And sometimes QF108 departs LAX before QF108 arrives from JFK It's happened to me several times (on QF, AA and DL), misconnect on the "same" flight number when there was a change of plane and the continuing service leaves on-time, stranding the through pax. Most likely QF would hold the MEL flight for up to 2 hours (max crew time) if there were QF108 pax mis-connecting at LAX, loads permitting.