# When a plane crashes, what do they do with the flight number?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-plane-crashes-what-do-they-do-with-the-flight-number/128178>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 12, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-plane-crashes-what-do-they-do-with-the-flight-number/128178 "2002-09-12T23:20:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![airdisc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19adc/32.png) [@airdisc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/airdisc)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-plane-crashes-what-do-they-do-with-the-flight-number/128178/1 "2002-09-12T23:20:10Z")

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I’ve been wondering this. For example, say flight 635 crashes. Will they ever use the number “635” for a flight again? If not, why not? Most people wouldn’t mind being on a flight with the same number as a previously crashed flight (I’m sure those who even knew the flight number that crashed, and made the connection would be smart enough to understand that it’s just a coincidence.), unless it was a paticularly famous crash (i.e. TWA 800, UA 93, etc).

So, what do they do with the numbers of doomed flights?

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**Author:** ![kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f9ae1b/32.png) [@kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-plane-crashes-what-do-they-do-with-the-flight-number/128178/2 "2002-09-12T23:54:41Z")

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The airline retires the number.  
For example, American 11 is now American 25.

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**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-a-plane-crashes-what-do-they-do-with-the-flight-number/128178/3 "2002-09-13T04:04:24Z")

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Well, for at least one air crash off of the California coast (The one off of Point Magu), the company kept the number for at least a short time afterwards.