Just wondered if anyone had a link to or knows the rules on what UA has to do if a flight delay (not due to weather or mechanical) causes me to mis-connect?

I was traveling this morning on :

UA 6732 MRY-DEN 0607-0929 (operated by SkyWorst)
UA 702 DEN-MCI 1010-1246

SkyWorst flight was late getting out of MRY...no reason...plane not even half-full, perfect weather...then landed in DEN at about 9:36 AM. We then sat on the ground next to the terminal for 30 minutes waiting for a gate. Finally got to the gate at 10:06 AM. (About half-way through the wait, the pilot comes on and very calmly says, "Don't worry folks, we're just waiting for a gate. There are a lot of planes on the ground in Denver today and all the gates are taken. It's ONLY GOING TO BE ABOUT 15 MORE MINUTES.")

When a pilot thinks it's not a big deal to arrive 37 minutes late for a flight UA often books with very tight connections, it's no wonder SkyWest is always delayed or cancelled (out of MRY).

In any case, arrived at gate B55, and even though I was in 1A, there was no way I could make it to B22 to get the 10:10 flight to Kansas City. So, by the time I got to the gate, the agent was gone, down the jetway, and the flight monitor said closed. I'm now re-booked on United's next flight at 1:35, which means I'll arrive almost 3.5 hours later than planned.

Of course, UA is very casual and unconcerned (gate agents, when they came back up the jetway would not help and only referred me to CS counter at B33. At B33, CS agent unsmiling and unapologetic) about the whole thing. Btw, not many people flying today...terminal relatively empty...so this can not be blamed on "crazy holiday travel".

Sorry for the ranting...I digressed. Just wondered again, if anyone knew of a policy on this. Is this considered IDB? What's the rule about getting booked on another airline if they have an earlier flight? Southwest had an 11:05 AM flight but UA would not book me on it. Frontier was only 10-minutes earlier than the next UA flight.

Thoughts?

Thanks!!!
Happy belated Thanksgiving to all.