Originally Posted by
Paul1976NJ
I have never understood why airlines do this. What is the point? Can someone help me understand what benefit AA receives by doing this? Next week I am on AA 663 (PHL-DFW-LAS) and lose a segment and a couple hundred miles because of it, although it was by far the cheapest fare (plus my upgrade already came in for both segments at T-100) so I'm not complaining. Well, maybe just a little bit, because I fail to see the point.
I would say it's nothing more than marketing. SFO is a great example of this. Right on the departure board, they make it seem as if they have nonstop flights to DCA, BOS, and BZE.
However, that does not mean that it's one plane. Your direct flight can have multiple aircraft and flight crow, and it is possible you can miss your "connection" even if you were on a direct flight.
Others here have wrote about the disadvantages of direct flights (less miles). The only advantage I see is that for taxes, it is only collected as one segment, so you might save around $11.