dmbolp

Ah, that clears it up, thanks SWAVictor!!

Beachchaser

after flying 11 flight hours in aa main cabin extra this past fall(cmh-dfw-ogg) I can imagine ~9.5 hrs on a max 8 unless you get the bulkhead or emergency exit would be rough. We flew hnl to las, stayed 2 nights then flew las to cmh to round out the trip.

m907

I guess that's where I was confused.

SWAVictor

We use a lot of "industry jargon" sometimes.

for us:

nonstop = literally, from Origin to Destination with no stops
direct = Origin to Destination with 1 or more stops, but no change of planes (Customers frequently use the term "direct" when they actually mean nonstop)
connection = Origin to Destination, with a change of planes at an intermediate point

To confuse things even further, a "connection" can be made up of 2 nonstops, 2 directs, or 1 of each -
Unless something has changed that I'm not aware of, none of our published schedule ever includes more than a total of 3 stops - and I verified that none include more than one change of planes

Finally, the schedule for the aircraft (and/or flight number) might go beyond 3 stops, but that is not offered as part of the published schedule for Customers to be able to book.

JohnMI

Thanks for all of the information, everyone. I did see that I could do it with a multi-city thing, so good to know it can be done if I really wanted to. In the end, I decided that I didn't want to leave at 6:30AM and arrive at like 3-4AM (for my original time zone). I decided to break it down into multiple days instead. So, now, going there, I go GRR->PHX, spend the night there, and then PHX->OGG non-stop the next day. Coming back, I'm going OGG->DEN to get most of the travel out of the way -- and then a non-stop from DEN->GRR the next day getting back in plenty of time to drive home (2 hours from GRR) and get unpacked. Everything else would have been just too long flying either way.

HPN-HRL

All of the highlighted text above has been true for at least the last 25 years. However, I swear that the earliest WN schedules I ever saw (early 1980 time frame) had double connections (i.e. 3 planes) on a single ticket- e.g. HRL-HOU + HOU-DAL + DAL-AMA.

Cledaybuck

There was a time a couple of years ago where WN was allowing multiple stop itineraries. I remember people on here looking for how many stop they could find (I think there were found flights with 6 or 7).

lougord99

As SWAVictor informed us, stops do not equal plane changes. Are you saying that SWA allowed multiple plane changes ?

dmbolp

Think this was a case of intentional multi-city status runs intra-CA

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.

SWAVictor

We allowed more than three stops for a brief period of time (though I don't recall it being as high as 6 or 7), but for obvious reasons they weren't very popular with Customers, and not a great Customer experience.
As we expand internationally, etc. - I have learned to never say never, but for now I believe its a maximum of 3 stops from O to D (nonstop, direct, connect combined).

Of course, as discussed here - you can use the "multi city" option to create your own itineraries that break that rule, even in one reservation, but it will be a combined fare.

SWAVictor

I've been here since 1992 - can't speak to anything earlier than that, so its possible back in the 80's - but we had a much much smaller network then, so also maybe less likely ?

joshua362

In late 2012, I flew ISP-BWI, BWI-MDW and MDW-SFO changing planes every time. On points and one PNR.

In 2015 I flew a BS fare SJC-LAX, LAX-BWI and BWI-ISP.

Both times at check in, it would only print out 2 of the 3 BP's and I had to pickup the 3rd en-route although I was checked in and the BP spot reserved.

In 2013 on points, I flew SJC-LAS-TPA-ISP, same plane, one BP

Glutton for punishment but they exist (or used to).

djp98374

I flown a few in a legal booking in a one ticket purchase on XC flights.

SWAVictor

You bring up a good point about an exception for RR bookings, under the old system (before RR2.0 moved us to points).
back then an award ticket could be used to fly between any two SWA cities, even if we didn't offer published service between those cities.
An agent on the phone could book a double connect, and allow you to fly that with just one award coupon.

today, an agent could do the same, or you could do it online through "multi city" - but it would break the fare, and the total cost would be the sum of the two seperate "fares".