Terminology, abbreviations and acronyms commonly used in the BA forum

241/2for1 - Voucher received from BA when set level of expenditure on BA American Express card or the Chase Visa card is reached. This gives a free ticket when purchasing one full miles redemption ticket
261 - see EC261/2004
32Q - A321NEO / A21N
32N - A320NEO / A20N

A10 - The gate at LHR T5 which is used when bussing pax to their aircraft. (A4 is also such a gate). Deemed cruel and unnatural treatment by most
ABBA - Not the Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 but a variation of the acronym, becoming very familiar on the BA forum these days: Anyone But British Airways!
ADM - Agency Debit Memo, a notice from an airline to a travel agent that the agent is required to pay money to the airline, typically because the agent has not complied with the airline's sales or ticketing rules
AJB - Atlantic Joint Business carriers (American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, and Finnair)
AOG - Aircraft on ground (often means an aircraft sitting out a technical problem away from base).
ASL - Automated Screening Lanes used at LHR, LGW, LCY and many other airport, allowing multiple passengers to load their trays simultaneously before pushing the trays on to the main belt. Also known as Automated Security Lines.
ATM - Air Traffic Movement
AUP - Airport Upgrade, discussed here
AVOD - Audio Video On Demand, an updated In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system allowing users to watch TV programmes/movies etc. when they want, with the function to pause, rewind, stop etc. as needed

B2B - "Back to back", an immediate turnaround without checked luggage usually in connection with a tier point run
B/H - Bulkhead seat (at the front of each cabin, often providing extra legroom. However, BEWARE bulkhead often = bassinet = screaming babies)
BA - British Airways
BA Amex PP - British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card (or without PP to represent BA Amex standard card) [also [B]BAPP]
BabyBus - A318 aircraft (G-EUNA) used to operate BA's 32 seat all-business-class service between LCY and JFK
BABS - "BA Bovine Excrement", in relation to advertising hyperbole
BACF - BA CityFlyer, the British Airways subsidiary which operates Embraer E170 and E190 aircraft (chiefly) from/to LCY, and whose two-character IATA code is CJ (see also CJ)
BAEC or EC - British Airways Executive Club
BCH - [BAEC] Bronze Card Holder (oneworld Ruby)
BOB - Buy on board (snacks/drinks)
BWC - Book With Confidence, policy introduced by BA in the wake of Covid-19 waiving change fees for bookings and allowing customers to receive an FTV (Future Travel Voucher) for voluntary cancelations.

CB4D - Customer Booking 4 Disruption - a MMB module that allows you to change flights online. Or you can call up. This is invoked by BA during mass irrop scenarios.
CC - In context of Tesco, refers to Clubcard
CC - Cabin Crew... NOT flight attendant or steward/stewardess, please!
CCB - Concorde Club Bar - a Singapore Airport exclusive concept lounge for First pax and CCR cardholders only
CCCC - a state of limbo regarding your seat assignment caused by a CE cabin adjustment - Continuing Curtaination Chaos Conundrum
CCR - Concorde Club Room - for First pax and CCR cardholders ex-LHR T5 and JFK only
CE - Club Europe (European business class)
CEDR - Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, BA's arbitration service, see EC261 thread in the Dashboard for more information
CEO - Current Engine option - an Airbus 320 family variation with more seating rows due to rearrangement of storage and toilet space.
CFM - Engine joint venture between Snecma and GE powering BA’s remaining Airbus 318 aircraft
CIV - Corporate Individual Value (numerical score used by BA for differentiating and prioritising passengers by their perceived commercial value)
CJ - BA CityFlyer, the British Airways subsidiary which operates Embraer E170 and E190 aircraft (chiefly) from/to LCY, and whose two-character IATA code is CJ (see also BACF)
CK - [AA] Concierge Key - invitation-only level for AA, benefits are sometimes extended to top tier BAEC travellers on an adhoc basis.
Creative Routing - Avoiding direct flights and instead flying several sectors to the same destination to maximise Tier Point earning.
CS Club Suite, the Club World product introduced on 5 August 2019 and rolled out initially to newly delivered A350 and some B777 aircraft.
CSD - Cabin Services Director (Most senior member of cabin crew)
CSDM - Customer Service Duty Manager (Most senior member of airport ground staff)
CSM- Cabin Service Manager (Senior member of Mixed Fleet Cabin or Gatwick Crew)
CUG - Closed User Group - a special login process for BA.com where authorised travellers (e.g. via a corporate deal) can benefit from discounted fares.
CW - Club World (long-haul business class)
CWLCY - Club World London City (long-haul business class between LCY and JFK)

Dashboard - A magical compilation of [almost] everything you need to know about BA. Click here
DO - Officially a gathering of 12 or more at an event intended for FlyerTalkers. In reality, a gathering of any number of people involving large amounts of alcohol. Current list is here
DUT - Discretionary Upgrade Tool. BA's automated algorithm for selecting passengers to upgrade, usually because a cabin is oversold and some passengers need to be accommodated in a higher cabin.
DYKWIA - Do You Know Who I Am? Often heard by Gold BAEC members after being refused an upgrade

EC261/2004 - EU Regulation governing airline obligations in the event of denial of boarding, downgrades, delays and cancellations (those deemed within airline control, e.g. not due to weather, strikes). Discussed here
EF - ExpertFlyer, useful website which shows flight & seating availability for all carriers (incl. BA). Monthly subscription required. Click here
EF - EuroFleet, Cabin Crew who operate shorthaul flights.
EFTL - Extended Flight Time Limitation, see FTL below. On longhaul it can result in two crews on one service, each doing one leg and resting the other leg, with crew staying onboard there and back.
EMD - Electronic Miscellaneous Document. Electronic refund that can be used when booking a new flight online.
Enhancement - Often used in a typically British reverse of its actual meaning, to refer to any policy change by BA which is considered by posters to be a reduction of passenger benefits. Particularly used in regard to any changes to earning/redemption, seating, priority boarding and catering/champagne. Not to be confused with Genuine Enhancement
ET - Euro Traveller (short-haul economy class)e
ex-EU[R] - Refers to starting a journey from an out-station in Europe which often results in a significant discount in fare

F - First Class cabin. Not the fare code necessarily, see below
Fare Classes - Not an acronym, but important to know. A list can be found here
FBD - Fast Bag Drop (to be used at the airport after using SSCI or OLCI)
FCOD BA's term for SDC (see below) - Free Change on Day - allowing a flight switch on the day of travel on Plus tickets.
FFP - Frequent Flyer Program (e.g. BAEC)
FIDS - Flight Information Display System, the screen which shows the flights and the gate numbers.
Fleet - In the context of Cabin Crew, the different groups that operate aircraft. A complex subject, which includes 'Worldwide Fleet', 'Eurofleet' and 'Mixed Fleet'
Flounge/FLounge - BA First class lounge, accessible by Gold and First pax
Flub - First seating, Club service. Often due to an equipment change where some Club World / Europe passengers end up in the First cabin.
FLY - Dispatch control and gate system for passengers, developed by Altéa and used by BA throughout their network. First implemented late 2015
FMU - Flight Management Unit (responsible for Op-Ups among many other things).
FTL - Flight Time Limitation, the European (EASA) directive restricting the working hours of aircraft crews.
FTV - Future Travel Voucher, voucher issued by BA in the wake of Covid-19.

Galley FM - Gossip spread verbally by airline crew
GE - General Electric, the engines powering BA’s fleet of Boeing 777-200s and 777-300s
GEx - Gatwick Express (Fast train between LGW and London Victoria)
GC - Galleries Club, BA's business class lounges, so named where the Galleries lounge concept is used. At LHR Terminal 5, also referred to as GC North and GC South to represent the 2 GC lounges in Terminal 5A. There is a further GC in Terminal 5B
GCH - [BAEC] Gold Card Holder (oneworld Emerald)
Genuine Enhancement - a change of policy by BA which posters consider to actually be of benefit to the passenger (see Enhancement)
GF - Galleries First (aka Flounge), BA's lounges for First pax/Gold Card members, where the Galleries concept is used
GFL - Gold For Life, achieved by earning 35,000 Tier Points over any period of time since joining BAEC. Also known as LTG (Lifetime Gold)
GGL - Gold Guest List member, a sub-tier of [BAEC] Gold attained for the first time (nowadays) by reaching 5000 tier points in a membership year, and retained by reaching 3000 tier points in subsequent years (oneworld Emerald)
Golden Ticket - Provided to Gold members to give to airline staff in recognition of excellent customer service. Two tickets are provided each year and can be handed over personally or online
GPR - Gold Priority Reward: allows a redemption for double Avios (same cash charge) to Gold Cardholders, provided it is booked 30 days before travel.
GUF1 - Gold Upgrade for 1 voucher - 2 of these are given to Gold members upon reaching 3500 Tier Points in a membership year
GUF2 - Gold Upgrade for 2 voucher - voucher given to Gold members upon reaching 2500 Tier Points in a membership year

HA/HHA - Household Account
HADACAB - Heathrow Air Traffic Movement Demand and Capacity Balancing - airport imposed reduction in number of flights operating at Heathrow.
HAL - Heathrow Airport Limited
HBO - Hand Baggage Only. A cheap fare option on BA
HEx - Heathrow Express (Fast train between LHR and London Paddington)
HfP - Head for Points - A website which provides excellent information about earning Avios and maximising their use
H.I. - Him/Her Indoors (Not a BA acronym but a very common FT one and deserves a place on this list). Also OH
HUACA - Hang Up And Call Again, used in the context of when a phone agent doesn't give the answer you expect/require

IAE - International Aerospace Engineering, the engines powering BA’s fleet of Airbus A319, A320, and A321 aircraft
IANAL - I Am Not A Lawyer. This should be prefixed to every post offering an opinion of a point of law. It's also a good sign the the thread will start descending from that point as the armchair lawyers usually think they know better than the qualified lawyers
IBM - Inflight Business Manager - manager of Senior Cabin Crew. In the case of Mixed Fleet they sometimes form part of the crew for a flight. Also the name of an American computer company
ICC - International Cabin Crew. Crew based outside the UK, such as Bombay and Tokyo, who among other things provide local language support.
ICCM - In Charge Crew Member - same as SCCM, see below, usually in reference to shorthaul service. Not related to ICC above
IDB - Involuntarily Denied Boarding, where someone is denied a seat, typically at the last moment, due to too many passengers. See also VDB below.
IDL - International Departure Lounge - the main airside area of an airport, these days it invariably means domestic too, since it's a shared space. In T5 it's the area between gates 1 to 24.
IFE - In-flight Entertainment
IFL - In-flight Lead. Was the former Purser grade, and is the Senior Cabin Crew Member (SCCM) on short haul aircraft, and supporting the IFM on longhaul.
IFM - In-flight Manager. The Senior Cabin Crew Member (SCCM) on board an aircraft, notably longhaul aircraft. Introduced in 2020-21 replacing CSD and CSM grades, see above.
IRROPS - Irregular Operations, sometimes written as IROPS. The aircraft is broken/diverted/severely delayed
ISTR - I seem to recall/remember (not BA, but useful)
IVR - Interactive Voice Response automated telephone system often used by airlines.

J - Reference to Club/Business Class cabin. Other J fare codes also exist
Joker - Gold Guest List Redemption, benefit allowing Gold Guest List (GGL) members to open extra reward availability in certain circumstances

LCY - London [City] airport
LGW - London [Gatwick] airport, aka 'Gatters'
LTG - Lifetime Gold, achieved by earning 35,000 Tier Points over any period of time since joining BAEC
LTGGL - Lifetime Gold Guest List, achieved by earning 100,000 Tier Points over any period of time since joining BAEC
L/H - Long-haul. Not to be confused with LH [Lufthansa]
LPGS - Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle champagne, as served in the CCR and BA First Class cabin
LTN - London [Luton] airport, deeply feared by some...

MCO - Miscellaneous Charge Order (a form of credit note given to passengers from BA)
MCOL - Money Claim Online, a UK government service used for making a financial claim against another party MCOL website
ME3 - Middle East 3 airlines, Emirates, Qatar and Etihad, based in Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi respectively
MF - Mixed Fleet, referring to the 'new' fleet of cabin crew at LHR that fly a combination of long and short-haul destinations. The contract and pay they receive is different to crew who joined BA prior to 2010. Female MF CC will wear hats
MMB - Manage My Booking (tool on ba.com for seeing details about your booking)
MRDA - Mandy Rice-Davies Apples. When it was put to Mandy Rice-Davies that Viscount Astor denied having an affair with her during the Profumo Scandal, her reply was "Well he would, wouldn't he?"
MUCCI - beyond explanation, but see here and other links in Post #1

NEO - New Engine Option, a version of the Airbus 320 family with more range and payload, but no middle seat table in Club Europe. BA is cascading neos via its LHR A320/321 fleet.
NFN - Normal for Norfolk. Medical slang implying, inter alia, inbreeding, but here means "weird but true"
NSFU - Not Suitable for Upgrade

O&D - Origin and Destination - usually passengers flying between a given city/airport pair
OAL - Other Airline or Offline Airline. An Online Airline (OL) ticket is a direct booking on one airline, OAL implies multiple airlines, or a ticket shifted to another airline.
OB - On Business, a BAEC programme
OH - Other Half... spouse/partner/significant other [male/female]
OLCI - Online Check-In
Op-Up - Operational Upgrade (free upgrade given for no specific reason but for the airline's benefit)
OPW - One Post Wonder - somebody who registers on FlyerTalk, and makes a single post - and never returns. Normally a rant or trolling post that will generate lots of subsequent posts
OW or 1W - oneworld (an alliance of 15 airlines, including AA, BA, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, TAM, Malaysian and Qantas)
OWE/OWS/OWR - oneworld Emerald, Sapphire and Ruby respectively, the alliance-wide equivalents of BA Gold/Silver/Bronze, used for entitlement to status benefits on other oneworld carriers

PEBKAC - Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair. See also PICNIC
PFUG - Pre-Flight Upgrade
PICNIC - Problem in chair, not in computer: used in connection with not getting desired results on BA.com. See also PUTI
Pinnacle - Main shorthaul seat with head-rest and recline features, see also SL3510.
PNR - Passenger Name Record (also known as the Booking Reference)
POUG - Pro-active Online Upgrade, discussed here
Prem - [BAEC] Premier cardholder, an invitation-only level extended to (mainly) senior corporate decision makers (oneworld Emerald)
PUTI - Posting Under the Influence - VERY common on this board
PYOBP - Print Your Own Boarding Pass

RFS - Reward Flight Saver - a shorthaul Avios redemption booking on BA metal, with a cap on charges. Mostly used in Europe but also available in South Africa and some local flights within Caribbean. Requires recent Avios activity to be made available.
RR - Rolls-Royce, manufacturers of the Trent engines that power BA’s fleet of Airbus A380s, Boeing 777-200ERs and 787s. Rolls-Royce RB211s power BA’s 747 and 767 aircraft
RTFM - Read The F****** Manual. Very impolite!
RTW - Round the World ticket

S/H - Short-haul
SAU - Space Available Upgrade
SCCM - Senior Cabin Crew Member - the cabin crew member formally in charge of the cabin service, could be a CSD, a CSM or a Purser.
SCH - [BAEC] Silver Card Holder (oneworld Sapphire)
SDC - Same day change, though BA uses the term FCOD. Available on simple CE and Plus shorthaul tickets.
SEx or StEx - Stansted Express (Fast train between STN and London Liverpool Street)
SFU - Suitable for Upgrade
SL3510 - Lightweight low width Recaro seat used on BA, Iberia and easyJet shorthaul services. For BA's A321, they are from row 15 and back. Doesn't recline and no adjustable headrest.
SM or SPML - Special Meal (e.g. Vegetarian, Kosher etc)
SS or S/S - Special Services (BA staff at the airport, usually in suits, to help VIP or Premier passengers with anything they need)
SSCI - Self Service Check-In
SSSS - Selected for Secondary Security Screening (printed on selected boarding passes usually ex-USA meaning you're going to be extra checked by security)
STN - London [Stansted] airport. No, not Standstead or other versions!
SWMBO - She Who Must Be Obeyed, generally the missus

T2/T3/T4/T5 - LHR [London Heathrow] Terminal
TATL - Trans-ATLantic
TCP - To Complete Party - Used where you have two separate bookings on the same flight (e.g. you and spouse) and want to join the bookings up to ensure you sit together
TFC - Taxes, fees and charges. Charges generally means the surcharge that BA levies on both redemption and revenue fares. APD and airport charges are also in this definition.
TFTG - Tales from the Galley (kindly provided to us from Pucci et al and a few other BA lurkers)
TP - Tier Point
TR - Trip Report, a narrative and images of people's travels.
TransCon - Trans Continental, mostly referring to flights between the west and east coast of the USA

UuA - Upgrade using Avios
UD - Upper Deck (mainly referring to the Club World upper deck on the 747: the UD on the A380 is less 'exclusive')

VDB - Voluntarily Denied Boarding (usually associated with overbooked aircraft, where a passenger agrees not to fly in return for compensate, in contrast to IDB).
VFR - Visiting Friends and Relatives. An important channel for bookings, along with the other two main channels, Leisure (holidays) and Business.

W - Short for World Traveller Plus. Without the Plus, it's Y. Simple
WT - World Traveller (Economy)
WT+ or WTP - World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy)
WW - WorldWide fleet, referring to the 'original' fleet of cabin crew at LHR that fly long-haul. Also used for Willie Walsh, CEO of International Airlines Group and former CEO of BA

Y - Economy/Coach class. Not necessarily the fare code
YUP - Type of American Airlines fare (pronounced Y-Up) that books into very cheap First class, but gets full allowance of BAEC First TPs
YQ - Fuel Carrier surcharge, universally hated by all FTers


Obsolete terminology
MFU - Miles for Upgrade (Method of redemption using cash + miles to upgrade). Now called Upgrade using Avios (UuA)
NCW - New Club World (here for historical context used to refer to the business class hard product prior to Next Generation Club World (current iteration)
PCPM - Part Cash Part Miles (Another method of redemption using cash + miles). Now called Avios & Money


Some FT members you will often see references to without using their entire handle
CIHY = CanIHelpYou. Reputedly an experienced and senior member of BA Cabin Crew
CWS or c-w-s = Corporate-Wage-Slave. International Man of Mystery and endless supplier of knowledge and assistance to those in need. Also ambassador of this board. he has done more airports/airlines than is reasonable for a human being [which he is]
HIDDY = not an abbreviation, but a vociferous Scotsman who lives in Argentina. He has been known to fly BA [or was it BOAC?]
PUCCI = Pucci Galore. The grande dame of all that is (or some say was) great about British Airways in the sky. She used to hand out MUCCIs to deserving people. The importance of which is not understood but never underestimated. Occasionally, we are treated to a TFTG (see above)
Uncle T = T8191. Often used as people can't be bothered to switch between letters and numbers. Also a reference to his advanced years