So here's a bit of a rant about "Direct" flights on AA (and probably most other carriers too).

I recently flew AA154 NRT-ORD-BOS. There is a change of planes and equipment at ORD from 777 to MD80, let alone the need to clear customs and change terminals. Yes, I know why AA does this -- it fools GDS systems and others into listing their flight first because it is a single flight number.

However, this is quite customer unfriendly in many other ways.

1. I couldn't use stickers to upgrade ORD-BOS because their system viewed NRT-BOS as one segment.
2. I only got 6700 miles (the great circle distance NRT-BOS) instead of the 6200+850 I would get for doing the same flying and effort, just with a different ORD-BOS connecting flight. Why should I get shorted miles just because AA wants to play a marketing game against their competitiors?
3. My seat assignments got messed up multiple times because it tried giving me the same seats on both aircraft types (when G seats for example don't exist on an MD80).
4. This didn't happen to me, but I bet AA would have no problem releasing the ORD-BOS for departure if NRT-ORD was running late. I mean, really, how can you miss a direct flight?!?

How many people does everyone think actually fly the entire NRT-ORD-BOS segment?