Bad News!

Message from Dawson at travel agent as follows.....

have had a look at the baggage allowances on United within the States and it looks as though there is a charge.
Details as follows.
U.S./Canada checked baggage

Below is the checked baggage policy for United Economy® travel wholly within the 50 United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Canada.

Frequently Asked Questions

This policy has been revised, effective for tickets purchased on or after January 14, 2010. Fees for first and second checked bags have changed. There is still a discount for checked bag fees paid through EasyCheck-in Online® at united.com.

If you are traveling on an Economy ticket or an Economy award ticket, please see the information below regarding checked baggage fees that may apply.

Please note that there are some fee exceptions. All fees shown below are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise specified.

For customers who are not exempt, first and second bag fees (each way) when paid at the airport are as follows:

If you purchased your ticket(s)
Before Jan 14th 2010
$20 first bag
$30 second bag

After Jan 14th 2010
First Bag $25
Sec bag $35

Then the following fees will apply for bags checked at the airport

Baggage fees are per person and for a single direction of travel. United offers a discount if you check your bags via EasyCheck-in Online® at united.com within 24 hours of your flight. The amount of the discount percentage is subject to change without notice.

Baggage fee exceptions
You are exempt from the above fees for checking your first two bags on flights operated by United, United Express and Star Alliance partner carriers if you are:

traveling in United First® or United Business®;
a Global ServicesSM, Mileage Plus 1K®, Premier Executive®, Premier® or Premier Associate® member;
a Star Alliance® Gold or Silver member; or
U.S. military personnel (or a dependent) who is either active or traveling on leave in conjunction with a permanent change of station (military ID required)

It looks as thought the international baggage allowance will not apply to the domestic flights as separate tickets.

There was no thru fare to Great Falls using the cheap Air NZ fare we had.