Discussion: An engrossing conversation...

...it must have been!!

And why was their baggage allowed on the plane.....?

An interesting question, but I don't think US domestic flights much check to see about bags of people who might have missed connections. When we flew back from Slovenia they matched us against our bags when we changed planes in Brussels and again in Montreal. Of course, if you get on the plane and they forget to put your bag on, they do send it after on a later plane.