Prior to boarding my flight at the Nashville Intrnational Airport the gate crew announced that since the flight was full they could speed up the boarding process if we would check our carry on bags "Free of charge"! Cool!! I took advantage of the deal and checked my carry on. Well, we were delayed at the gate for 1 hour and when we finally took off I knew there was no way I was going to make make my connection in Denver to fly on to Spokane. Son of a Gun!! They held my flight out of Denver and I made my connection and arrived in Spokane on time!! I was met by my brother and his wife at the baggage claim and I told them that there was no way they could have gotten my bags on that plane!! Low and Behold here they came!! I don't know how they did it?! And I don't really care but I do owe them a great big Atta Boy!!