"Direct" is not the same as "Non-Stop"

OKW Lover

Retired and living 2 miles from The Castle.
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Joined
Apr 29, 2004
OK, pet peeve here. Just wanted to mention that when planning flights there is a difference between "direct" and "non-stop". A non-stop flight goes from point A to point B. A direct flight goes from point A to point X and then on to point B with no change of plane at point X.

OK, I feel better now.
 
To me, they should mean the same thing. Direct (to me, at least) suggests straight from point A to point B with no detours.
 
To me, they should mean the same thing. Direct (to me, at least) suggests straight from point A to point B with no detours.
Many people apparently agree with you. However, to the airlines they are very different. If you ask for a direct flight, you may get one that is not non-stop.
 


Glad you feel better, however, most people will continue to use these terms interchangeably. SW flights that are not non-stop will say 1 stop, no plane change for those flights (I always book on-line). I rarely fly any other airline and there are very few places I can go non-stop from Pittsburgh! It was very exciting when SW added one non-stop each day to LAX from here!
 
I have to agree. It drives me nutty. I understand the difference, but direct should be direct. If someone tells you to 'go directly to the bank' that means you go to the bank, without making any stops. It doesn't mean go to the bank, but stop at the drive-thru a time McD's, then go to the bank.
It should be non-stop and with stops. If it's a stop without you getting off or having to change planes, say so. But direct and non-stop are way too similar in meaning.
 
I have to agree. It drives me nutty. I understand the difference, but direct should be direct. If someone tells you to 'go directly to the bank' that means you go to the bank, without making any stops. It doesn't mean go to the bank, but stop at the drive-thru a time McD's, then go to the bank.
It should be non-stop and with stops. If it's a stop without you getting off or having to change planes, say so. But direct and non-stop are way too similar in meaning.
Apologies for the length in post:

Aside from it being more of an industry term I do think that it could be more easily described to the general public when booking flights. I mean you don't have to go in-depth and all but at least with SWA they verbalize it a bit better at least IMO. Now if someone choose to ignore the information being provided to them well can't help that part.

If I choose to filter by Direct flights (which SWA tells me that means no plane change but stops) I'm only shown flights that have no plane change and they verbalize no plane change. If I choose to filter by non-stop I'm only shown flights that do not contain any stops.

No filters (just the top half of the page posted to give you the gist):
upload_2017-6-26_17-48-43.png

Nonstop filter:
upload_2017-6-26_17-49-51.png

Direct filter:
upload_2017-6-26_17-50-20.png


As far as day to day conversations maybe if airlines did spell it out more like SWA it might somewhat help clear the confusion but that would take people flying enough to get that.
 


Apologies for the length in post:

Aside from it being more of an industry term I do think that it could be more easily described to the general public when booking flights. I mean you don't have to go in-depth and all but at least with SWA they verbalize it a bit better at least IMO. Now if someone choose to ignore the information being provided to them well can't help that part.

If I choose to filter by Direct flights (which SWA tells me that means no plane change but stops) I'm only shown flights that have no plane change and they verbalize no plane change. If I choose to filter by non-stop I'm only shown flights that do not contain any stops.

No filters (just the top half of the page posted to give you the gist):
View attachment 247199

Nonstop filter:
View attachment 247200

Direct filter:
View attachment 247201


As far as day to day conversations maybe if airlines did spell it out more like SWA it might somewhat help clear the confusion but that would take people flying enough to get that.
Absolutely agree. But..it amazes me that there are always those people that don't read any of that. They book a flight because they like the fare. And are then hugely surprised to find that it's a 5 hr flight because it makes a stop along the way!!! But SW is pretty good at making it clear....if people will take the time to read. Other airlines could do the same thing...but many don't make it very clear.
 
Direct flights also count differently for mileage earnings. (This is less of an issue since the big legacy carriers dole out redeemable miles now based on $$ rather than miles flown, but miles flown is still used to track elite qualification and lifetime flight miles.)

A direct flight from AAA-CCC with a stop in BBB earns the same mileage as the non-stop between AAA-CCC. The same trip booked as a connection in BBB will earn the miles for both segments; one total for AAA-BBB, and then another for BBB-CCC. For mileage purposes, it is sometime worth pricing out an itinerary as "Multiple flights" to see if the pricing as a connection is the same as the pricing for the direct flight, in order to optimize mileage earning.
 
Absolutely agree. But..it amazes me that there are always those people that don't read any of that. They book a flight because they like the fare. And are then hugely surprised to find that it's a 5 hr flight because it makes a stop along the way!!! But SW is pretty good at making it clear....if people will take the time to read. Other airlines could do the same thing...but many don't make it very clear.

Even other airlines post flight time though. It's pretty apparent when it ISN'T nonstop.
 
Absolutely agree. But..it amazes me that there are always those people that don't read any of that. They book a flight because they like the fare. And are then hugely surprised to find that it's a 5 hr flight because it makes a stop along the way!!! But SW is pretty good at making it clear....if people will take the time to read. Other airlines could do the same thing...but many don't make it very clear.
How can you not notice that there are stops? I've booked with multiple airlines, and can't think of a time that I just didn't notice that there was a stop, no matter what they call that stop or the flight. The itinerary is always there for you to evaluate when booking online.

Maybe the people having problems with this are booking over the phone, so they can't see itineraries, & if the agent they're speaking to says "direct flight" without elaborating on what that really means, I could see how that would be misleading.
 
Even other airlines post flight time though. It's pretty apparent when it ISN'T nonstop.

How can you not notice that there are stops? I've booked with multiple airlines, and can't think of a time that I just didn't notice that there was a stop, no matter what they call that stop or the flight. The itinerary is always there for you to evaluate when booking online.

Maybe the people having problems with this are booking over the phone, so they can't see itineraries, & if the agent they're speaking to says "direct flight" without elaborating on what that really means, I could see how that would be misleading.
Probably the same kind of person that books with SW and then comes here, screaming about not being able to choose seats prior to the flight! People don't research, they don't look carefully at what they're booking. It amazes me to get some of the questions we get here!!!
 
There have been times when I wanted to do a FYI on the .. Direct vs Non Stop lingo

But then I thought about it for a minute and realized .. there will always be those who are

incorrectly using "Direct" when meaning "non stop" and

the same folks will clearly know what they mean .. and so will I.

To me Non Stop means Non Stop and to them Direct means Non Stop

and it will most likely never change .. no matter what I or someone else might say.
 
I want to point out that these days, this is an issue almost entirely on Southwest. While the entire airline industry uses this jargon, most airlines that operate under a traditional hub-and-spoke system have few, if any, direct flights. Being a point-to-point system with a completely different routing system than all of its competitors, Southwest does have its share of these flights.
 
People will use these terms interchangeably and then they will whine when they find out they actually are stopping in "Nashville" on their "non-stop" flight to Orlando :)

Plus on some airlines you may actually have to change planes. I had a "direct" flight from Orlando to London once. Of course you got off the plane in Atlanta and went from Terminal A to E to get on the new plane!
 

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