Combining Two Itineraries
 

I am traveling with a college group from Newark to Tel Aviv on United. This flight was booked for by the company I am going with and leaves at 10:45pm. It is my own responsibility to get to Newark from Florida. If I book a flight from Florida to Newark on United, would it be possible to combine these two flights?

you can never 'combine' two itineraries into one. So the answer is no. Though the agent at check in should be able to check your bag through all the way. To do this, don't use the kiosk, ask for an agent, and make sure you have a copy of both tickets printed for this. Also, expect this to take extra time, so arrive at the airport earlier than you normally would.

Also, since you are on two separate tickets, give yourself plenty of time to 'connect' (I use quotes because it's not actually a connection). If your inbound flight is delayed, and you miss the flight to TLV, UA can simply call you a no-show and cancel your itinerary. Many have found UA will protect them on the next available flight, but they are in no way required to. If it's important to travel with your group, especially, this advice goes triple. I would say you should plan to arrive in EWR mid-afternoon to give yourself plenty of time of things go wrong. If it were me, I might even try to arrive sometime in mid-late morning, plan to make a day of it in NYC (NJT can get you to Penn Station and back in 30-40 mins) before you go to TLV.

Agree with emcampbe. The flights from Florida to NYC in the afternoon can often be delayed. Get there early and save the stress.

Helpful to ask for this so you won't have to leave security, collect your bag, recheck it, then clear security again. It's not as big an issue on the way back if you can only check your bag to EWR, since regardless of how your bag is tagged, you'll have to collect it at Customs in EWR and recheck it.

Also remember that at EWR, the TLV flight has a secondary screening at the gate, so get to the gate earlier than you normally would.