Originally Posted by
chuck1
I was just wondering what kind of things would cause a bag to miss a flight when it is checked in 1 hour 30 minutes prior to departure from DCA to DAL on a single segment?
That's not the right question.
The right question (which is not Southwest specific) is how incredibly complex is the path for a bag from check-in (at origin airport) to carousel (at destination airport),
even for a 1-segment flight. The path from check-in to plane and plane to carousel likely involves
at least as many steps as from one plane to another (on multi-segment flights).
So I think your questions seems strange to some because you seem to be assuming that there's lots of complexity in bag connections but no complexity in 1-segment bag journeys. The latter is not at all true.
(And, btw, multi-segments on one airline, such as Southwest only, are in turn simpler than multi-segment flights with each segment on a different airline, as is common when you're flying halfway around the world.)
I think what you need is a "How Things Work" dealing with the handling of checked bags.