I had a similar situation tonight (Thursday).

My flight from TPA-LGA-RIC was diverted to PHL early this afternoon due to weather and never left because of the weather. These things happen. However, the flight was not cancelled and has been rescheduled to 0900 tomorrow morning. I have my golf clubs checked-in and my fall back plan was to collect my clubs, rent a car and drive to Richmond this evening. The gate agent volunteered that bags would be offloaded and returned to the carousel. At the carousel there was an announcement that bags would not be returned under any circumstances and anyone wishing to leave the airport and not continue their journey in the morning should file a report and American would reunite them with their luggage as soon as possible.

As I need my clubs for a golf tournament starting on Saturday morning I made the decision to book a hotel near PHL and continue on with my clubs tomorrow morning giving me the best chance of seeing them anytime soon. It means I'll lose my practice round day and I had to book an extra night accommodation here.

I find it odd that bags would not be released under any circumstances tonight. Is this an AA policy or was is just a local decision?