On Salt Lake City, Billings & Afghanistan

I made it to Salt Lake City, where we hope to get to Helena by days end. I feel lucky - we weren't the most abused passengers on this journey. One guy was a soldier coming home to Helena from Afghanistan. Northwest told him the best they could do was drop him in Billings - but he would have to pay for the cost of the rental car to get him the final 240 miles. What a wonderful welcome home for one of our troops. Disgusting.

P.S. Question of the day: If they cancel your flight late at night, why can't they just re-schedule it for the morning, instead of making your trip worse by re-routing you, delaying you, etc.?