Learn how to “read” a flight number and why it is useful

Have you ever paid attention to the flight numbers that appear on your airline ticket? At first glance, they may look like a random set of letters and numbers, but in fact everything has been well thought out by the airlines, and behind each symbol is important information.

O awesome.club investigated how flight names and numbers are formed, sharing all the findings with you. As a bonus, we’ll reveal which flight numbers are less common and what happens when those assignments are made by people with a great sense of humor.

Each flight number starts with 2 letters. Sometimes they are separated from other numbers, while in other cases they are all in a single row, with no spaces.

The letters refer to the airline running the flight, but it does not always correspond to its current name.

For example, Air Canada uses the designation AC (composed of the initial letters of the company name). Airlines System uses the letters SK (the first 2 sounds of its name). Aeroméxico is designated by the letters AM (from Aero + Mexico). In turn, the airline “Aeroflot” uses the letters SU, reminiscent of the former name of the company: Soviet Union (Soviet Union). And, in the case of Brazilian companies, Gol uses the letter G3; Latam (formerly Tam), JJ, Avianca, O6 and blue, AD.

Each airline lists its flights according to its own criteria, but none of them can use a set of 5 or more digits. Therefore, the highest number that can exist is 9999.

According to Patrick Smith, an experienced pilot and author of the book “Cockpit Confidential”, airlines try to give shorter numbers to the more reputable flights.

For example, Singapore Airlines gives passengers the chance to board flight SQ1, which runs the San Francisco – Hong Kong – Singapore route. Qantas, from Australia, has flight QF1, bound for Sydney – Dubai – London.

The most reputable flights are not necessarily triple. There are some direct routes between point A and point B.

For example, Germany’s Lufthansa has flight LH1, which takes passengers from Hamburg to Frankfurt. The company El Al offers its customers the LY1 flight, the most prestigious on the route between Tel Aviv and New York.

The return flight designation is usually made by adding 1 to the flight number.

For example, Lufthansa, which transports passengers from Hamburg to Frankfurt with flight LH1, makes its return as LH2🇧🇷 A similar thing does to El Al, whose passengers travel from Tel Aviv to New York with the LY1 and return with the LY2🇧🇷

Sometimes companies give long flight numbers. They may hide additional information.

For example, if the flight is operated by two cooperating airlines, the number will be more than 3000. The number of flights taken by commercial aircraft, but without passengers on board (when a plane needs to be taken from one city to another, for example), are formed by 4-digit numbers starting with 9.

Based on what has been said, we can conclude that, When buying tickets, it is essential:

Choose flights marked with shorter numbers, as they are more reputable. They generally have superior service and better planes. Be careful with flights whose number is greater than 2999, as they are operated by cooperating airlines. As a result, when leaving one company’s aircraft to move to another, you may fall into a plane that does not meet your expectations.

According to Patrick Smith himself, there are some flight numbers that are not practically impossible to find.

Air service employees are, in many cases, superstitious. Therefore, it is very rare to find the flight numbers 13 and 666 American Airlines changed the flight number AA11, so as not to refer to the 9/11 terrorist attack. Most airlines change numbers after tragedies. For example, Malaysia Airlines, after the plane disappeared MH370changed the number of this route to 360.

However, there are cases of airline employees who look at the numbering of flights with great humor. For example: one fine day, Finnair surprised its passengers by giving the number 666 to one of its flights. It is worth mentioning that the aircraft flew at 1 pm on a Friday, the 13th, bound for the city of Helsinki, abbreviated as HEL (which resembles the word “hell”, which in English means “hell”).

By the way: Iron Maiden’s touring plane was named Flight 666, in reference to one of the band’s albums, The Number of The Beast and is piloted by none other than the group’s lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, who in addition to being a singer, he is an experienced commercial pilot.

Well, all these letters and numbers make more sense than it may seem. Do you have any plane tickets saved? Submit your flight number in the comments so that together we can try to decipher it!