letters after airline callsign

[John Clear]

I'm listening to the LiveATC.net feed of Norcal (SFO) Approach,
since the weather is 'fun' today[1], and a few of the airliners are
using letters after their standard callsigns. Two I've heard are
United 893 Lima and United 885 Kilo. They show up on FlightAware
as UAL893L and UAL885K, and UAL893 and UAL885 also show up, but as
different aircraft types and different routes.

Is this United's infamous 'change of gauge' 'direct' flight trick?
According to FlightAware, UAL893L is a 757 flying KJFK-KSFO and
UAL893 is a 777 flying KSFO-RKSI (Seoul, Korea).

Does the letter have any special meaning beyond that it appears to
be another flight using the same flight number but a different
aircraft? UAL885K and UAL885L both have been used according to
FlightAware, in addition to UAL885.

John
[1] Lots of missed approaches due to windshear. Diversions due to
RVR 19R OTS and crappy vis.
--
John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/

[F. Baum]

On Jan 4, 3:37*pm, (John Clear) wrote:
>
> Is this United's infamous 'change of gauge' 'direct' flight trick?
> According to FlightAware, UAL893L is a 757 flying KJFK-KSFO and
> UAL893 is a 777 flying KSFO-RKSI (Seoul, Korea).

Not the old "Change of gauge direct flight trick" again. Whats that ?
>
> Does the letter have any special meaning beyond that it appears to
> be another flight using the same flight number but a different
> aircraft?
Here's the story, when an airline has a through flight (Through a hub
airport), and the inbound flight is running late and the outbound
flight is a different AC (Or another plane and crew can be rerouted),
they will send the outbound flight on time but with a different call
sign. You cannot have two flights in the air at the same time with
that flight number.
FB

[John Clear]

In article >,
F. Baum > wrote:
>On Jan 4, 3:37*pm, (John Clear) wrote:
>>
>> Is this United's infamous 'change of gauge' 'direct' flight trick?
>> According to FlightAware, UAL893L is a 757 flying KJFK-KSFO and
>> UAL893 is a 777 flying KSFO-RKSI (Seoul, Korea).
>
>Not the old "Change of gauge direct flight trick" again. Whats that ?

On the reservation systems, UAL893 shows as KJFK-RKSI, with a stop
in KSFO. But it isn't just a stop in KSFO, it is a change of planes
as well (757 -> 777, probably change of terminals too). Since it
has just one flight number, it will appear before connecting flights,
even though it is a connecting flight.


>> Does the letter have any special meaning beyond that it appears to
>> be another flight using the same flight number but a different
>> aircraft?
>Here's the story, when an airline has a through flight (Through a hub
>airport), and the inbound flight is running late and the outbound
>flight is a different AC (Or another plane and crew can be rerouted),
>they will send the outbound flight on time but with a different call
>sign. You cannot have two flights in the air at the same time with
>that flight number.

So the letter is just randomly assigned then, or procedure varies
by airline?

Thanks,

John
--
John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/

[Robert M. Gary]

On Jan 4, 5:57*pm, (John Clear) wrote:

> On the reservation systems, UAL893 shows as KJFK-RKSI, with a stop
> in KSFO. *But it isn't just a stop in KSFO, it is a change of planes
> as well (757 -> 777, probably change of terminals too). Since it
> has just one flight number, it will appear before connecting flights,
> even though it is a connecting flight.

Sucks for the pax. That would be a hard connection to make.

-Robert

[F. Baum]

On Jan 4, 6:57*pm, (John Clear) wrote:
> >Here's the story, when an airline has a through flight (Through a hub
> >airport), and the inbound flight is running late and the outbound
> >flight is a different AC (Or another plane and crew can be rerouted),
> >they will send the outbound flight on time but with a different call
> >sign. You cannot have two flights in the air at the same time with
> >that flight number.
>
> So the letter is just randomly assigned then, or procedure varies
> by airline?

Varies by airline.
Frank

[Judah]

"Robert M. Gary" > wrote in news:08b5e7da-e021-4ee7-ad19-
:

> Sucks for the pax. That would be a hard connection to make.

What - you think the airlines care about the pax?