My corporate travel office once tried to book me DCA-SFO-DAL on Virgin America because it was cheaper than the DCA-DFW nonstop on American. I pointed out that to make the meetings I was travelling for, I'd have to leave a day earlier and the extra hotel night negated the airfare savings. Needless to say, I was booked on the nonstop.
American also once tried to rebook me DCA-LGA-PHL-HPN to cover for a cancelled DCA-HPN flight. I declined that as well, and just said get me to LGA and I'll take a cab. I wouldn't have minded the extra flights, but my wife wasn't so enthused
I did fly DCA-EWR-STT once on Continental, but that was significantly cheaper than the DCA-MIA-STT or IAD-SJU-STT options, and not much longer travel duration either due to favorable layover times.