Originally Posted by
UAzip
No one (except mileage runners) would take the full PHX-EWR-SEA, nor would they take a YVR-LAX-YVR immediately. Using the same number for both indeed "conserves" numbers because it saves the number the second leg would use for another flight somewhere else in the system.
Curious -- If you were doing a ML for PQMs and flew YVR-LAX-YVR, would you get zero miles since it's the same flight number and thus the PQMs are counted from the origin to the destination ignoring the connection?