Originally Posted by
RobOnLI
Has anyone seen this before? This is totally new to me and I'm wondering if DL has done this in the past.
Tomorrow (3/9), DL4622 is scheduled for SLC-SEA. It is also scheduled for the return flight SEA-SLC. I'm on the SEA-SLC portion.
I suppose technically there's no reason an airline can't do this because the flights can't be in the air at the same time (it's the return equipment in SEA). I've just never seen one do this before.
-RM
I'm not sure there is any relevance as to whether or not there are two flights in the air at the same time with the same flight number.
Consider one of DL's (or, for that matter, any airline's) sham "direct" flights where the itinerary involves two flights with the same flight number, but a change of aircraft at the connecting airport. If your inbound flight WXYZ is late, your continuing flight WXYZ may leave before the inbound flight lands.
In that case, aren't there two flights with the WXYZ number in the air simultaneously?
Can some of the experts explain how ATC handles this situation?