How are flight numbers assigned? And who assigns them?

Answer 1

Each airline assigns its own flight numbers. Some of the larger carriers use 3 digit flight numbers (preceded by their airline code) for their own flights, and 4 digits for flights by partners or subsidiaries.

For example, United Airlines uses UA800 numbers for its own flights to and from Asia. UA6000 & UA7000 numbers are used for flights operated by United Express partner airlines. And UA8000 numbers are used for some UAL codeshare flights operated by Air Canada, Lufthansa, etc.

Answer 2

Aflight number , when combined with the name of the airline and the date, identifies a particular flight. This should not be confused with the tail number of the aircraft . A particular aircraft may fly several different flights in one day, and different aircraft may be used for the same flight number on successive days.

A number of conventions have developed for defining flight numbers, although these vary widely from airline to airline. Eastbound and northbound flights are traditionally assigned even numbers , while westbound and southbound flights have odd numbers. For destinations served by multiple flights per day, numbers tend to increase during the day. Hence, a flight from point A to point B might be flight 101 and the return flight from B to A would be 102, while the next pair of flights on the same route would usually be assigned codes 103 and 104.

Flight numbers of less than three digits are often assigned to long-haul or otherwise premium flights. For example, British Airways flight 1 was the early morning supersonic Concorde service from London to New York City , and Air Canada flight 1 is the daily nonstop service from Toronto to Tokyo . Four-digit numbers in the range 1000-4999 typically represent regional affiliate flights, while numbers larger than 5000 are generally codeshare numbers for flights operated by entirely different airlines.

In the United States , air crashes are often referred to by their flight number, while elsewhere they are usually referred to by the name of the location of the crash. What is typically referred to in the US as " Pan Am Flight 103 " is referred to elsewhere as the "Lockerbie disaster." Both in the US and elsewhere, flight numbers may be taken out of use after a crash.

Answer 3

flight number, when combined with the name of the airline and the date, identifies a particular flight. This should not be confused with the tail number of the aircraft. A particular aircraft may fly several different flights in one day, and different aircraft may be used for the same flight number on successive days.

A number of conventions have developed for defining flight numbers, although these vary widely from airline to airline. Eastbound and northbound flights are traditionally assigned even numbers, while westbound and southbound flights have odd numbers. For destinations served by multiple flights per day, numbers tend to increase during the day. Hence, a flight from point A to point B might be flight 101 and the return flight from B to A would be 102, while the next pair of flights on the same route would usually be assigned codes 103 and 104.

Flight numbers of less than three digits are often assigned to long-haul or otherwise premium flights. For example, British Airways flight 1 was the early morning supersonic Concorde service from London to New York City, and Air Canada flight 1 is the daily nonstop service from Toronto to Tokyo. Four-digit numbers in the range 1000-4999 typically represent regional affiliate flights, while numbers larger than 5000 are generally codeshare numbers for flights operated by entirely different airlines.

In the United States, air crashes are often referred to by their flight number, while elsewhere they are usually referred to by the name of the location of the crash. What is typically referred to in the US as "Pan Am Flight 103" is referred to elsewhere as the "Lockerbie disaster." Both in the US and elsewhere, flight numbers may be taken out of use after a crash.

Answer 4

The company flight planners assign them. They are basically arbitrary but sometimes have some sort of logic attached to them. For instance, at my company flight numbers beginning with 1 are on a Beech 1900 and flight numbers beginning with 2 are on a J328.

The dispatcher who is in charge of that flight then sends the flight proposal (with the flight number already attached) to Center who approves or modifies it.

Answer 5

first thing in the morning the ticket agents get together with a big bowl full of numbers and draw them out and stick them on a board beside the flight data also at the same time they stand back from the board and each one throw a dart at it which ever flight is hit will be " accidentally" delayed theses delays increase in time as each person throws ... for example first flight hit could be 20 minutes and then usually they double for each successive flight....... also each agent is given a secret number(drawn at random) this number is used when checking in passengers IE. if the agents number was 33 then when they serve their 33 rd customer they send their bags to a different city than the passenger

Answer 6

each plane and airlines have their own flight numbers and it stays with them the whole day