# Referring to a city by its airport code **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 23, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/referring-to-a-city-by-its-airport-code/572363 "2011-02-23T18:31:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/referring-to-a-city-by-its-airport-code/572363/61 "2011-03-01T03:00:32Z")
> [@Not\_Approved](#): > > Come down Gay Street. There’s enough tight black jeans and fixies to make me want to get all stabby. Then stay away from High Street where no trash receptacle is close enough for the children of OSU. That makes me all shooty. I’d set the trash cans on fire as a protest but nothing would burn. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/referring-to-a-city-by-its-airport-code/572363/62 "2011-03-01T03:21:03Z")
Please tell me there is an airport with the letters BFE out there somewhere 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/referring-to-a-city-by-its-airport-code/572363/63 "2011-03-01T03:30:07Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Please tell me there is an airport with the letters BFE out there somewhere 🙂 There appear to be two. One is Bielefeld-Windelsbleiche Airport in Germany about halfway between Munster and Hanover. The other is Terry County Airport outside Lubbock, Texas. ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/referring-to-a-city-by-its-airport-code/572363/64 "2011-03-02T03:33:19Z")
Not only have I never heard Denver referred to by the airport code, nobody refers to the airport as the airport code(DEN). Everybody calls it DIA. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/referring-to-a-city-by-its-airport-code/572363/65 "2011-03-02T13:42:12Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > There appear to be two. One is Bielefeld-Windelsbleiche Airport in Germany about halfway between Munster and Hanover. The other is Terry County Airport outside Lubbock, Texas. Cool 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![D-bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@D-bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D-bear)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/referring-to-a-city-by-its-airport-code/572363/66 "2011-03-05T01:24:54Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Heh, it’s funny how much alphabet soup there is in Airlinespeak. “I need to check this PNR for SSRs in case there’s a UNMR headed for D12.” Took me 2 years to get used to it all. Isn’t FSD going out of D12? It’s not on the FIDS and they need a GSC over there. Might as well call for a LEO while you’re thinking about it… ---
**Author:** ![Chapulin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Chapulin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chapulin)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/referring-to-a-city-by-its-airport-code/572363/67 "2011-03-05T17:34:40Z")
If I were to ask someone where they are from and they responded wtih an aiport abbreviation, I would think they are an idiot. What annoys me even more is using your area code to refer to your city. How the hell am I supposed to know where “562” is?? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/referring-to-a-city-by-its-airport-code/572363/68 "2011-03-05T17:48:45Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > Well, since this fall, Sint Maarten became a separate territory of the Netherlands as the Netherlands Antilles no longer exists. The ISO 3166-1 country code (you know, the code that ccTLDs (like .ca, .de, .au) are based on, among other things) chosen for Sint Maarten was SX. So has goat.sx been registered yet? 😛 (I’m not going to check, at least not from work…) BTW I wonder if residents of Fukuoka do this? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/referring-to-a-city-by-its-airport-code/572363/69 "2011-03-05T19:14:03Z")
I use ANC for Anchorage when I’m writing an IM or text to someone. Not in a real conversation. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/referring-to-a-city-by-its-airport-code/572363/70 "2011-03-05T19:45:12Z")
If aviation types says BWI I think airport and if a sailor says BWI I think British West Indies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/referring-to-a-city-by-its-airport-code/572363.md?page=3)