I had this happen to me once: I was flying from Portland to Buffalo via Midway, but my flight was delayed and I missed my flight to Buffalo, which was the last flight out, so they put me up in a hotel for the night. It was actually really stupid -- when I landed in Midway, the gate next door was my flight to Buffalo, and the plane was still sitting there, and sat there for at least 10 more minutes, but they wouldn't let me on it. But they gave me a voucher for dinner from the food court, and then took me on a shuttle bus to a Fairfield Inn for the night. The next morning, I flew to Buffalo.

Will this always be the protocol? I am looking at the same route again and it's the very last flight for the day. The layover is also only 1h:15m. I'm wondering if I am risking myself having to sleep in an airport or pay for a hotel out of my own pocket. Will Southwest always cover me if there's some sort of delay that prevents me from being able to connect? What if it's a small delay, like 10 minutes? Is there some sort of window they limit it to?

Thank you!