Originally Posted by
DrRodneyMcKay
Hmm. It appears that this is an actual thing other people have heard of; I have never heard of such a thing in almost twenty years of flying. I can see the benefits to such a flight if refueling is needed, but we were on what would otherwise be a 9 hour trip (in fact, the flight there was a 9 hour trip) so it could be made without refueling. So it just seems really bizarre as to why they would do this - what's the math on their end that makes this a benefit for the airline?
This was super common 20 years ago, and remains pretty common, so it might just be something you were blind to. (Southwest does it a ton, for example.) You might want to Google direct v. Nonstop. You're on a Direct flight from a to c with a stop in b. They can sell tickets from a to b and b to c, in addition to a to c. It appears you just didn't realize this exists.