I had an unpleasant experience when connecting in IAD in late December last year. The inbound flight from LHR departed slightly late, but arrived on time. However, due to horrendous immigration queues -- apparently passengers who have a connecting flight in less than 2 hours are not given priority over those who have to wait much longer -- I missed my connection to JAX. That flight was also the last of the day, so I was offered a hotel for the night and a flight out the next day. To me, this was not good enough, so I opted for a flight to ATL, overnight stay at the airport and a flight out first thing in the morning (it arrived before DCA-JAX offered would have done).

Having been through it, I do believe that airlines should hold the last flight of the day for connecting passengers. They should be able to verify whether they travelled on the initial inbound flight or not and attempt to contact them to determine the situation. Personally, once aboard, I do not mind waiting: there is usually sufficient quantity of entertainment on my iPad or a thick enough book in my backpack to keep me occupied for hours. I'd rather get there later than scheduled on the same day than not get there until the following day. I appreciate that other people on a flight may be eager to get a move on because they themselves have a connection, so it's not all me me me, but those are at least my 2 cents.