Hello,

 

I'm wondering if someone can tell me why flight numbers have alpha characters after them? For example, in Froogle's FS2Crew for the Airbus Extended X, he says he is BAW276 and if he was flying on ATC he would be BA276G. Where does the "G" come from? I see a lot of NAX flights that have that too when I'm on vatsim. I'm not sure if this is an EU thing only though I don't recall seeing it in the US(at least not that I've noticed there but I haven't been flying in the US much lately). Anyway, I'm just curious as to why those flight numbers are like that and where does one get what those actual flight numbers are?

 

Thanks.

Don't have an answer for you, but in the United States, there were instances where this was actually done, and that was usually when you had a flight that continued on using the same flight number, but with a different aircraft. For instance, years ago, United had flight 893 going from JFK to SFO in a 757, continuing on to I think Seoul in a 777. The 893 leg on the 757 was 893T. Or maybe it was 893L. In any case, I think it was because you couldn't have two flight numbers in the system that could potentially be in the air at the same time, say in case the first one was delayed and the second one took off. Of course, if you had two legs with the same flight number on the same plane, that most likely wouldn't have caused any problems since if the first one arrived late, the second one with the same plane was going to be late as well.

I wonder why the airlines have two completely separate routes, using entirely different aircraft, share the same flight number?   I'm sure there is some kind of internal, corporate reason, but I can't figure out why.   I have noticed that the inbound flight will have one number, say 21, and the outbound is 22. 

 

I use real flight numbers using real routes gleaned from Flightaware when I sim, and at the moment, I'm flying as Delta 621 from RJAA to WSSS.  It shares the same flight number as the flight from KMSP to RJAA, using the same equipment, a 777-200LR.  Flight refuels at RJAA, lets off passengers who chose Tokyo as their destination, and from what I have read, does not pick up new passengers for the trip to Singapore because of government/competing carrier restrictions.

I wonder why the airlines have two completely separate routes, using entirely different aircraft, share the same flight number?   I'm sure there is some kind of internal, corporate reason, but I can't figure out why.

Probably because they want to link those flights to continuing flights is my guess. I remember in 2010, I was flying American 1641 from Newark to O'Hare, and flight 1641 on the same plane continued on to Tucson. Of course, if you have, say, United 885 which went from I think San Diego to San Francisco, then continues on to Kansai, you aren't using a 777 on San Diego to San Francisco or a 757 from San Francisco to Kansai (of course, I could be wrong about the 757, but I think you get the point).