Laxintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22034 posts, RR: 51 Reply 1, posted (8 years 2 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 2333 times:
Besides internal numbering schemes, and novelty numbers like BA001, IATA's basic numbering scheme recommends East and North bound flights carry even flight numbers, while West and South bound flights carry odd numbers.
Off course this is a voluntary system that not all airlines comply.
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
FlyingTexan From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (8 years 2 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2308 times:
There’s a whole host of factors involved. American’s for example are odd eastbound, even westbound. Continental’s single and double digits are overseas and sometimes weight critical – CO 7 being IAH-NRT and CO 6 the return. Independence Air reserves 3 digit flight numbers for the Airbus flights and 4 digit numbers for the CRJ flights. Southwest’ 60 daily flights between Love and Hobby are 1 thru 60, even for northbound, odd for southbound - with most continuing to points north or south. The 8000 range is generally a charter and other thousand ranges signify either a code share or a regional affiliate.
Some flights that are part of Latin America service however do operate North / South numbering system on continuing domestic legs which might not comply fully with the East/West numbering system.
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
JGPH1A From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (8 years 2 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 2235 times:
I think the IATA guidelines on flight numbering are just that - guidelines. They aren't enforced. Some US carriers (e.g. DL) are running out of numbers fast, and so are constrained to use whatever number is available for a new flight.
Geoffm From United Kingdom, joined Feb 2004, 2111 posts, RR: 7 Reply 7, posted (8 years 2 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 2235 times:
Quoting Filton216 (Reply 5): It doesnt have anything to do with the flight route aswell or this that just me?
Depends on the airline. Some reserve ranges for particular routes, eg 001 to 099 might be London-USA flights, 100-199 London-Asia, 200-299 London-Russia, etc.
CO has a weird numbering scheme but I can't remember what it is.
But with virtually all airlines, the lower the number, the more prestiguous the flight - BA001 and AF001 being Concorde, for example. Very high numbers, like 4000+ are often codeshares, with 9000+ sometimes being ferry/charter/special flights.
Quoting FlyingTexan (Reply 2): Continental�s single and double digits are overseas
Commavia From United States of America, joined Apr 2005, 10191 posts, RR: 62 Reply 9, posted (8 years 2 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 2182 times:
At AA, pretty much AA1-200 and AA900-999 never really change. These are almost all international or transcon routes to major destinations and stay pretty consistent all the time.
Pretty much everything else, especially from 1000 up, change with just about every schedule change. Also, generally speaking, even numbered flights operate east and north, and odd numbered flights west and south.
Alb222 From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 222 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (8 years 2 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 2076 times:
With all of the codesharing, flight numbers are running scarce. You can find many instances where the routing of a flight becomes JFK-FLL-JFK for instance in order to give that roundtrip the same flight number.
Sponsor Message: 
From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2005, 94 posts, 
From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22034 posts, 
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
Printer friendly format 
