remyjette

I have a ticket for an itinerary in a few months booked through alaskaair.com that is SEA-ORD on AS metal, then ORD-ORF on AA metal. Booking code was N.

The ORD-ORF leg was just cancelled, so I called AS Reservations and now they've routed me through DFW instead. SEA-DFW on AS metal, DFW-ORF on AA metal.

Here's my question - the updated reservation now shows booking code Y. Any chance I'll actually *get* the 50% bonus for Y now? (I'm not expecting it, simply curious)

be_rettSEA

Everytime I've been to the N lounge I've seen that sign out, as I'm checking in there's been someone in front of me or beside me that's buying a day pass, so I'm not sure how much they actually adhere to it. Reminds me of when LAX was in PP (before I was a member), and sometimes I'd be let in on PP even when the sign was out - they just didn't feel like going out to bring it in.

tanzaniancane

I live on the East Coast and am trying to do a segment run to get to my 12 segments to maintain my MVP 75k status. If I take the AS 64 flight from JNU to PSG to WRG to KTN to SEA, does anyone know if that would count for 4 segments as there are 3 stops, or would it count as a single flight since they are all one flight number? Thanks!

Flying for Fun

A direct flight (same flight number) with multiple stops will post as 1 segment and EQM/RDM is based on the direct origin to destination distance, not the sum of the segments.

James

mtofell

Curious is anyone knows why airlines do multi-stops under the same flight#? It seems like from a clerical standpoint it would be kind of a hassle and potentially confusing.

RaingerRain

look up milk runs
Alaska flys to some towns in Alaska and they are the only scheduled flight the whole day, it is only worth flying those routes by stopping in multiple places. It is not very common nowadsys to stay on the same flight number unless it is a milk run (or island hopper AKA United) or a 5th freedom flight (AKA Emirates A380 Service from DXB to Sydney (SYD), continuing to Christchurch (CHC) in New Zealand and then back to SYD, then continuing back to DXB)

GW McLintock

That's not entirely true. Very recently I flew the first half of AA 2846 which is DFW-SLC-DFW (AA 2845 is the same) and the second half of AA 1506 PHX-SLC-PHX. You see this phenomenon on Delta too occasionally (for example, DL 1705 SLC-SNA-SLC), though more often with them I've seen through-flight numbering (when a single flight operates something like SLC-MEM-LGA or ROC-ATL-MSY). About a decade ago, Delta had a single flight number on SLC-SEA-HND; the first leg was on a 737-800 and the second leg was on a 767-300ER.

-J.

mtofell

I'm aware of milk runs but had never thought of them in this context. So, it's basically a way to "require" someone to purchase a given entire route. Segments individually can be purchased but cost more so this an airline's way of trying to fill planes. With a singular flight# it enables the airline to sell what they want rather than what we might want.

notquiteaff

UA used to do that, too. Maybe still today. I often flew SFO-FRA, which had the same flight number as a SAN-SFO flight (on a much smaller plane) that connected to the FRA flight (just like dozens of others who didn’t share the flight number). And vice versa. And the onboard announcements included something like “Welcome to our flight to San Francisco with continuing service to San Diego”.

Basically, it was just marketing (hey, San Diegans, we now have a “direct” flight to Frankfurt for you)… with the negative side effect of reduced earnings compared to a connection with flight number change.

I’d like to think the passenger confusion and complaints cost them more money than the actual savings.

Flying for Fun

AS used to have a direct SEA-SFO-PSP flight, AS372 iirc. While both SEA & SFO have flights to PSP, the direct flight added another frequency from both cities where there might not be enough load for a dedicated non-stop from each city otherwise.

Flight 372 could either be SEA-SFO, SFO-PSP or the direct SEA-PSP. In essence, since SFO-PSP and SEA-PSP might not fill another plane, AS could sell both SEA-SFO & SEA-PSP as flights on the same aircraft. The flight leaves SEA for SFO with a higher load. Those that terminate in SFO get off and the SFO-PSP passengers join those continuing on to PSP. The SFO-PSP flight now has a higher load and AS made revenue on those teaveling to SFO. Both SEA & SFO get another frequency to PSP. It just means a stop enroute for the SEA originating passengers.

Passengers will earn EQM/RDM from their origin to destination (SEA-SFO, SFO-PSP & non-stop equivalent SEA-PSP, even though they are all the same flight number. The direct gives you another option/frequency but you don't benefit from the added distance or segment; teade off.

For the milk run, it doesn't make financial sense to offer non-stop service from every city to every other city. It just hops along serving all cities in each direction. The same flight number as a direct ensures that everyone earns equally in Mileage Plan. If you get off at the first stop and the next passenger gets off at the next stop it wouldn't be fair for the second passenger to earn twice as many miles considering all AS flights earn a minimum 500 EQM.

James

portland67

My wife and I have a 2 year old and we’ve just traveled with him once due to the pandemic. This is my first experience trying to book 3 tickets using the companion certificate. I know we can’t do it online but if I call the 1-800 number, will they be able to book the 3 of us with the companion code? If not, do I need to just book my wife and son’s ticket online and my ticket separately and just link the reservation?

Flying for Fun

Companion certificares are for 2 and only 2 passengers. You will need to book a seperate ticket for the third passenger. Two seperate PNRs can be linked but it only provides information that the parties are traveling together.

James

Fredd

We're flying to Australia this week to attend Oz Fest. We're flying NAN-SYD on FJ and will have several hours at SYD before flying SYD-MEL on QF in Y.

We had hoped as OW Emeralds we would have access to the QF Domestic Business Lounge, and the OW site indicates that.

However, QF has just emailed us an "exclusive invitation" to buy lounge access for AU $49, available only through the end of check-in.

Is this a glitch or do we need to buy our way in?

Thanks in advance!

seacarl

Conceptually, there are three separate answers to this question.

When commercial aviation first started the distances a plane could fly were more limited and so multiple stops were necessary in order to refuel and service the plane. It also mimicked how railroads were run, and initially aviation copied many things from railroads. Additionally it allowed servicing multiple markets with the same aircraft and flight, and perhaps the demand wasn't there for nonstop flights to all those destinations, but by combining passengers in different markets, more could be served. Even in the 1980's airlines like Republic (later Northwest) had flights like PIH (Pocatello) to BOI to SEA (on mainline DC9 aircraft) or Minneapolis - Bismark - Missoula - Spokane - Seattle. Similarly on international routes you could have SFO-HNL-HND-HKG-SIN-DEL. Domestically multi-stop flights have become fairly rare, except that Southwest still uses them extensively. It's not unusual for the same flight number to have six or seven segments on Southwest and to generally be flowing by the same aircraft. They don't expect passengers to travel from the start to the end, and often the aircraft routing wouldn't make any sense to do that, but traveling on 2 or 3 legs gives them many more options to sell seats, and these still show up as direct flights in search results. The other area where this tends to persist is in island and coastal markets where aviation is a lifeline but demand isn't there for direct flights. Two examples of this are the United Island Hopper which travels Honolulu and Guam via various small Pacific islands, and the Alaska milk runs which serve multiple remote and/or roadless destinations between Seattle and Anchorage such as Wrangell and Petersburg.

The second place this became commonplace, although it seems less common now, is the add domestic segments to international flights. These generally weren't on the same aircraft and you could well says that the practice is deceptive, but the purpose was for airlines to display direct flights in more markets. Travel agents tended to book flights from the first screen that their GDS showed them, and the GDS was programmed to show direct flights before connections, so by creating these pseudo-direct flights they got more entries onto that first screen. TWA and later American even would put multiple flight numbers on the international segment so that they could show pseudo-direct flights to multiple domestic destinations. E.g. the same LHR-STL flight having different numbers that corresponded to onward segments to DEN, SFO, SEA.

There is a third reason that airlines sometimes use the same number on multiple segments. Increasingly this is on return flights on the same route. For example AS 12 operates SEA-BOS-SEA. This can also be done on sort-of-through flight numbers that the airlines don't really expect you to take. Like SFO-SEA-ORD with an absurdly long stop and different aircraft in a market where there are lots of nonstops. And that reason is: to conserve flight numbers. Generally flight numbers can only be four digits, and for many airlines that means their own flights can only be number in the range 0001-1999. The reason for that is that all the numbers above that 2000-9999 are reserved for other uses: their commuter partners, code shares with alliance members, and charter, maintenance, irregular operations, etc. With the growth of carriers and mergers, they were running out of flight numbers, so using the same number for multiple segments lets them stretch the numbers.

With the exception of the milk run and island hopper and the Southwest still two or three leg flights, there really isn't any benefit to passengers and there are drawbacks from booking these flights. You generally earn less miles in the loyalty programs. You may be disadvantaged in getting upgrades. The ticket may be less flexible in making changes or in irregular operations.

humdinger

I'm OneWorld Emerald, and Alaska MVP100K. I'm looking to fly YVR-LAX. When I look on Alaska's website, I see an AA flight listed as an option. When I look on American's website, I see that same flight listed, for $40ish cheaper.

Will I earn the same number of EQM regardless of which website I book through?

Thanks,
-HD