Originally Posted by WindFlyer
...that works well at night (when the tail numbers may be hard to see) is to look at the nose number (four digits). Take away the second digit, and you've got the tail number.
Admittedly, this doesn't work when the gate/boarding areas don't have windows out into the tarmac...
Ah, so my flight 4940 above was N440UA! Thanks.
But where is the nose number? You say I need to see out of the gate/boarding area, so I assume it's on the front of the aircraft. But I googled up a bunch of UA 747 pix and can't see any nose numbers on either side of them (but the tail numbers are clearly visible).
