141–150 of 461 posts
They already have a better solution. Did you see AAA777 to Las Vegas. So they are able to add alpha to numerics, when needed. Return flights sharing the number? Why not.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm pretty sure they want to keep flight numbers short because that's how passengers identify their flight. As a passenger, you wouldn't want to be reading signs with 40 digit flight numbers. Attention passengers, flight 3467548742468759027225995322800483168368 to Dallas is now boarding.
> I'm pretty sure they want to keep flight numbers short because that's how passengers identify their flight. That wouldn't describe any passenger I've ever known, including myself. We identify our flight by destination and departure time. Airport boards are conveniently sorted by departure time. In case of a tie, I'd fall back to airline, also indicated separately on the board, but a tie over destination and departu…
Not true always. Often I see them sorted alphabetically by Destination, then time (in west coast US). Or occasionally (in middle east) by Airline Name & then Time. All Qatar Airlines together. Sometimes even whole LCD Labeled (digitally, on screen) as A-E, F-M etc. and a bit frustrating way, because often I know my flight destination, but not precise time (& sometimes time shifts around), sorted by pure time.
This is the tipping point that will make the world switch from passenger flights to high-speed rail.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also, connections. If it's a connecting flight, and the incoming flight is running late, then the airline "sorts you out". Basically they know sboit your connection and make a plan. I've been on a plane out of Heathrow that waited for a 30-min late incoming flight. I've also been on a late flight where my connection has been rebooked for me because we arrived late. If you book "2 tickets" you're basically a no-show t…
You don't need to be on a codeshare for that to work though, it just needs to be on the same itinerary - the flight numbers can be on different airlines and still on the same itinerary.
It’s probably not strictly necessary anymore today (as you say, I’m pretty sure I’ve had a ticket across two carries without a codeshare number), but maybe it was at some point?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why does it matter that they operate at a loss? Does China subsidise its air industry like other countries (jet fuel is duty free in the UK)
Because if they aren't, they are unsustainable. It's good to have self-sustainable industries rather than endless businesses (state owned or not) forever sucking on the public teet.
There's no such thing as a 'self-sustaining industry'.
They all rely on common transportation infrastructure which they use to ship their materials and goods around and get their employees to work. They all rely on a predictable and fair marketplace whose fairness is governed by the state, and they all rely on people not coming and burning their premises down because they're protected by the state!
> Except they don’t. American Airlines, Delta, and United are running out of flight numbers, and nobody knows what to do about it. All of the above mentioned airlines are the size they are because of mergers. Why don’t they use the IATA codes of the airlines they absorbed. For example Delta merged with Northwestern. In addition to DL, they could also use NW. American merged with USAirways. They could use US in additi…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> good enough" with respect to "Air travel should be for medical emergencies only"? Yes. Seems a little extreme to me, but fine. > high speed trains in china run on electricity. I'm not sure how fuel duties are relevant here. Because to highlight how HSR "runs at a loss" without mentioning the enormous state subsidies that go to the aviation sector, without which air travel would also run at a loss, is a little selec…
>Seems a little extreme to me, but fine. Blame thanatos519, which made the claim and caused me to reply, not me. >Because to highlight how HSR "runs at a loss" without mentioning the enormous state subsidies that go to the aviation sector Again, I'm not disagreeing with this line of reasoning, only pointing out that it's incomplete. High speed trains most definitely received subsidies in the form of government financ…
Sure. I'm just saying that I don't agree that "not making a loss" is a prerequisite for any type of measure of success. Lots of things are successful that don't turn a direct profit.
> Your response to that is... airlines might be getting subsidies too but you you can't really point out what they are? Or are you claiming that the fact that other fuels are subject to duties, jet fuel isn't, then airlines are getting "subsidies", even if HSRs aren't taxed in the same way (ie. for electricity)?
I'm saying lots in both sectors is subsidised, all the way from manufacturing through to runtime costs.
Whether or not a railway or a flight route makes a "profit" or "loss" is really down to level of state funding across the whole industry, so using it as a measure to see which mode of transport is 'better' is (I think) not very enlightening.
I love that so many people here think they can think about the problem for 10 seconds and come up with a solution that hasn't already been considered a thousand times and discarded.
But have they considered 5 digit numbers :^)
I don't even understand the point of code-share flight numbers. The first thing I do when I see one is look up the original flight number. Most flight search engines will also show you the original carrier. Why not just get rid of them and book on the original flight number? Is it needed somehow in their systems to know how a flight was booked or what flights are eligible? Can that be fixed instead of the flight numb…
That couldn't possibly work, as it will make it more difficult for airlines to play their bullshit games with inventories, differential pricing, status and bonus miles.