Author Topic: Flight Number  (Read 15192 times)

Offline Fryy/Avocadoflight

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Flight Number
« on: February 23, 2006, 04:57:04 PM »
Just curious what determins the flight number given to flights, such as AALXXX?



Offline 6000&Airborne

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« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2006, 06:29:45 PM »
Depends on where they're going.  For example, you'll hear Alaska122 from Chicago to Anchorage, and Alaska121 from Anchorage to Chicago.  Same numbers everyday.

I'll tell ya what though, they need to do something about similar sounding callsigns.  It is just ridiculous there are tons of 'em.

Offline tyketto

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« Reply #2 on: February 23, 2006, 06:36:37 PM »
Quote from: 6000&Airborne
Depends on where they're going.  For example, you'll hear Alaska122 from Chicago to Anchorage, and Alaska121 from Anchorage to Chicago.  Same numbers everyday.

I'll tell ya what though, they need to do something about similar sounding callsigns.  It is just ridiculous there are tons of 'em.


Nothing they can do about it. You said it yourself; it depends on where they're going. If Alaska121 is going from Anchorage to Chicago, and America West121 (Cactus121) is going from Phoenix to Chicago, you're going to get similar callsigns. The airlines can't exclusively reserve numbers only for themselves. Flight 122 could go from JFK to LHR for one airline, and from JFK to SEA for another.

BL.

Offline KMSY

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« Reply #3 on: February 23, 2006, 07:29:04 PM »
Ah, The complex system of airline scheduling! Imagine how much has to go into these schedules? First they must do their research and see what markets need their deserved attention and decide they need so many planes and flights for that route. Then they must find out times that don't conflict with other flights etc... Then they need to schedule pilots in. Make sure gate space is there... make sure you can afford it... Imagine if there was a sick pilot or a broken plane- after explaining this people usually see why the airlines are so determined to get flights in on time. These schedules are planned months in advance and with so much changing on a daily basis, i'd say figuring out this stuff is the hardest part of the business.

Don't know how a number is chosen for a flight exactly, hopefully someone else does.

Offline L-1011

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« Reply #4 on: February 23, 2006, 07:33:53 PM »
Not sure if this still applies today but

Even number flights are WEST to EAST

Odd number flighs are EAST to WEST

I think that is how it still is.

Offline JetScan1

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« Reply #5 on: February 23, 2006, 07:58:00 PM »
>> Nothing they can do about it. <<

In Europe it's common practice for ATC to assign certain flights with a discreet 3 character alpha numeric callsign that is different from their actual flight number, to avoid any confusion. Some European airlines, British Airways, Alitalia, Swiss, as a few examples, have been using alpha numeric callsigns on some of their flights operating to North America for a few years now. I haven't heard if there is any talk of trying this for domestic US flights ? But it could be an option.

In North America, the westbound odd number and eastbound even number rule is still used by most airlines on transcon flights. Not all Airlines do this though, some are opposite like Lufthansa and Air France that use even for westbound and odd for eastbound. Some airlines get cute and assign flight numbers that might have a significance to a certain city or route, US Airways, Delta, Continental and American for example all have a flight 1776 that operates to Philadelphia, and 711 is a common one into Las Vegas. Other airlines reserve a series of flight numbers for one route or area, Air Canada only uses 400 series flight numbers on their Montreal/Ottawa/Toronto Rapidair flights, coincidently the same 400 series numbering system is used for the highways between the same cities.

I'm aware of at least one airline that will try and change a flight number if they discover a possible conflict, and will also issue a notice to their pilots if another airline is using the same flight number on the route they are operating. DJ

Offline tyketto

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« Reply #6 on: February 23, 2006, 08:01:03 PM »
Not sure if that ever applied.

SWA has flights 2175 and 1091 going from LAS - OMA, which is west-east. They also have 2642 going the other way, from OMA - LAS, which is east-west.

AWE104 is east/west, going from JFK-LAS.

It just totally depends on the airline and what they want to do.

BL.

Offline L-1011

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« Reply #7 on: February 23, 2006, 08:27:53 PM »
From a USA TODAY Article 10/31/2005:

Memorable flight numbers

Searching for superstitious behavior in airline flight numbers uncovered another story about memorable flight numbers. Flights to Las Vegas with 7s and 11s are not only alleged to bring good luck, but they are also easy to remember. (Related column: Check your travel superstitions, or carry them on?)
More airlines might want to use those same easy-to-remember flight numbers, but the Federal Aviation Administration limits the number of similar flight numbers flying into the same place at the same time to avoid confusion in the control tower.

Airlines find many ways to make flight numbering somewhat systematical and therefore memorable.For example, most airlines assign even flight numbers to eastbound and northbound flights, while westbound and southbound flights are assigned odd numbers. Airlines will usually assign four-digit numbers to flights flown by their regional, commuter or other affiliates and these four-digit numbers will usually be higher than any number used by the main line service of that carrier. For example, all Delta Airlines flights are numbered between 1 and 1974, while Delta's subsidiary Song is assigned the range of flight numbers between 1975 and 2099, and flight numbers 4838 to 5912 are assigned to regional carrier Comair.

The same is true of codeshare flights. So a codeshare flight 1139 on United Airlines, which is designated as flight 5112 on Air Canada, is actually operated by United Airlines, while Air Canada flight 560, which is the same flight offered by United as flight 8253, is really operated by Air Canada on the same route between Vancouver and San Francisco.

In some high-frequency markets airlines will assign a sequential series of numbers based on departure time. For example, between Washington and New York, US Airways shuttle flight 2158 departs at 6 a.m., 2160 at 7 a.m., 2162 at 8 a.m., etc., and Delta shuttle flight 1938 departs at 6 a.m., 1940 at 6:30 a.m., and 1942 at 7:30 a.m., etc.

American, Continental, Delta and Northwest Airlines all offer an unforgettable flight 1776 to Philadelphia. And American and Continental Airlines both offer a flight 1492 to Columbus.

A very creative scheduling department at AirTran has implemented a flight 303 to Denver, which is the area code for the Mile High City, and a flight 435 to Kansas City, which is the number of a major interstate highway there, according to spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver.

Historically, airlines have done very creative things with flight numbers, according to Bob Distler, an aviation consultant and member of the Washington State Transportation Commission, who formerly worked for Pan American Airways as managing director of scheduling and planning.

Numerous carriers have operated flight 1849 or 49 to San Francisco, after the California gold rush, Distler says. In the early 1960s, American designated its 6 p.m. flight from New York's JFK Airport to Los Angeles as flight 21 to highlight its first-class catering by The 21 Club. That catering is long gone, but flight 21 still departs JFK for Los Angeles at 6 p.m. every day.

Many airlines have used Flights 1 and 2 for a featured service or on a premier route. Examples include National Airlines' Miami to London route, Pan American's round-the-world service, Qantas' first Boeing 747-238 service between Sydney and London, and British Airways' first Concorde flight to JFK.

When Distler was with Pan American, the airline received permission to change the number of flight 100 from New York to London to 1776 and do a low flyover above the tall ships in New York Harbor on the nation's bicentennial on July 4, 1976.

Alaska Airlines numbered its Seattle to Anchorage flights with an 1890 series to commemorate the Alaskan gold rush. And Mohawk Airlines used the same sequence of flight numbers for its DC3 "Gaslight Service," linking LaGuardia with upstate New York in the early '60s. Those flights featured cigars, pretzels and a special beer from upstate New York. The airplanes were even painted in a unique livery with a gaslight on the tail according to Distler.

Offline IndyTower

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« Reply #8 on: February 24, 2006, 12:28:21 AM »
Another example of that which comes to mind for me is the flight number 500.  United's 500 is from ORD-IND and Northwest's is from MSP-IND, home of the Indianapolis 500 mile race.  I believe that for a time Southwest's 500 came through Indy also.

Also, back in the early to mid nineties, United's flights 1 and 2 were around the world flights.  Went something like JFK-LHR-New Delhi-SYD-LAX-JFK and vice versa.  I'm not sure those are the right cities but it was somewhere along those lines.  I'm guessing someone on the board will remember.

Offline JetScan1

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« Reply #9 on: March 08, 2006, 05:42:39 PM »
Just noticed today that Skywest is now using 3 letter alpha numeric callsigns on a lot of their flights out of Salt Lake City. First time I've heard a US carrier using them on domestic flights. Anyone know when they started this ? It will be interesting to see how fast this practice spreads to other US domestic airlines ? DJ