It's happened to me. Get to EWR at 11 ish am..am told my connecting flight to D.C. is cancelled, next availability for me is late evening..i say no thanks and decide to take the train instead. They tell me to grab my luggage at EWR, I get there but it's nowhere to be found. Talk to customer service..oh yeah my luggage was put on the next DCA flight..the one for which there was no availability for me as a pax..only for my bags.