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Originally Posted by Microwave
Originally Posted by
FWAAA
They use the same flight number as marketing hype, which has ensnared you.
Don't feel bad - the airlines do this to trick people, and it works. That's why they do it.
Wellllll
I honestly don't think it's done for the purpose of being customer unfriendly, I just think that's a side effect that the powers that be don't care enough to eliminate. I genuinely think that AA are trying to be cute with flight numbers so they can keep the number of in-use flight numbers within specific ranges, to make other parts of their lives easier. It wouldn't make much sense for them to do this just to stick it to passengers, as there's no real revenue/profitability upside for AA. Cookies, meals, banking, I can see those changes as being calculated decisions that go something like "if we screw customers just this much, we'll save X dollars", but I just don't see that with direct flights like this.
Airlines use single flight numbers on flights that have a change of aircraft so that their service appears higher up on flight schedules. A "direct" flight is listed ahead of connecting flights on flight-schedule displays, making it more likely that the "direct" flight will be selected by the passenger or travel agent.