Originally Posted by
NetBrowser07
Searching for award space on United.. I see a number of 'direct flights' with 'Time on ground - Change planes' listed. How is that not a 1-stopper?
To add only a little to other comments.
A Direct flight is sold as a single segment between origin and destination, despite changes of airplane(s), types or anything else. That can be important. On award travel DL LGA-GIG will count as one leg although you'll be on a 752 out of LGA and a 764 out of ATL. Normally that does work to consumer benefit but sometimes they do refuse that too.
There are a good number of long multisegement direct flights too, mostly holdovers from long-gone days (PanAm had flights #1 and #2, this is flight #1 itinerary from 1970's LAX-SFO-HND-HKG-BKK-DEL-KHI-(BEY or THR)-IST-FRA-LHR-JFK-PHL. Nobody since then has gone quite that far with direct flights. This one had no change of gauge, 747 throughout. UA ran #1 and #2 for some years with altered routing and downguaged equipment following their purchase of PanAm routes.