Starman

I'm holding UA 2122, mainline DEN-SJC, in July. 😊

Seriously, while I appreciate the convenience of segregating number bands to eadily identify partners or assorted odd functions, there is obviously great wastage within some of the bands. Does TransStates really operate 999 UA daily departures, etc.? If they really needed more 4 digit flight numbers, they could make it work without rewriting the entire res system.

Bonehead

Such direct flights are in fact more dangerous than normal connecting flights because the connections are, in my experience, relatively shorter. This is indeed a double whammy for the inexperienced flier.

Xyzzy

TransStates does nt have 999 allocated to it. There is clearly more to this than just assigning numbers. There are enough pieces of United and United partners that need sets of numbers that bands make sense. Flight numbers stay in reservation systems for many months. Imagine the chaos if a Trans States flight a United flight and an ExpressJet flight all used the same flight number over a period of time. Bands of flight numbers allow everyone to quickly know the operator/purpose of flights. Having extras to pad each list with avoids having to reassign the ranges, which would add extra confusion. United Express carriers had the following assignments as of the middle of 2016:

• CommutAir 2670-2724
• Cape Air 2800-2874
• Trans States 2900-2919
• Cape Air 2920-2939
• Republic Airlines 3300-3574
• Shuttle America 3575-3699
• ExpressJet 3700-4499
• Trans States 4500-4749
• Go Jet 4750-4899
• CommutAir 4900-4999
• Skywest 5000-6060
• Mesa Air 6061-6384

murphyUA

I tried to search to see if I could find the answer, but the most recent thread was from 2013...

How do PQMs post (in practice) for same flight numbered change of plane flights? It's ORD-EWR-PHX, so a pretty significant difference.

EmailKid

Unless you can get UA to split the segments, it's the lower number. There is a more recent thread than 2013, but probably has different wording in title. Try Google advanced search, that normally works better than FT search.

WineCountryUA

Depends on how booked. If book as a direct flight with a stop/change of planes, it posts based on the direct, no-stop mileage. If booked as two separate segments, then you get individual segment credit. Recent (2015,16 & 17) examples upthread.

jsloan

This got answered in the original "Simple Question" thread, but, to expand on the answer there: You'll get the nonstop distance from origin to destination: ORD-PHX. As you can see, this can be a pretty painful side-effect.

sokolov

I just booked an itinerary YYJ-YYC-SFO-EWR to maximize my mileage earning with a distance based *A programm. (And it was very cheap *g*)

Now I see that YYC-EWR seems to be a single (!) segment, UA 726, although there is both a terminal change and a plane change in SFO (YYC-SFO is a 737, SFO-EWR is a 777).

Says the bomb:

• Depart YYC: $Date
• Arrive EWR: $Date +1
• Long layover
• Terminal change
• Red-eye flight
• 1 stop (plane change)Stop in San Francisco, CA, US (SFO)3h ground time

I am very surprised to see such thing. This means I will only earn the miles for YYC-EWR, and not for YYC-SFO + SFO-EWR, correct?

aacharya

Yes only for the direct.

Call in to split the segments ngefore the 24 hour cancellation timeframe.

if no go, cancel and use Google flights to piece together.

sokolov

TNX. I've tried splitting it up, but that doubles the cost.

(Besides I wonder what the point is of having a single flight number for this, with a 3 hour layover and a plane change. This is not your usual stopover on a direct flight.)

emcampbe

mduell

Saves flight numbers. Between the size of the modern carriers and all the partners they codeshare with, the US majors are pretty tight on 4 digit flight numbers.

And some dumb legacy systems may show these direct flights preferentially to connections with two flight numbers.

TerryK

It is a scam by major airlines. It doesn't serve any purpose other than to fool novice flyers into booking direct flights only to end up flying on connecting flights. It wasn't on UA but I once "missed" my flight due to late inbound into SEA. My flight from SEA, with same flight number, has left when I landed and I had to overnight in SEA.

jsloan

"Scam" is a harsh word. While I understand the thought, YYC-SFO-EWR isn't a routing that UA is likely trying to sell to anyone. UA used to offer AUS-SFO-LAS flights with a three-hour stop at SFO. I doubt many people booked them thinking it was a nonstop, as the total flight time was about 7 hours. While "lack of flight numbers" may sound ridiculous, keep in mind that there are large ranges of flight numbers reserved for codeshare flights, that each United Express operator has its own dedicated range of flight numbers, and that some flight numbers are retired or reserved for future use. YYC-ORD-EWR, with a 50 minute connection? I could see calling that a "scam." A 3 hour connection in a city that's over a thousand miles out of the way? OP didn't choose this flight by accident, thinking it was quicker.

OP: The flights will credit according to the rules of your program. UA has little to do with it. If you were crediting to MileagePlus, it would be counted as the nonstop YYC-EWR distance, but another program may do it differently.

Alternatively, if you are flying on a UA-issued ticket, consider attempting to do a same-day confirmed change once you arrive at SFO. For one thing, you may be able to avoid spending three hours in SFO. For another thing, there have been reports that an old CO policy means that the SDC fee would be waived when you make the request at a connecting airport. (Even if it isn't, it might be worth $75 to you). Note that you won't be able to SDC via the app if you checked luggage, but an agent can do it for you, provided that there's at least one hour until your desired departure.

Good luck!

emcampbe