mander

Not always. Sometimes on UX they have let me stay.

flyingnosh

The departure boards at the airports faithfully tell you about the "direct" flight. So, for example, you can be at a place like Miami and see a flight to a place like Orlando. By way of Newark of course.

dorisrpas

I've heard this is supposed to work, but the two times I tried they said no-can-do.

And to another poster's point, be aware that on the arrival/departure boards it may say the originating/final destination city and not the connecting - like land in MIA and it says inbound from DSM, even tho you got on that plane at ORD.

JC5280

I have three instances with direct flights.

1. Booked a direct flight. Learned after the fact, that mileage wouldn't post for each segment. Called UA, they credited me with the additional miles and PQM I was supposed to earn. This nice agent even advised me to avoid those directs.
2. Booked a direct flight, but as two separate segments. Worked like a charm. (It actually was the same a/c and crew SAT-DEN-LAS)
3. Booked a direct flight, with two separate segments. Flight posted as one direct segment. Called UA expecting them to fix it, and they said I flew a direct, and that's how direct flights post - origin to destination. Didn't matter how it was ticketed. 1K voice email backed what she said.


Sigh....

uthornsgo

Call back and try again. It's always worked for me. Just tell them you want to do it for upgrade purposes if they ask.

n198ua

DSM did have non stop DSM-LAX service on a CR7 once....I think it lasted about 3 months.

sexykitten7

I find this highly unconscionable! Miles have always posted on a per segment basis for through-fares, multicity, etc. The fact that UA IT sucks should not preclude you from getting the BIS/award miles you're entitled to.

With that being said, this glitch can work to your advantage by allowing 3 segments when the fare rules stipulate one connection. E.g. SAN-SFO-EWR-BOS is a valid routing with one flight covering SAN-SFO-EWR and one covering EWR-BOS. I've never had a problem with the per segment mileage posting automatically.

Indelaware

UA is no different in this regard than any other airline.

Some direct flights with stops require change of aircraft, others do not. Sometimes even when there is no scheduled change of aircraft, there is a last minute change of aircraft. Generally if it is the same aircraft, then one can remain on board during the stop, unless it is a quite lengthy stop.

kit125

What I find ridiculous is that it now takes less time to get from DSM than CLE a (former) hub in same time zone!

Thanks United!

exerda

Could be worse; the gutting of UA's south Florida service is making me have to do an overnight at either PBI or FLL to get to the Bahamas later this year (haven't booked the ticket yet, but there's no way from WAS to MHH same-day because of the lack of options to the MIA area).

I hate to fly an airline on which I presently have no status, but I suspect AA is going to be the best option...

hookthem

Another data point -- I just flew XXX-XXX-SAT on a direct flight on 2/20 and it automatically posted as two separate segments. I would have been quite peeved to learn that only one segment posted.

sexykitten7

Another obtuse fact: UA is (erroneously??) failing to collect the PFC for the hidden connection. E.g. SAN-SFO-DFW-DEN-SAN fee is only $13.50 since the outbound segments are both UA526. SFO is getting screwed.

drvannostren

Curious if you guys know the difference between a connection and a stop, let me lay this out for ya.

SJU-IAD-ORD-SEA (with a stop in SFO) I wasn't offered a non-stop ORD-SEA when I bought the ticket and it was cheap, so I was okay with making a stop.

Get to ORD, find that there's a direct/non-stop ORD-SEA scheduled to depart at the exact same time, but it's now 1 hour late, which would still get me to SEA earlier. So I went up and asked the customer service desk. She said the flight I spoke of didn't exist, I gave her the number and all the info the board showed, suddenly she found it...didn't give me much confidence in her. She said it was sold out, it was a Monday so whatever, fine. I asked again at the UA club because like I said I wasn't confident in her at the customer service desk, the lounge agent confirmed it was sold out, had no problem finding the flight though. No biggie, I'll take my lumps, you get what you pay for

I had to pick 2 different seats on the website and it did indicate an aircraft change, but that didn't really make sense to me, so I chalked it up as an IT issue.

Arrived at SFO, thinking I'll be getting off the plane, hang out at the gate and get back on. WRONG. I check the departures board (because I'm a nerd, even if I'm not departing I look) and found that my SFO-SEA flight was now an hour delayed and was at a different terminal.

This isn't a stop. CLEARLY this is a connection in my eyes. A flight with 1 stop should make it's stop and here's the key...RESUME! Unless that aircraft goes mechanical at it's stop, which it didn't. Frustrated, I asked the lounge agent in SFO this question. She said "well your flight has the same number, that's why it's a stop" to which I replied "yea, but I'm not stopping I'm making a clear connection as evident by switching aircrafts and terminals". She said "I don't know what to say, it's just something they do".

Thanks, very helpful.

So I did some digging on UA.com because I know they provide pretty decent info.

UA 1496 Apr 20 ORD-SFO-SEA...so for the SFO-SEA leg, I clicked "where is this aircraft coming from". LGA!? ...?!! Then why the hell is the ORD-SFO-SEA marketed as ORD-SEA, it actually makes sense if they called LGA-SFO-SEA 1496. That's a 1 stop flight. In a 1 stop, a delay doesn't matter because you'll be getting on the same flight. WestJet was notorious for these, 398 used to go YVR-YYC-YYZ-YHZ-YYG (I think that was the back end) and we'd usually have like 1-2 bags that were milk running the whole day to cross the country, but at least then a delay didn't matter.

I'm not really mad about the mileage, I don't lose much, I'm not mad about the segments, I got 6 already from this trip and I'll make my requirements for the year. What grinds my gears is the dishonesty of the marketing. It also seems totally illogical. Why not just tell me I'm making a connection? What does UA lose? Plus then you could've marketed the true LGA-SFO-SEA as a 1 stop flight honestly.

I've never had this issue at UA, have you guys? Is it normal? Is there any line between a connection and stop then? Because as far as I'm concerned they crossed it as soon as they made me switch aircrafts not due to a mechanical issue.

WineCountryUA

Not sure which issue you are asking about, but

On a domestic flight a 4 hour break between arrival and departure creates a stopover vs a connection. This creates a fare break.

Also if a flight is booked as a single flight (AAA-BBB) but including a intermediate airport AAA-XXX-BBB that is called a direct flight with a stop -- versus the true non-stop AAA-BBB. Note there is no requirement that the arrival and departing aircraft need to be the same physical aircraft. But if you book it as two separate flights and under the 4-hour break, that is called a connection.

The direct flight is bit of an old fashion concept (it was done to get the flight listed with non-stops on search tools but that rarely works anymore) but due to a shortage of flight numbers UA has had to resort to having these direct flight listings.

docbert

Yes.

"Stop" means that you continue on the same flight number, even if it's a different plane/crew/etc.

"Connection" means you change flight number, even if it's the same plane/crew/etc.

It's been discussed as length in multiple threads here.