AA using same flight number for both directions of a flight

[jpp42]

This is perhaps nothing new, but confused me... I was on AA 2381 from RDU to DFW, and when looking up the flight status, I noticed that the inbound segment from DFW-RDU was also flight 2381. I know that it's long been tradition in the US for the same flight number to be used for multi-hop flights, but I've never seen one before where it just boomerangs back to the origin airport with the same flight number. Any thoughts about this practice? Is this somehow a way to game the on-time performance statistics ?

I randomly checked a few other flights out of DFW to other outstations, and they all fly back with a different flight number as is more traditional. However, other flights DFW-RDU-DFW use this same one-number setup such as AA 1888.

 

[Quickstatus]

Very common - has been happening for years.
Beware that the identical flight number for the return may be operated by a different aircraft with a different seating configuration than the outbound.

 

[serfty]

I first came across this on USair back in my (&their) *A days. Again on DL flights I flew in the pre COVID VA association days.

If I forget to double check, Tripit often reminds me when changing flights.

Most recently was earlier this month on a AA flight between MCI & DFW.

 

[justinbrett]

It's not a single flight the way QF1 is - that's only a single flight as it's loaded as SYD-SIN, SIN-LHR AND SYD-LHR.

In these AA cases, the two legs are entered separately and you can't book a single flight for both legs.

Flight numbers are always specific to take off and landing airports; from a GDS point of view, you could have two simultaneous flights with the same flight number operating between two different sets of airports. This isn't permitted by ATC however, so it's not done - I'm just making a point.

The main reason airlines do this is to conserve flight numbers - there's only 9999 possible flight numbers - 4999 if you want separate return flights; then you also have to factor in all of the regional and codeshare flights. Big airlines like AA run out pretty quickly.

 

[dajop]

Much closer to home, when SQ flew to CBR via SYD, the entire flight was the same flight number all the way, SIN-SYD-CBR-SYD, from memory SQ288 (I think). Slightly different to a straight return, and not to conserve flight numbers, instead I presume so both SIN-CBR AND SYD-SIN could be sold as “direct” flights rather than one of them having a “connection” in the GDS.