How many airlines does it take to get from Missouri to Oregon?

Air travel is ridiculous, but overall life is good.

Friday Aug 1
I get an email in the morning from Delta reminding me to check in online. I follow the link and am informed that my first flight is actually on Pinnacle (who?) and so I can't check in online. Right.
Around 11 pm I get a phone message from Northwest (Pinnacle flights are apparently operated by Northwest) informing me that my first flight has been canceled and that I am now scheduled on a US Air flight that leaves rather later in the day *sigh*.

Sat Aug 2
I arrive at the airport. I booked my flight through Delta originally, got a call from Northwest and was taking a US Air flight. Who was I supposed to check in with? I could not find a US Air desk, so I went to ask the people at Northwest... who sent me to United. I go talk to United and am informed that I am booked on their flight but that somehow Northwest still has control of my ticket, so their computer system will not let them check me in. The Northwest and United people talk for a while and get things sorted out.

After hanging out in the airport for a while, I had a relatively uneventful flight to Denver - arriving at the far end of Concourse B. The departure boards in Concourse B only have departure info for flights leaving from Concourse B, ie only flights on United and their affiliates. I was supposed to be connecting to a Delta flight... I eventually found someone who could tell me that Delta flights are all on Concourse C. I go to Concourse C and find that my Delta flight is not appearing on the departures board. There is however an Alaska flight with the same time and destination, so I go talk to the Alaska people. After a few tries they manage to find me in their system and then manage to trick it into letting them check me in (I think they had the same problem the United guy had had in the morning).

Anyway, I am at camp now (though the bag I checked is not). The puzzle hunt was fantastic :-)!