UA domestic flight connecting to intl AC -- LH stock -- SDC? irrops?
I'm going to be flying AAA-BBB-YYZ-FRA-CCC
AAA-BBB-YYZ is on UA metal. YYZ-FRA is on AC metal. The ticket is issued on LH stock (FRA-CCC is a short-hop and is on LH). And compounding matters, I booked this on Orbitz (I know, I know, it's awful, but there were reasons for that.) And of course, UA schedule changes have already started to make a mess of this!
1. Am I allowed to SDC onto different UA flights such that I do AAA-DDD-YYZ? I would do this to avoid the tight connection at BBB.
2. What happens in the case of irrops? If the flight departing AAA is delayed, can UA take control of the ticket and route me on their metal? I have a short connection at BBB, so any delay likely would be a problem.
3. If irrops occur, can I refuse to fly on LH metal? (I'm not opposed to LH, but right now it's a K-fare, and I specifically booked the TATL on AC so that I can credit to United. Of course, during irrops, I might get moved up to full Y, I'd rather not risk it.) If I did end up on LH TATL metal due to irrops, can I claim ORC even though that would have been with AC?