* When I was 9, I was on a "direct" flight to Manila from Chicago, via Tokyo. The flight to Tokyo was delayed 5 hours, and I didn't find it a fuss since I had assumed the same metal would be used to continue to Manila. My mother told me that aircraft is subject to change in NRT regardless of flight number. So, we missed our continuing flight.

* When I as 16, I flew to Madrid on BA, with a transfer in LHR. The flight from DTW-LHR, I thought, was going to be non-stop. Wrong! I found out in DTW that there was a stop in Montreal.

* Now that I'm older, I finally understood that "direct" is just for mainly marketing issues. Example: CO flies non-stop from EWR-HKG and CX is attempting to fly non-stop from JFK-HKG. So, NW makes JFK-HKG "direct" with a stop in NRT, so that it comes up as one segment on the computer reservation system. Another one: PR flies SFO-MNL non-stop. NW makes SFO-MNL "direct" with a stop in NRT. Note that NW switches aircraft left and right in NRT.

* And the most stupid thing I've ever seen was the following: In 1993, NW had direct service between DTW-MNL NWxx and DTW-TPE NWyy with a stop in SEL.DTW-SEL was a "share-flight". i.e. the CRS showed NW operating two flights to SEL from DTW, leaving and arriving at the same time. DTW-SEL was on a B747-??? and SEL-MNL and SEL-TPE were on B727s.

Oh well. We're experienced travelers. We're smart enough.

- Pat

[This message has been edited by Wiirachay (edited 02-12-2002).]