<i>All flights on similar fare scales are booked to all their West Coast destinations for the entire month of August, so they cannot reissue my ticket unless I upgrade to the next fare scale</i>

It sounded like the OP was trying to reticket via a West Coast gateway to PHX. I was trying to determine if the OP had asked about reticketing with ATL as the final destination.

I don't believe anyone was suggesting that the OP purchase RDU-ATL-PHX, just ATL-PHX.

Taking the WN RDU-PHX nonstop would require overnighting at RDU.

Priceline is your friend. I would priceline a hotel for one night and then head to PHX. (Not sure it still wouldn't be cheaper then Delta and the luggage charge )

A number of airlines have cheap flights from ATL to PHX so finding an option for that is not a problem, it's mostly how to get my bags to end up with either ATL or PHX tags instead of RDU when I leave Jakarta. I'm annoyed because on a similar return flight plan last year the airline (Cathay) had such horrible luggage assistance that in transit THEY accidentally ripped off the tag and because my flight was delayed American refused to re-tag it for my connection and I had to carry it on through the airport. So I contemplated just pulling the tag and giving them that story that the airline had accidentally ripped off my tag, but if security is high (and that's kinda peak travel season) I don't know if that'll work.

@Patty: I was trying to reissue via a West Coast gateway but one of the five times I was on the phone with Korean Air over the past few days I did try to ask if I could just cancel the final leg of my trip, which I was told is a $100 auto change fee. In regards to other passengers who've talked directly to Delta agents about re-tagging (thanks for the links!), I've spoken to a couple of friends who've come back from Indonesia recently and they told me that they know people who ATL agents refused to re-tag on the grounds that the request seemed like a security risk coming from Jakarta.

you can cancel the last leg for $100? Why not do it rather than all this bag retag etc.

If retagging at ATL won't work due to security issues coming from CGK, then you're kind of running out of options.

Are you unwilling to spend $100 to cancel the ATL-RDU leg?

Pay the $100 to cancel the last leg, purchase a Atlanta-Phoenix ticket on Delta. If you do this then your bag can be tagged in Jakarta clear through to Phoenix. It just seems any other scenario provides a high risk of not seeing your bag again.
Even if you kept the original itinerary and spent the night in Raleigh it might not work. Sometimes bags are delayed for a few days and you would have no way to get your bag to Phoenix.

Did they say it's $100 to cancel the last leg, period? Or is it a $100 change fee plus repricing your itinerary?

I had no idea ATL handled international arrivals that way.

So it is $100 to cancel the last leg, which I found out during the 3rd of 7 separate calls to/from Korean Airlines. Had the customer service been even remotely helpful in settling this matter (I kept having reservation agents tell me that they had found me a flight that worked despite repeatedly being outside the dates I had given them that I could return and not miss days of work) or their supervisors useful or accessible (there are no available supervisors to speak to at Korean Airlines from Friday evening until the following Monday morning Pacific Standard time) I would have paid the fee to cancel the last leg and save myself the trouble. Instead I spent about 4+ hours over the course of a week on the phone with them, even when I made it clear that I was ok with my worst-case scenario to just pay the last leg's cancellation fee and stop dealing with possible re-routings, and endured 10 minutes (at 1:30am local time) while a supervisor accused me of giving her the wrong number so she could call me back and, when I pointed out that one of her agents had called me back at the exact same number earlier and gotten through with no problem, then proceeded to suggest that I had just been avoiding her phone calls and not picking up for over 3 hours. At that point, paying a change fee became moot and I told her that after the hassle she and her agents had put me through without ever offering consistent or helpful advice I would just stick with my original flight plan and wouldn't be chosing a Korean Airlines flight again. I'm looking into cheap hotels in Raleigh as well as maybe crashing with a former co-worker, and then will book a non-stop Southwest flight for the following day (thus avoiding the extra baggage fee!). Thanks to everyone for the advice and help, sadly not needed in the end but useful for future trips!

But after all of this, what if your bag is delayed? If you leave the next day from Raleigh for Phoenix and your bag doesn't show for a day or so, how will you get it?
Mine was "missing" the last time for 4 days and that was coming from Milan. Yours is a more complicated route.
If you pay the $100 and cancel the leg then you don't have to worry.

your experience isn't all that unusual in trying to change a n itinerary in a multi airline trip with an airline where they are not native English speakers - I'm assuming some of what you encountered was a language barrier. For your description I am guessing your frustration and anger at not being able to make the change you wanted came out and added to your difficulties.

Keep in mind it is not the airline's fault that you moved. People buy cheap tickets ALL THE TIME and are upset they can't change them.

I had some empathy for you early on but if you could change for $100 and won't do it I don't have as much empathy.

@Lynnaustin: I'm mildly worried about the bag making it, but I pretty much assume it would be the same thing regardless of whether I flew to RDU or ATL. I'll check the terms of carriage but if Korean Air is only obligated to forward it to my final destination with them it shouldn't matter if I fly into ATL or RDU, since my onward flight wouldn't be booked with them but would be a completely separate booking issued by another airline. Likewise shouldn't matter if they're obligated to send it to my final destination regardless of carrier, and I'd guess the former is the case.

And for anyone else who cares, I only began this thread to try and solicit some advice about doing "the right thing" and trying to go through the airlines rather than just bailing on a flight I had booked. I'm happy I can afford air travel at all but I live on a really tight budget and dropping an extra $100 is a huge deal for me, so forgive me for trying to work out an alternative and being frustrated when after hours of attempts (some of which I didn't even ask them to try) all I get for my trouble is accusations of screening and refusing to answer calls from the very airline I had spent hours dealing with. FYI, I'm a Chinese American with an extended family who are non-native English speakers, that aspect of dealing with customer service doesn't frustrate me too easily. The moral of this story: pack light and skip out on the flight.

quote
I'm happy I can afford air travel at all but I live on a really tight budget and dropping an extra $100 is a huge deal for me

but if you can't stay with a friend you are out a hotel room for the night anyway...

FYI if it WOULD have been possible to bail on the flight you would have and there's no shame in that. People do it all the time esp when plans change. It's not "kosher" but sometimes its necessary.

I expect we'll see another post when your bag gets delayed and you have to spend hours on the phone locating it.

I know i'm being snide but YOU are the person who needs tochange a multi stop multi airline itinerary. If oyu had asked Korean Air what your options were rather than going back and forth with their customer service the $100 change fee might have come up with much less hassle to you. And maybe your husband would front you the $100?

This is the problem w/ cheap advance tickets. It's almost impossible to make changes even when circumstances change.

The difference is that if your Korean Air ticket terminates at ATL and you have a Delta ATL-PHX ticket, you can have your bags through checked to PHX. Show them your ATL-PHX eticket receipt and ask (they won't do it automatically). And if you don't see your bags at ATL, they should eventually make it to PHX Also make sure you have sufficient time between flights since you're traveling on separate tickets.

Otherwise, you can ask if Korean Air will forward your bags to your next destination if they're delayed and only tagged to ATL. I suspect they will but it might be more of a PITA.