themicah-
Thanks for the enlightenment. While I still am not crazy about them, at least I understand their reason for being. I still would like to see the designation dropped completely for all airlines, though.

cAII-
If one really stayed on the same plane, I guess that would be a small benefit, but I fly a fair amount, and the last time I had a "direct" flight that you stayed on the same plane, well, I was just a little boy, PanAm was the main International carrier, and their flights to Asia from the U.S. all stopped over in Hawaii overnight so that the crew and passangers could rest.

Perhaps there are "actual" direct flights still out there and I have just missed them. All the ones I have had are of the marketing scam variety. Just last week I had to really rush to make the connection of my "direct" flight (which of course shorted me the connecting mileage I would have otherwise gotten), so that might be why I'm a little peeved about the practice.