Originally Posted by RobertH

And, of course, if your trip is an international one into the US (the one in question is not) you can always pick up your bag after customes and not recheck it for the final leg(s). If you are going to do this make sure you remove the baggage claim stickers as you are going through customs - otherwise some alert Northwest agent might spot them and try to get you to recheck the bags for your domestic flights.