Despite all the flying I do, I'm not sure I've ever taken a flight that had a stop (i.e., I've always flown 2 distinct segments, for example SAT-DFW-DCA as opposed to SAT-DCA with a stop in DFW). Well, today I am making my first such flight, and I was told that I need to have the same seat for the entire flight. So, for example, even though there was plenty of room in First from SAT to DFW, since there was no room from DFW to DCA, I couldn't be upgraded. Is this really true? Is there any way around it? On a similar note, I was also told I couldn't go standby on an earlier flight to DFW from SAT, since I didn't actually have a SAT-DFW ticket.

Comments/suggestions?