jmastron

I think in theory it does -- as intended in the schedule at least. There may be operational reasons to swap planes around; the one time that happened on a flight I was on (a few years ago, was boarding at the intermediate point), they announced that they were delaying boarding even though our plane was there, and when the inbound arrived, those through passengers would be allowed to board first, which seemed fair.

I know there are cases where a real same-plane direct flight has to be changed, sometimes with the outbound leaving before the inbound arrives, but I still call it dishonest to schedule it that way in the first place, making it no better than any other separate-flight connection (and sometimes worse, depending on mileage earning, upgrade ability, etc).