How early can you check in bags for a domestic AA flight?

[Mal]

Did some searches, but couldn't find anything ... so, does anyone know (or can you point me towards information about) the earliest time you can check a bag in for an AA flight?

Would checking in with the Skycaps help if I tip well for them to put the bag aside?

Looking at a ~12 hour layover in a city on separate carriers/tickets.

 

[JohnK]

I don't know the actual rules but back in August 2007 I had an ~11 hour transit in LAX and I checked my bags in straight away after going through immigration then spent the rest of the time in the Flagship Lounge. AA even went to the trouble of printing out AA boarding passes and new luggage tags to replace the QF issued ones. The booking was all on the one ticket although I would not expect that to make a big difference.

Hope that helps.