The key here is that they were part of one trip, and the airlines, to try to protect their ridiculously byzantine pricing system, automatically cancel the whole trip if any part of the trip is missed. This leads to ridiculous anomolies such as yours, but is designed to prevent people from exploiting their stupid pricing rules.
US Airways is close to the bottom of airlines likely to help you. Delta would have charged you a whole lot more that $317, but as you found AA were more flexible. This illustrates there are differences. I would give up trying to get blood from a stone and do the only thing which can be done. Never fly US Airways again.
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