Petty gripe: airport names, city names
Jan 30, 2011, 8:28 am
#1
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,257
Petty gripe: airport names, city names
I propose that we agree not to conflate airport names with their respective cities.
Names that are cool (in our forum):
Beijing - BJ
Shanghai - SH
Guangzhou - GZ
Hangzhou - HZ
Hong Kong - HK
While airport codes work as well in certain situations, imo we should just steer clear of them all together.
Names that are cool (in our forum):
Beijing - BJ
Shanghai - SH
Guangzhou - GZ
Hangzhou - HZ
Hong Kong - HK
While airport codes work as well in certain situations, imo we should just steer clear of them all together.
Jan 30, 2011, 1:46 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Earth. Residency:HKG formerly:YYZ
Programs: CX, DL, Nexus/GE, APEC
Posts: 10,709
I propose that we agree not to conflate airport names with their respective cities.
Names that are cool (in our forum):
Beijing - BJ
Shanghai - SH
Guangzhou - GZ
Hangzhou - HZ
Hong Kong - HK
While airport codes work as well in certain situations, imo we should just steer clear of them all together.
Names that are cool (in our forum):
Beijing - BJ
Shanghai - SH
Guangzhou - GZ
Hangzhou - HZ
Hong Kong - HK
While airport codes work as well in certain situations, imo we should just steer clear of them all together.
I have been asked why is BJ - PEK by younger travellers who did not realize that the old English name for BJ was Peking or GZ - CAN > Canton.
Telling non-Asian travelling that I am going to SIN always get a good laugh.
If you think that is confusing try Canadian airport codes? The only ones that make sense at all are YVR - VancouveR and YOW= OttaWa.
Jan 31, 2011, 10:28 am
#4
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Derbyshire, UK
Programs: FB Platinum
Posts: 520
Plus......SZ (Shenzhen) and CQ (Chongqing)
The only airport codes I can remember are PEK, SHA, PVG, SZX, CAN, HKG, SHE.....I have all on remembering which city I am in most of the time, let alone the airport code
nickyboy
The only airport codes I can remember are PEK, SHA, PVG, SZX, CAN, HKG, SHE.....I have all on remembering which city I am in most of the time, let alone the airport code
nickyboy
Feb 2, 2011, 10:14 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2008
Location: BOS/SIN
Programs: SQ
Posts: 2,704
lol NJ too.....the best thing about these are that chinese speakers understand them as well as we do! Except when i throw in TW....they get a little confused by that one
For us northerners...SZ is suzhou sometimes lol
For us northerners...SZ is suzhou sometimes lol
Feb 3, 2011, 5:23 am
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Earth. Residency:HKG formerly:YYZ
Programs: CX, DL, Nexus/GE, APEC
Posts: 10,709
I think the common usage of shortening long names into two characters is carrying over to two letters in the Western alphabets, OK?
Feb 3, 2011, 5:50 am
#7
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,257
When I started this thread, my intent was to express discontent with people saying they are visiting <PEK, PVG, NKG, etc> when they are actually talking about cities.
Since airports tend to be far away from cities in China, thread titles like "best hotel in PVG" are inherently confusing unless they are seeking information about the area near the airport only.
As far as the two letter thing is concerned, I don't know how that started... maybe sms. I didn't even think about the potential problem with "SZ" until nickyboy brought it up.
Since airports tend to be far away from cities in China, thread titles like "best hotel in PVG" are inherently confusing unless they are seeking information about the area near the airport only.
As far as the two letter thing is concerned, I don't know how that started... maybe sms. I didn't even think about the potential problem with "SZ" until nickyboy brought it up.
Feb 3, 2011, 11:27 am
#8
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, AA, DL
Posts: 7,433
Although the same could be said for ORD, JFK, IAD, IAH, DFW, and many others.
Feb 3, 2011, 1:24 pm
#9
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 42,257
ETA: actually, I want to single out IAD here... zero "visiting the White House" threads use that lingo. As for the rest, maybe a few newbies slip by, but it's certainly not common practice.