Flight Number Question

Bob wrote:
weather at ORD, we were put into a hold pattern over Kansas City for about
40 minutes. At that time, the captain turned on Channel 9 so we could
listen in. We were United 942 but our call sign to ATC was different,
United 8735 (or something similar). Why would we have a different call sign
from our flight number?

If original 942 was just making a stop over and continuing to a 3rd city, it
is possible United put in another plane at Kansas City and that plane
inherited your flight 942 and left on time. meanwhile, to avoid having 2
flights in the air with the same number, your flight got a different number.

This one may be the case. The flight I was on was UA 942 going from DEN to
ORD continuing to CDG. When we finally got to ORD, the CDG travelers on
DEN-ORD segment were told the flight had already left. They must have
substituted another aircraft to make sure the ORD-CDG segment left on time.

Thanks for the explanations.
"nobody" wrote in message
...
Bob wrote:
weather at ORD, we were put into a hold pattern over Kansas City for
about
40 minutes. At that time, the captain turned on Channel 9 so we could
listen in. We were United 942 but our call sign to ATC was different,
United 8735 (or something similar). Why would we have a different call
sign
from our flight number?

If original 942 was just making a stop over and continuing to a 3rd city,
it
is possible United put in another plane at Kansas City and that plane
inherited your flight 942 and left on time. meanwhile, to avoid having 2
flights in the air with the same number, your flight got a different
number.

Bob wrote:

This one may be the case. The flight I was on was UA 942 going from DEN to
ORD continuing to CDG. When we finally got to ORD, the CDG travelers on
DEN-ORD segment were told the flight had already left. They must have
substituted another aircraft to make sure the ORD-CDG segment left on time.


It is also possible that there is normally a different aircraft for the
international segment. This is quite common.

In article ,
mtravelkay wrote:

Bob wrote:

This one may be the case. The flight I was on was UA 942 going from DEN to
ORD continuing to CDG. When we finally got to ORD, the CDG travelers on
DEN-ORD segment were told the flight had already left. They must have
substituted another aircraft to make sure the ORD-CDG segment left on time.


It is also possible that there is normally a different aircraft for the
international segment. This is quite common.

What is known as change of gauge especially if the aircraft are
different.