Interesting. So, in short, I might as well have just headed home and collected my baggage today? (I need to drive right past the airport anyway!)... and there is no real disadvantage to doing so?

Re. long waits - I don't fly very often any more, so thankfully this was the first time I'd experienced such a lengthy delay. Now, keeping in mind I arrived on what must have been the last flight of the day, from a domestic location, I wonder what the holdup was?