I work with some great people, and one my favorite "Expedians" is Willy O.  In working directly with travelers, he suggested I write about the use of the term direct flight when travelers actually mean to say nonstop flight. He said he's has travelers calling in to ask why their itineraries show a stop when they've requested a direct flight.

Willy, has a great point and as someone with whom I'd trust all of my bookings, he knows of what he speaks. Travelers often use the words nonstop and direct interchangeably. Well, that has got to stop; it's for your own good and here's why.

Nonstop means just that: no stopping along the way. You are going from Point A to Point B. You take off and you land only once.

On a direct flight, you don't change planes but you may have multiple stops. You go from Point A to Point B and land at your destination, Point C. While you stay on the same plane the entire flight, it is by no means a nonstop flight.

The distinction can have a huge impact on the traveler.

For instance, Willy recently traveled on a Honolulu - Seattle flight which continued on to Chicago. A passenger on the flight had a mid-trip meltdown upon learning that the flight stopped in Seattle.
He declared to the flight attendant, "They said this is a direct flight to Chicago." She replied, "It is, and it has a stop in Seattle." (You can see where this is going.)

The poor guy had changed his original nonstop Honolulu- Chicago reservation to catch this earlier flight. Even though this new flight left earlier, he would arrive in Chicago later because of the Seattle stop.

Here's what I propose. Place a rubber band around your wrist. Newspaper roll strength is fine. Now every time you say direct when you really mean nonstop, I want you to pull and release the rubber band. Remove the rubber band when you have removed direct flight from your travel vernacular.

This is tough travel love, but the next time you skip an unwanted Cleveland, Seattle or Denver stop, you'll thank me. (Though, lovely cities they are.)