Originally Posted by
DLfan
This is a really good idea and I would not intentionally avoid 1-stop flights if the ground time was minimal as you suggest. For some reason (probably financial), Delta and most other majors seem to now loathe this once common approach.
One-stop flights are more expensive to operate than nonstops; you do pay a penalty for the stop.
However, if the flight is able to feed higher yielding traffic to your international routes, that can offset the increase in costs relative to a nonstop -- and a one-stop direct flight is certainly less costly than double connecting the passenger over another, potentially out-of-the-way, hub.
There just isn't enough air or ground capacity at JFK to bring in nonstops from all decent potential secondary markets. I am advocating that from a cost and marketing standpoint, it would be better to offer the one-stop direct spokes rather than double connecting people over CVG/ATL/DTW.