Domestic positive passenger bag match (PPBM) - with hidden city aspect.
 

Hey, have a weird situation coming up and wanted to verify that I'm not going to get myself in a bind:

I have a work trip coming up and I'm flying United one-way from City A to City C with a connection in City B. My girlfriend lives in City B and wants to join me in City C for the weekend. I was planning on meeting her in City B and driving with her to City C, throwing away the second half of my itinerary. The problem is that I have a checked bag. If I sign up for luggage delivery with Bags VIP, will they be able to grab my bag in City C and deliver it to the hotel? I don't want to wind up with an issue where my bag is pulled in City B. From what I've read, domestic flights have fully switched over from PPBM to explosives screenings but I wanted to be sure.

Thanks!

skelso,
im a regular user of bags vip as i miss-connect in den so much going to cos that instead of waiting for the next flight i get the other half to pick me up or uber it home and get the bags usually later that night or during the night, have not seen domestic ppbm since the post 9-11 days so you should be fine having the bag delivered from city C.

Keep in mind the 100-mile restriction for BagsVIP. Probably won't work if your "destination" is a long way away from your transfer point. There's no formal positive bag match policy on domestic flights as there is on international.

Wouldn't the bag get pulled at BBB for no-show?

It's my understanding that the bags will continue onto C even if OP debarks at B, due to no formal positive bag match policy. OP will end up near C (by car instead of plane), so it's probably reasonable to expect OP to be well within the 100-mile radius.

Yes I missed that... so if OP's final destination (i.e., delivery address) is within 100 miles of the destination of the itinerary, then there probably won't be an issue. Point is, domestic positive bag match is no longer formal policy, unlike inbound international, where bags will be pulled if pax does not board.

As others have said, doubtful you will have a problem. Why not just have your girlfriend drive herself to City C?

Are you flying back, after your work trip from CCC to AAA?

If so, and you haven't purchased your tickets already, can you book an open-jaw: AAA-BBB and then CCC-AAA ? You would collect your luggage in BBB and bring it with you as you drive.

One-way and they likely wouldn't take issue even if they did find out.

She'd rather me drive. Definitely an option though.

Nope, CCC to EEE by way of DDD. Pulling the same stunt (without a checked bag) and staying in DDD. I hesitate to call it a "hidden city" since the fare difference is essentially nothing. I travel for work but our expense policy is unusual.

Why do you have to check your bag?