Being somewhat of a novice flyer still, I was just wondering (hoping more like) if there is any protocol for an airline when delays on their behalf cause you to miss a flight with another non-partner airline which has been ticketed completely separate from the first airline. To be specific, flying United to Frankfurt where I should have around 5 hours before my Tarom flight to Bucharest leaves. 5 hours isn't exactly a lot of time to play with in the flying world I know but it was the best I could come up with at the time. Now I'm getting a little worried. I'm assuming it's probably a case of "tough luck" if United delays cause me to miss that last flight but considering how little I know, maybe not? Or maybe Tarom might give me a break if I can give them such an iron-clad excuse as to why I missed their flight? Thanks for any enlightenment.

I never leave five hours between flights myself.

If your flight that you will miss hasn't left yet content the airline and tell them your story and ask if they can transfer you. It allows them to resell the seat.

What kind of ticket do you have also? Like Cheap Eco, Full Eco, Business, etc?

NZ really stepped up when I was delayed in HKG and would have missed my TK connection to IST (on another ticket). They placed me on another carrier without me having to ask.

There was just a thread in the UA forum, though, where a mechanical delay on an IAD-GRU flight last week led to many passengers missing their LAN connection to SCL. UA refused to help.

It depends on the airline and probably who you speak to.

With separate tickets, the first airline has no obligation to help you with rebooking the missed flight on the second airline.

Do you have travel insurance? (You should do if you're travelling internationally!)

Travel insurance policies often have cover for something called "travel disruption" - which includes missing a flight because an inbound flight was late. My policy (UK-issued) does not specify how much time I have to allow between flights before they will cover me, but I gather (from what I've read here) that other policies do.

Five hours between flights should normally be plenty, even on separate tickets. An hour to get your baggage (if there is no interline agreement), go through Immigration and make your way to the check-in desk. Check-in will probably close an hour before the flight, so you have three hours to play with. I wouldn't worry too much - but do make sure you have insurance.