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Old May 29, 2015 | 10:42 am
  #16  
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I enjoy airport codes!

I like coming across obscure airport codes and I can discover plenty on this forum! A bit of a history and geography buff, I can be sure when there's a weird code there's got to be a reason behind it so I'll look it up.....for fun!

I suppose it's sort of frustrating when reading through someone's post here but you're on flyertalk, if there was ever a forum to use airport codes it would be this one. Also, since twitter, most cities use their codes as their handle and I find myself googling what city they actually represent. I find small Canadian cities tough to crack!
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Old May 29, 2015 | 10:44 am
  #17  
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Originally Posted by YVR Cockroach
Well then, Dallas-Fort Worth, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Seattle-Tacoma have to be added to that mix!
Welcome to SeaTac Washington!


To be more cryptic, one could just drop the city name and use the name of the person the airport was named for.

So John Wayne, Silvio Pettirossi or Cannon (airport for this last one has been renamed to something geographic, and the titular name given to the terminal building). Kingsford-Smith is probably too easy.
The list of airports named after people - eponyms - includes many that I wager would stump most FTers!

Last edited by Fredd; May 29, 2015 at 10:50 am
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Old May 29, 2015 | 10:52 am
  #18  
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Originally Posted by ROCAT
IATA pfft if you are really in the know you use ICAO.
I find plenty of people in the aviation industry who are unfamiliar with ICAO codes (or even that they exist), let alone the general public.
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Old May 29, 2015 | 10:53 am
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I feel exactly the opposite way. I get really upset when I have to text my friends and family who don't know IATA codes and I have to spell out the name of the city!
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Old May 29, 2015 | 11:11 am
  #20  
 
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airport code elitism

there is (was?) a greasemonkey script that adds a popup to uppercase airport codes.
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Old May 29, 2015 | 11:11 am
  #21  
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When I flew on DL (oops DELTA), 10 years ago, I overheard a conversation between two FAs, one of them was going to be working out of some 3 letter airport and she had NO idea where it was [probably a new hiree]
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Old May 29, 2015 | 11:12 am
  #22  
 
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Originally Posted by B747-437B
I find plenty of people in the aviation industry who are unfamiliar with ICAO codes (or even that they exist), let alone the general public.
I'm assuming that all the people you know in aviation are not pilots, dispatchers, ATC or even mechanics. If they are any of the above they should loose their certificates as they work in the ICAO environment.
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Old May 29, 2015 | 11:14 am
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by wharvey
I wish there was a way for one to hover over an airline code and have the airport name and city pop up. Would be a great feature!
Fantastic idea.
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Old May 29, 2015 | 11:53 am
  #24  
 
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I've referred to Portland as PDX since long before I found Flyertalk. Now I use the codes all the time both with my secretary (who books my travel) and my wife (emailing her when I arrive safely).

Only once did I have an issue, when my wife said "Where's CMH? I thought you were going to Columbus?"

I like learning new codes & figuring out how they came up with them. My regular airport used to be LMT (kLaMaTh falls)
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Old May 29, 2015 | 11:57 am
  #25  
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I'm with the OP (oops, Original Poster). Except that I distinguish between airports and ultimate destinations. I may fly to LGA, but I will be visiting New York. The type of question along the lines of "what to do in LAX for my three day stay" really does irritate - is the person really staying at the airport?
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Old May 29, 2015 | 12:08 pm
  #26  
 
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IATA codes

In the U.S., the IATA airport codes are the same with the addition of a K before the three letter code. But elsewhere in the world, oh boy! FRA=EDDF, MUC=EDDM, CDG=LFPG, LHR=EGLL, etc. IATA divides the world into zones and the zone determines the first letter identifier.
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Old May 29, 2015 | 12:22 pm
  #27  
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Originally Posted by wharvey
I wish there was a way for one to hover over an airline code and have the airport name and city pop up. Would be a great feature!
You mean like this?
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Old May 29, 2015 | 12:23 pm
  #28  
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Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

"Likewise, the key to remembering that MSY is New Orleans is that the airport was originally named Moisant Intl. Airport. At least one airline (DAL) used to teach its flight attendants to remember OGG is Kahului, Maui by thinking of it as "oh gorgeous gorgeous"."

Actually, the key to knowing why New Orleans' airport is coded MSY is that the airport was built on the site of the former Moisant Stock Yards.

And when I was in the OGG terminal in March, I enjoyed the exhibit that pays tribute to Captain Bertram Hogg, the Hawaiian aviation pioneer who is honored by the code. (He was offered a choice of "HOG" or "OGG", and wisely -- in my opinion -- chose the latter.)
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Old May 29, 2015 | 12:28 pm
  #29  
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And it is now easy to know the location of Orchard Field, because the only crops it currently grows are delayed and cancelled United Airlines flights.
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Old May 29, 2015 | 12:29 pm
  #30  
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Similarly, the often confusing CMH came about due to the original terminal being known as Columbus Municipal Hangar...
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