Originally Posted by
sgt20
I saved $500 by booking two separate tickets -- Ticket A: LEX-EWR; Ticket B: EWR-ZRH-DXB (roundtrip). Both tickets were booked separately on United.com. Ticket B is completely operated by Swiss airways but ticketed as codeshare (i.e. all UA flight numbers).
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The question is: Am I out of luck with Ticket B in case of IRROPS/getting involuntarily bumped or will UA re-route me to reach my destination?
Technically, yes. The "link" is meaningless, and there's no obligation for UA or LX to help you if your LEX-EWR delays. In practice, I'd be shocked if UA doesn't help you at EWR.
If LEX-EWR posts a delay, you can call in and try to get EWR-DXB preemptively moved; certainly, if you miss EWR-DXB due to late LEX-EWR, most gate agents will help get it fixed up. That said, (1) bear in mind
there is no requirement for them to do so; (2) if LEX-EWR gets flat-out cancelled you might be in real trouble; and (3) since I think EWR-ZRH is a 10pm flight, there likely won't be other good options for you to get on that night (i.e. prepare to overnight). So I would be cautious.
Since the flight is a long way out, look out for schedule changes on LEX-EWR, and use them to increase the layover you have at EWR.