot of red tape to resolve this," she said.

Smith says she wrote letters of complaint to both airlines, but received no satisfaction until contacting Channel 2.

After we got involved, Delta interceded on Smith's behalf.

Alitalia suddenly sent a letter expressing "sincere regret," promising a refund of her ticket.

Delta will credit her the 40,000 SkyMiles.

"Clearly it was Channel 2 that resolved this, clearly," Smith said.

Delta says they have no idea why Alitalia's Shang Hai ticket counter refused Smith's first ticket. Delta says members of their Skyteam partnership share electronic tickets daily without incident and that anyone holding one of those tickets should feel confident the system will work.