OK, so I decided not to stand by for a 6am flight this morning (the DST changeover and a half-hour drive to the airport at what would feel like 3:30 am to me was a bit of a deterrent). Big mistake, unfortunately...

My flight has now been delayed 6 hours due first to wind (typical) and now "ATC Scheduling" (which I know means they're restricting planes in/out of IAD, my destination, and my piddly little SF3 has little priority).

Is there any real difference between the two in terms of what UA "owes" me? I could hop on a plane to PHL and then into IAD, or ATL and then IAD, if they'd protect me over onto DL or US. (the US codeshares via CLT connecting to UX flights into IAD are all already cancelled).

I've spoken to two people on the 1P line. The first got me protected onto a CRJ that now gets into IAD earlier than the SF3 since they leave at the same time, and tried her best to get me on any other flights with no success--she said to try at the airport.

I checked again when they slipped the departure back 2 hours, and the next agent said, "In weather, we don't have to put you on another carrier." I can buy that, but the first agent said the airport UX agents could do so without a problem (and I know from DL that they do that--got put on AirTran once due to weather by a DL gate agent).

My current options are to wait and hope neither of my flights are cancelled--the SF3 is on the ground here, at least, and not delayed on inbound. The CRJ is still at IAD. I am considering standing by on an ORD-bound flight to catch a connection there; it's full, but maybe someone won't show up. But do I have any reason to expect them to put me on another carrier's metal?