Flight Number Question

On Tue, 02 Mar 2004 17:00:29 -0600, Bob wrote:

Had an interesting experience yesterday flying from DEN to ORD. Due to
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?

We ended up getting diverted to Rockford due to low fuel reserves. I had no
idea Rockford could handle a 777, but I digress. After about an hour on the
ground we were able to make the 16 minute flight to ORD. What was
interesting was our call sign changed. It was something like 8378 (or
something similar). Why would it change from the original one? Was it due
to the fact we got diverted and were considered a different flight?

Any insight is greatly appreciated.


I suspect you are confused. What you heard was probably a mix,
communications with your flight, and others.
Bob