Offline I-D connection in FLL.
 

I am thinking of doing a connection in FLL from B6 to DL (or possibly WN). I would be flying B6 BGI-FLL and then connecting to FLL-Home (CVG, DAY, or CMH). My question is how much money would you have to save to do this, and if you did it, how much time would you allow for the connection? The only realistic one ticket option in on AA through MIA.

A better question than "how much money you would have to save" is "what's your risk tolerance"? Are you comfortable with the possibility that you may have to buy a walk-up ticket or spend an extra night in FLL or rent a car and drive home?

How expensive is BGI-MIA-CVG/DAY/CMH? I have on occasion bought separate tickets but when the savings were in the hundreds or even thousands (for example, business class flash sales to one US city but not another). For something like $50-$100? I wouldn't risk it. Maybe if you were flying DL in F, so you could virtually guarantee the ability to SDC to a later itinerary if anything went south, but if you're connecting on to a DL ticket in Y then your risk a lot higher.

Total savings would probably be about $250. Won't be in F or have any status on any airline.

My gauge on that is allowing a minimum of three hours. I would probably want four or five - and to pay for my value of time and the unlikely but possible event the in-bound flight is delayed I would need to save more than $250.

Obviously buying a walk up ticket would suck and defeat the whole purpose, but it is not going to bankrupt me or anything. How big is the risk of that happening? Obviously the risk decreases the longer the connection is. Just trying to get some opinions on where others would draw the line.

Thanks. I am not that worried about the value of my time, as that day is shot anyway, unless the connection puts the arrival late into the night. The B6 flight leave BGI at 6:00 am if that makes any difference.

That sounds like the crew is overnighting. If they get in on-time you should be good for that 6AM departure. If they're late (and JetBlue isn't great...) you could be waiting for them to get the full, FAA-mandated rest period.

You cannot connect between DL and either B6 or WN as DL does not have an interline ticketing agreement with either.

On separate tickets, it is all about risk tolerance. There is no fixed amount of time to allow because every pair of tickets is different. Is there a later flight which would still allow you to make it to your DL flight? If you no show for your DL flight, what is the next option and what will that cost?

Typically, best approach is to hedge the savings by flying in the night before.

I don't know FLL airport in particular but when I do separate tickets (Intl)-LAX-PHX I try to plan at least 3 hours for baggage reclaim, recheck, and potential inbound delays. That's with Global Entry & TSAPre, also.

Do you have global entry, and if not, could you get it before your trip? It could end up being a lifesaver.

FWIW, I would probably do what you're suggesting with 1.5 hrs, but that's with global entry, precheck and Delta status that makes me pretty confident I could find another flight that night in case of delay. The risk also doesn't inherently stress me out and ruin my day, which is seems to do for a lot of folks on here.

Wait, I just noticed one of your options is WN---definitely do that for the connection, because there's no change fee, you just rebook to another flight.

Alternately, buy a short connection and a long connection, and just make sure to cancel one (and use the credit later) from the tarmac in BGI once your flight time on B6 is pretty well confirmed.

Just a thought, have you considered a quick island flight to SXM or another Caribbean destination that would allow for perhaps a cheaper ticket on one airline be it DL, AA, B6, or WN?

WN has no change fee, but the Wanna get Away fares (the advance purchase cheap fares) are zeroed out a few days ahead.
Officially, you need to upfare to the Anytime fare (full fare) to change to a different flight on day of travel.
That said, Southwest have also been fairly accommodating for passengers missing their flights and put them on free standby on the next flight.

Buy two flights going the same route on the same day does not work anymore. Southwest now auto cancel these reservations.