Originally Posted by
reimero
...Having said that, I haaaaated going that route. If anything had gone sideways on the trip from home to ORD, I'd have been treated as a no-show for the ORD-ATH portion, and that would have been Very Bad. The only reason I even tried it was I had a long (3+ hour) layover at ORD and I knew that if things got really desperate, I had time to rent a car and drive from DTW to ORD if needed. Everything went off without a hitch, but I was nervous until I hit ORD.
Minor side note.
From all reports DL treats split ticket passengers on DL<>DL flights that miss-connect as they would treat those WX IROP'd on a single ticket (assuming your tickets meet MCT). Though you are correct that DL does not contractually owe you on the miss-connect and would be within legal rights to tell you "so sorry".