I have a “direct flight”, but I will still have to change planes along the way, so how is this different from a “connecting flight”?

A “direct flight” is simply one that does not change flight numbers, but does have an intermediate stop. This stop over may be to embark or disembark some passengers or change flight crews, for refueling, or to switch to a bigger or smaller plane for the rest of the journey. Depending on the location and reason for the stop passengers continuing through may be required to remain on board or required to disembark and remain in a holding area. The legs of direct flights are dependent on each other; that is, if the first leg does not arrive on time to the stop over point the continuation of the flight cannot take off, even if it is on a different airplane.