Methods, systems, and computer program products for hairpin condition elimination in a telecommunications network are disclosed. A method is disclosed herein for eliminating a hairpin condition at a network node. According to one method, a first and second call leg, each using packet processing resources in a bearer node, are identified; if the first and second call legs are in a hairpin condition, the first and second call legs are connected together in the bearer node in a manner that bypasses and releases packet processing resources.