Flight re-numbering?
 

Is there a logic behind re-numbering certain flights?

I have a flight from SEA-ICN-MNL and vv for December, and returning in January 2021. I booked this prior to all the covid rules. On my original booking, DL 197 flies from SEA-ICN-MNL, and under "My Flights," it only appears as a single item on the itinerary and was assigned the same seat. Return flight is on DL 198, and again is "one flight" with a stopover in ICN.

I checked my booking today, and the segments from ICN-MNL and MNL-ICN have been re-numbered as DL 290, and DL 291, respectively. Further, no seat map is available on all the segments DL 197/ 198 and DL 290/ 291.

I thought perhaps that DL 290/ 291 is the flight originating from another US hub that is stopping in ICN and continues on to MNL. For the same dates that I am traveling, none of the flights from DTW, MSP and ATL are numbered 290/ 291. Currently it is a flight from the Caribbean to the USA, I think.

What could be the reason why they would re-number the flights?

https://thepointsguy.com/news/how-ai...light-numbers/
Multiple other articles available via Google search but basically each airline has its own logic behind flight numbers in many cases, even if it's not always discernible to passengers.

Agree with ATOBTTR but would also note that it is possible the Philippines are not allowing "direct" flights from the US now.

I've been surprised to have schedule changes roll out in recent months where the flight is the exact same (same equipment, same time) but the flight number changes. Delta, of course, makes me "acknowledge" this change. I guess I never checked to see if there was a switch in regional carrier, but always struck me as bizarre that they would go through the effort just to change the flight number.

UPDATE: It seems swapping of regional carriers explains this. Just had a schedule change come through for an identical route and time, but different flight numbers. The regional carrier switched from SkyWest to Endeavor.

That's probably the reason in your case but I've had numerous reservations that were booked ahead of time where flight number changes occurred. Heck, I've had them change flight numbers on me and then months later change them again. Delta just loves changing flight numbers!

Yes it does. If you check out a site like Flightaware.com to see the history of a given flight number, you can see the frequent changes. At one point, keeping the same flight numbers for a long time must have been helpful to baggage handlers, especially at connecting hubs. But luggage is completely bar codes and RFID tags nowadays.

Used to be that there were 'symbolic' flight numbers, I recall that NW used 1492 for flight to/from Columbus and 1776 for Philadelphia and 500 for Indianapolis. I think there were others as well, but these are flight numbers I remember.

Back when DL (and PMNW) operated a flight to SIN, sometimes MSP-NRT-SIN was a direct flight and sometimes not (perhaps with SEA-NRT-SIN being the direct one). Regardless there was an aircraft change at NRT, so the only effect on me was that the direct flight earned fewer MQMs (and RDMs before they were revenue based). In principle, you can only book a seat on the direct flight if the same seat is available on both segments, but calling NW/DL always fixed that problem. If the aircraft type changed at the connection point, seat assignments for through passengers were further messed up, but again a call to the PE/DM line always fixed the problem, sometimes with a hassle.

IMO it's an advantage to the OP that the flight numbers change. Think of it as a gift horse.

As a side question, I'm wondering what happens when my original flight is booked under a codeshare (e.g., KL) and operated by DL but is then changed to a DL-coded flight. How would mileage and MQDs be calculated then?

Do you think sending off the original itinerary would be possible to get ORC, even though the routing is still the same (albeit with different flight numbers)?

Not symbolic, but for years DL 4111 was JFK-RDU at 11:11am. I took that flight ~15x/year and it was very easy to keep track of.

AFAIK whenever there's any involuntary rerouting, one is entitled to ORC upon request, so you *should* be able to submit the original PNR and ticket receipt to get the extra miles and MQDs etc. YMMV.

During JetBlue’s brief stint at DAB, one of the flights to or from DAB was “500”.

I think one of UA’s flights to China is “888” because 8 is a lucky number in Chinese culture.

Thanks!

Quite a few changes in flight numbers.

For over 12 years I’ve been flying frequently on the same flights from JFK to SDQ (493,495,497 and even 499 when there was a red eye). Now gone. They switched to a single flight number for the round trip JFK-SDQ (1835 substitutes 493/985, 1825 substitutes 497 / 391)

I’ve seen many other similar changes across the system.

I rarely thought about flight numbers but while living in SEA, I noticed that two flights I took many times were:
- 1823, which was the last DTW-SEA flight of the day, which I was taking either because I was coming back from DTW and that flight allowed us the maximum amount of time to spend with family in DTW or because I was connecting elsewhere from the East coast and was taking the latest possible option for the same reason.
- 128, which was SEA-LAX and the continuation of the PEK-SEA-LAX “direct” flight that left mid to late morning and offered the best option to drive to the SEA airport after morning rush hour in Seattle but arrive well before the start of rush hour in LA so I could drive up north without hitting as much traffic.