I am booking a flight on Delta from RDU to LHR. I can save 50% of the ticket cost by building my own RDU - LHR itinerary out of two round-trip itineraries, one from RDU to JFK and one from JFK to LHR. This entails some risk, and I would need to build in some buffer time to account for randomness (especially at JFK, and especially at customs on the return).
Since these flights are all on the same airline, I could mitigate this risk if Delta would work with me to create a protected layover, by binding the two itineraries into a single round-trip itinerary after I have booked them. Do airlines typically, and does Delta in particular, allow for this?
Related questions have been answered with regard to unprotected layovers and changing airlines, I could not find any answers on unprotected layovers while staying on the same airline.
For the dates I'm interested in:
- RDU - LHR (via JFK): $1400
- RDU - JFK: $150
- JFK - LHR: $550