Maybe checking luggage wasn't such a good idea

I try not to check bags even on Southwest when it's free - not just to save time but to avoid possible lost bags. I've also been able to change flights last minute a few times (because of a flight delay) only because I hadn't checked bags - finding them so you can quick get on another flight is often not practical. With carry-ons, it's easy.

I generally try to avoid checking bags, but there are some instances when I have and was glad. As a solo traveler, when I have to make a connection, or if I have a few hours to kill in the airport (you know, duty free shops and all), it's really nice not to have to carry or wheel my bag around, not to mention taking it to the restroom with me. It's easier going through security, quicker to board and deplane, and there's no stress if I'm in the last boarding group and worrying whether there will be room in the overheads.

I'm lucky, I guess, that I've never had bags lost. I know it happens, but all the statistics suggest it is rare and becoming rarer. And now with new bag-tracking software (Delta has it and I believe it's coming to other airlines soon), you can use their app to track your bag in real time.

Still, it's nice to get off the plane and just go without having to wait to collect my bag.

All in all, you and your partner are fortunate that her bag didn't go somewhere else! You really only suffered some lost time. Worse things happen to travelers all the time!

Well next time, one of you checks the unclaimed baggage office/area and the other waits at the carousel.

Yes, I have encountered this with early check-in, so learned to look at unclaimed luggage area if the bag isn't on the carousel. (At least with Southwest you didn't pay extra for the experience.) ;-)

her bag had been put on an earlier flight

Same thing happen to us on an Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale Delta flight. I guess I'm wrong (not uncommon for me anymore), but I thought that for a good number years one of the anti terrorist measures was to not allow unaccompanied luggage on a flight. Can anyone offer clarification?

I thought that for a good number years one of the anti terrorist
measures was to not allow unaccompanied luggage on a flight.

I hadn't thought of it in this case, but you're right. That is supposed to be an anti-terror measure. Where is the TSA when you need them? I don't think the luggage tag was identified as to the flight, just SJC for San Jose Airport. I guess they are counting on luggage handlers finding any explosives when they go through the bags looking for valuables to steal.

We flew TLV - JFK - ATL on June 30 and had about a three hour layover in JFK. Of course we had to claim then re-check our bags at JFK and we got through passport control and security quickly enough that our bags made it to ATL before we did. Delta sent me a text that they were waiting in their baggage office so we had them and were on our way almost as fast as if we had carried on. Sometimes these things work to your advantage.

I would not have waited an hour and half for the bag to show up. It doesn't take long once the bags from your flight start arriving on the carousel. Even with multiple flights on a single carousel, I would have checked in with lost luggage after about 15-20 minutes.

I thought that for a good number years one of the anti terrorist
measures was to not allow unaccompanied luggage on a flight

I don't think this was ever a policy. Bags fly solo all the time - like when they get misdirected and have to be put on another flight to where they were supposed to go in the first place. To check a bag, one must have a valid ticket and ID.