PHL wasn’t a problem after all — I was the first on standby allowed to board (I guess because it was an expensive ticket, being booked only a week before). But I got to DFW and the AA people told me that US Air neglected actually to book me on the later flight. Thing is, I told the ticket agent at Binghamton that she should be able to print out an AA boarding pass for me (I printed out the US Air boarding passes from AA.com on my home computer for the out-going trip). She said, “Oh, no. We can’t do that. You’ll have to get the boarding pass from AA at DFW. So I call AA. They say, “Yes, US Air cancelled your earlier ticket, but did not book you on the later flight. You need to check with US Air.” So I call U.S. Air and say, “There’s not a ticket waiting for me at AA at DFW.” They say, “Yes, it’s there. It must have posted while you were driving to Scranton.” I also check in Philly. They still say they can’t print the boarding pass. I (politely) ask why, if the ticket’s there. They say they can’t do it. So I get to DFW and check in with AA. The agent says, “What did they do? They cancelled the first ticket, but didn’t book you on the later flight. If there wasn’t one seat left on the plane, you’d be on standby.” So I ask, “Is it true that US Air can’t give me an AA boarding pass when I’m connecting from AA to a US Air flight?” They say, “Of course they can. We have agreements with everyone except United and Southwest.”

But, still, I got home only a few hours later than originally scheduled. Whew!