They have been having weather related issues in the Northeast all week long with some delays averaging over an hour. This is fromthe FAA website for today:
AIRPORT STATUS INFORMATION
provided by the FAA's Air Traffic Control System Command Center
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport (BOS) Real-time StatusThe status information provided on this site indicates general airport conditions; it is not flight-specific.
Check with your airline to determine if your flight is affected.Due to
WEATHER / LOW VISIBILITY, there is a Traffic Management Program in effect for traffic arriving
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, Boston, MA (BOS). This is causing some arriving flights to be delayed an average of
1 hour and 48 minutes. To see if you may be affected, select your departure airport and check "Delays by Destination".
Delays by Destination: - Due to RWY/CONSTRUCTION, departure traffic destined to CYYZ airport is currently experiencing delays averaging 1 hour and 24 minutes.
- Due to WEATHER / THUNDERSTORMS, departure traffic destined to Newark International Airport, Newark, NJ (EWR) is currently experiencing delays averaging 1 hour and 28 minutes.
- Due to WEATHER / LOW VISIBILITY, departure traffic destined to John F Kennedy International Airport, New York, NY (JFK) is currently experiencing delays averaging 47 minutes.
- Due to WEATHER / THUNDERSTORMS, departure traffic destined to La Guardia Airport, New York, NY (LGA) is currently experiencing delays averaging 2 hours and 2 minutes.
General Departure Delays: Because a traffic management program is delaying some arriving flights, departing flight schedules may be affected.
Check with your airline to determine if your flight is affected.
General Arrival Delays: Arrival traffic is experiencing airborne delays of 15 minutes or less.
As far as delays were concered it was a weather related delay, and have been all week long. US Airways is not going to offer compensation to you. The mere fact that they offered to try to rebook you with American was a nice gesture on their part, but again they were under no obligation to do so. Cut off time for international flights is usually 1 hour prior to departure, as the airline staff need to be dealing with Customs and Immigration items for the flight as well as filing proper international paperwork. US Airways does not have any kind agreement with Alitalia, and so they were under no obligation to call Alitalia to let them know you were coming. As far as the bag and international flights go, I can only tell you that if your not on the flight the bag is not supposed to go, and it is supposed to be pulled for you to pickup.