Originally Posted by Adlerdriver

Unfortunately it has always been that way with this new system. If you choose the "select" button next to a DH leg in order to buy a deviation ticket, you will deviate that leg when you submit for the ticket.

I'm pretty sure you could have selected the flight on the back end of the trip (assuming no DH there) to buy your ticket for the front DH. This would work the same as the scenario I described (that your replied to) where I had no DHs on the trip. Initially, the system will attempt to force the date for the tickets to match the date of your last flight on the trip. You just change the date to the one you want, fill in the rest of the ticket info and buy it. Since you are not selecting the legs with the DHs, it will not deviate you on those when you submit. It will give you some kind of warning message that the ticket date doesn't match (I can't remember the exact wording). You ignore the warning and submit and the ticket gets purchased without a deviation of your actual DHs.

I haven't done that exact scenario, but I'm 99% sure it would work as I described. I say that due to one other issue I've encountered. The "select" options at the front/back legs of the trip (DH or no DH) appear to be one time use only. I bought a ticket using the front DH selection and deviated during the purchase process. My plans changed and I cancelled my ticket using the on-line option (which is nice - one less call to GT). When I attempted to purchase a new ticket in the deviation system, it would not let me select the front leg again. I had to select the back leg (no DH) of the same trip, change the date and submit as I described above and it worked. Maybe the "select" options reset eventually when the system registers the ticket cancellation and they can be re-used, but I wasn't patient enough to wait and see.

Anyway, there's a few more data points for dealing with this "improvement".