Sometimes it’s hard to decide between the direct flight and a connecting one on an airline your loyal too or between the direct flight and the more budget-conscious option.
On a recent trip to Southern California, the airline I am loyal to, and wanted to fly to maximize a free ticket thanks to its Companion Pass, was offering both direct flights and connecting flights from our home in the DC area. Here’s why I choose to connect rather than the direct flight.
Benefits of Not Flying Direct
In our case, the airline we wanted to fly was Southwest in order to maximize the companion pass while flying across the country. The cost of both the direct and connecting flight were hovering at just about $130 for the one-way flight, which was pretty reasonable for just before the holidays in December.
The major difference was that the direct flight left out of Southwest’s hub at BWI flying to their other hub at LAX. While this was a direct flight, Baltimore is our third choice for an airport as we live in Northern Virginia and are much closer to both Reagan (DCA) and Dulles (IAD).
Additionally, we needed to be in Orange County for both my dad’s meetings and so I could get to Anaheim for Disneyland and the optimal airport for that is Santa Ann/Orange County Airport (SNA).
This means that if we had chosen the direct flight, we would have needed to drive an hour to Baltimore before departure and drive an hour South of LAX after landing compared to less than 10-minute drives to/from DCA and SNA. These airports are also much smaller than BWI and LAX, meaning it’s easier to get through security and the airport to get the rental car.
While I typically tell people, direct, direct, direct, it actually would have taken us more time to choose the direct flight option than by connecting to our final destination.
Drawbacks of Not Flying Direct
The main drawback is that with two flights comes twice the opportunity for something to go wrong and twice the opportunity for a canceled or delayed flight. However, we insolated this risk by picking a connecting flight on Southwest through Chicago Midway (MDW) with both legs on the same aircraft.
This meant that we didn’t have to get off the plane between our two flights which also removed any risk of a mis-connect and significantly decreased any chance of operational issues with the second flight since the plane and crew had already made it to Chicago with us.
Another drawback is that sometimes it can take more time since it takes time to land, taxi, get off the plane and get to your next flight compared to direct options, although it worked out better for us timing wise, a direct flight more often than not will be much more convenient.
The Last Point
I did not ever think the day would come where I would choose the connecting flight over the direct one, especially when it wasn’t because the direct flight cost significantly more. However, in this case between the connection on the same plane and the starting and ending airports being smaller sized, it actually saved us time to connect on our flight to Southern California and I would happily do it again.
Is there ever a time when you have picked the non-direct flight option? Comment below.
I hate direct flights because having two separate flight is better than one flight with a stop and a change of plane. If there is no change of plane, then a direct flight is better than two flights if one is concerned about fewer misconnections. Sometimes, a direct flight results in fewer miles in frequent flyer programs.
I like non-stop flights, which is different from direct flights.
I completely agree with you. I try to book non-stop when it makes sense. Sometimes I will connect to a smaller airport rather than non-stop into the bigger one and drive, ultimately saving time.