Originally Posted by
hikouki
I sent off some relatives at SEA today and I thought I would track their flight ton FlightAware. I was surprised to see that DL 199 shows daily up as a 737 from SLC-SEA, then as a 767 from SEA-ICN on the SAME day! I'm just curious if the flight number is modified when the first "leg" is delayed? There can't be two DL199's up in the air at the same time? (I know that some years ago, I would see flights depart from LAX with similar flight numbers. If the previous day's flight was delayed and could not leave until the next day's flight, the "rescue" flight would get a modified flight number, e.g. AA100a or AA8100).
Is DL 199 (the whole SLC-SEA-ICN on two different aircraft) a carry-over from the days of Northwest Airlines? I think I read somewhere that NWA hadflights the would "split up" going to several different final destinations (e.g., a single 747 arriving at NRT designated with several different NW flight numbers then splitting up at NRT as passengers are distributed into 757s). I seem to have read swell that they had flight numbers from overseas that would continue to another US airport but on different planes like the above "DL 199."
Just curious. Thanks for any info!
TWA used more of the multiple numbers on flights to/from JFK than PMNW ever did. [ADDED: In the TWA FF program, domestic segments of a direct flight weren't eligible for free elite upgrades, so I would deliberately mix up the numbers when I booked.]
DL at times has used the same flight number for ATL-LAX and LAX-SYD. Some people have missed the second part when the first segment is delayed. Even if it's the same aircraft type, there tends to be an aircraft change as it takes much longer than MCT to prep and cater an aircraft for a longhaul flight. DL wants the computer to show a direct flight with as the scheduled time being as short as possible.