According to IATA (International Air Transport Association) standards, a flight number—formally known as a flight designator—consists of a two-character airline code followed by a numeric string of 1 to 4 digits. This means the numeric portion cannot exceed 9999. Including the airline prefix (like "AA" for American or "DL" for Delta), the total length is typically 3 to 6 characters. For example, "AA1" is valid, as is "UAL8942." Numbers higher than 6000 are often reserved for codeshare flights, while those starting with 8 or 9 are frequently used for charter or ferry flights. While the IATA system is the consumer standard, Air Traffic Control (ATC) uses ICAO callsigns, which can be up to 7 characters (e.g., AAL1234). In your booking, you will never see a flight number longer than four digits, as legacy global distribution systems are technically limited to this four-digit numeric range.