I've searched around but haven't quite found the answer I'm looking for so here's my question.

I booked my Dad on a PHL-LAS RT using the 50 cent promotion, and I plan on buying him a LAS-SBA RT (which will save about $100 over just buying a PHL-SBA RT) so he can visit me.

Can he check his bags all the way through to SBA from PHL? More importantly, if there is a delay that causes a missed connection will he out of luck or will they accomodate as they would if it were one ticket? There's plenty of connection time between flights, but you never know flying out of PHL. PHL-LAS is US-operated. LAS-SBA is HP Express.

baggage wise, as long as the time between flights in LAS is longer than the airport's minimum checked bag time (e.g. 45min), and shorter than the airline's allowable checked bag time (e.g. 4h), that should be fine. the term in play here is "interline baggage check", at least until US and HP truly operate as one. as a practical matter, just have both itineraries on hand when showing up for the start of the trip, and tell them where you want the bags to go.
2 separately booked flights are just that, and airlines are under no obligation to help you if you miss the start of any itinerary. moreover, common practice is for them to cancel the itinerary if you are a no show. having said that, reality comes down to what kind of agent you draw.

baggage wise, as long as the time between flights in LAS is longer than the airport's minimum checked bag time (e.g. 45min), and shorter than the airline's allowable checked bag time (e.g. 4h), that should be fine. the term in play here is "interline baggage check", at least until US and HP truly operate as one. as a practical matter, just have both itineraries on hand when showing up for the start of the trip, and tell them where you want the bags to go.
2 separately booked flights are just that, and airlines are under no obligation to help you if you miss the start of any itinerary. moreover, common practice is for them to cancel the itinerary if you are a no show. having said that, reality comes down to what kind of agent you draw.


Thanks. That's what I thought. He probably won't check any bags so that shouldn't be a worry. It's a 1h45min layover going and 50min on the return so that should be enough time even if there's a delay.

This past summer I had 2 seperate reservations booked back to back DCA-DFW on US (to get the DC bonus miles) and then DFW-LRD on AA. On the outbound flight US checked my luggage through to LRD. On the return AA checked my luggage through to DCA but it never made it to the US flight in time. US did deliver it though and I had a tight connection so I wasn't surprised it didn't make it.