Originally Posted by
athome
No. The European system differs from the US one. The OP searched for 2 separate bookings. A multi leg in Europe unites both flights into married segments. Therfore the price difference. If the OP would book both legs separately, he would get 2 PNRs.
I assure you if OP puts in LON-MUC and then MUC-CTA on the same day into the multicity tool (whether followed by the return or not), it will result in a single PNR.
I am not sure how the ticket would be structured though and would not count on it.
But airlines can do strange things. One day I did a mid morning flight to London direct from home, and next day early morning I flew from London back home via a connection. The ticket though was issues as home-London-connection point as outbound, and connection point-home as inbound. I wonder what the airline would make of it if I had to claim EC261 compensation.