It's the same idea though; one was inbound, the other outbound, and ATC had to distinguish between the two.
[edit: Corrected locations.]
> American assigns the same flight number to the outbound and return services, with the same aircraft typically operating both legs.
Other airlines don’t do this, and instead assign a different flight number to the return flight.
Certainly couldn't get any worse, I mean
samch•1h ago