Originally Posted by
SWAVictor
I will say this - during the Wright Amendment years - its quite possible that someone had a "ticket" with double connections, and they were even booked in the same reservation.
However, those weren't published connections (by law) and had to be built manually with seperate fare components (again by law).
In fact prior to 911, we had to advise customers they would have to claim and recheck bags at the first connecting point. This was relaxed due to heightened security requirements.
I worked in reservations at the time - if you called and asked to fly Dallas to Chicago, I was required to say "I'm sorry we don't offer service between those two cities"
If you questioned that, I could then suggest that i could book you on separate fares, with the baggage advisory above (could be on one PNR/ticket, but the fare had to be broken).
but, it hinged on you questioning it. We were not allowed to advertise or sell (on one fare) service outside the wright amendment restrictions.
I recall having that conversation with a SWA phone agent around 1989. When told that they didn't fly DAL-LAX, and I asked about booking thru ABQ to do it, her exact words to me were "Great idea, sir!", as if I was the first to invent the Texas two-step.
And as I recall, when the ABQ connections weren't great, I had to be the one to ask her to also check ELP instead. She wasn't allowed to try alternate "connection" cities unless I asked.