Hi,
I am taking a late winter/early spring vacation and my itinerary thus far SHOULD have been:

XXX-XXX-HNL-DFW-HDN.

However, yesterday's (3/17) flight 102 (HNL-DFW) was significantly delayed, causing me to miss today's (3/18) flight from DFW-HDN. I sprinted for it and got to the gate just in time to watch the plane push back.

I was rerouted to DFW-DEN (AA) followed by DEN-HDN (UA). I checked two bags that did not make it with me. When I got to HDN (Steamboat Springs) I filed a form at the baggage counter at HDN with the all-purpose baggage agent (who seems to work for every airline) and she said "I don't know who we're going to have to track this with, whether it's AA or UA, but we'll get you your bags". Her attitude didn't inspire much confidence and she didn't give me any kind of receipt.

I called AA's baggage line just now and was told that the last place the bags were scanned was in Dallas. The AA bag agent said there was no evidence that they went to Denver with me. To the best of her knowledge, they were still in Dallas. I asked if I could file a claim with her for the bags and she said no, because AA was not the final carrier on this leg, it was UA.

I have no United bag tags, so I'm not sure how I could reasonably expect UA to track down my bags. I asked the AA agent if my bags would have been scanned again if they had gone to Denver with me and she said "probably". So I asked her if they were probably still in the custody of AA and she said "I don't know, but we last had them in Dallas and they haven't been scanned out, but they also don't show up as 'on hand'". I asked her again if I could file a claim with AA so they could at least work on tracing the bags for me and she said "you can't file a claim with AA because we were not the last carrier on your itinerary". So according to that logic I'm left with the piece of paper I filled with the contract baggage agent at HDN as my only course of action to get my bags back.

Fortunately 1) I shipped my snowboard and helmet to my hotel using Luggage Forward and 2) I had enough notice of the delay to repack my bags so that I could carry on my snowboard boots and one day's worth of snowboarding gear. It's inconvenient not to have my bags tonight but not the end of the world.

If the bags don't come tomorrow, I'm going to need toiletries, sundries and it's going to be really inconvenient and stinky to re-wear most of my clothes or try to wash them in the sink. Since there is a relatively lengthy hold time to speak to a baggage agent I'm not too excited about calling back and talking to another agent but that is what I will do if my bags don't come tomorrow.

Before I call them back, do I really have no recourse with AA since they weren't the last carrier on my itinerary? My initial purchased itinerary was HNL-DFW-HDN. I didn't choose to fly UA, and my bags were never tagged to fly UA. Furthermore, AA caused the problem with their 4 hr delay leaving HNL (per the pilot, there was an equipment issue on the inbound flight requiring a swap --AAcargo.com says "unknown reason" for the delay). If I get the same story the next time I call, what exactly should I do besides asking to speak to a supervisor?

I'm guessing/hoping that my bags will come on tomorrow's DFW-HDN flight, but If I end up needing to buy anything, what should I reasonably expect as far as compensation from AA? I'm not looking for a new wardrobe, I'm talking toiletries, underwear, etc. Will they really try to tell me I should be filing a claim with UA? Will they try to tell me that I should have asked them for preauthorization to buy anything?

Thanks
-z