After 36 hours of flight time each way, multiple connections in airports I'd never been to before and doing it by myself, I was just focused on making the connections and the final destinations! Can't afford travel insurance? You can't afford to travel!

Nope. JQ and DL aren't partners. It's the passenger's responsibility

The ACL is virtually useless for airline passengers. His friend was lucky because JQ was booked on a DL ticket, under US DOT regulations.

In part. They are only legally required to book you on a foward service. Weather delays incur no requirement for compensation, just the new booking. If the plane is broken then that’s a whole other story. Compensation is required