Trip length = planes age ?
Hello and thanks in advance.
I am a FF here in the US and I have always wondered the following:
Do airlines strategically place aircraft based on its route?
What I mean by this is when (for example) I fly from LAX to IAH direct with my favorite airline I am always on a nice, clean and fairly new 737-700.
Now if I am flying through IAH and connecting to SAT (another 180 miles) the second plane is almost guaranteed to be an early 1980's 737-300 that looks beat up, in need of a wash, no glass cockpit, etc...
I am assuming they are both maintained to spec and could easily swap places in terms of flight lengths so what would be other reasons if any?
Thanks and I hope this ? makes sense as it was a bit of a challenge to put into words...