It began well over a half-century ago, and it's considered just as dishonest today as it was then by some of us old-timers (as much as undisclosed codeshares). It's what happens when you let the airlines self-regulate, as was done since before the Warsaw Convention.
Originally Posted by
Dr. HFH
Yeah, I don't know when airlines started with this nonsense, but in my book, the fact that a pair of connecting flights share a single flight number doesn't make them direct. IMO, "direct" means one plane with stops.
Originally Posted by
nologic
I do not know how this definition was allowed to evolve. It is a connection to different planes with the same flight number. The fact that the airlines are allowed to make people believe that they are on a direct flight is insulting.