Originally Posted by notzac

You might be able to link the PNRs if they were both VA tickets (and assuming that you are able to find someone at VA who knows how to do it), but I don't think you'd be able to in this scenario (one VA ticket CHC-LAX, one DL ticket LAX-DTW).

Even if you could link the tickets in this manner, it doesn't protect you in case of a misconnect. The only way you're protected is if the entire journey is on a single ticket.