I have a flight booked from BOS-LIS in July. I live in Mississippi, but the flight was only $650, and I figured that even if my r/t to Boston cost $400 it would be substantially cheaper than flying to Europe from any Southern airports.

My flight to Europe is on USAir. If my flight to Boston is also on USAir would i be protected should the first flight be late or cancelled? If so, I will probably just take a morning USAir flight to Boston. Otherwise, I will fly in the day before on whatever airline is cheapest.

Does anyone know how the airlines handle it when one of their flights is late or cancelled and a passenger is unable to make another flight on the same airline? Does my question make sense?

(I haven't posted this in the USAir forum as I think most airlines probably have similar policies).