Air Travel

Question:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >n/a (Various Students) writes: >How about a stab for the FAQ files of the commonly used Airline Codes for >U.S. Carriers (from the latest OAG) supplemented by stock symbols. Since >the front of every Official Airline Guide lists these alphabetically by >code, I thought we could add value here by listing them by Airline.  Any >additions/corrections? >[list deleted] >There is a (still pretty uncomplete) list of airlines codes (and a >rather complete list of airport codes) in >ftp.cc.gatech.edu/pub/people/pas/air and there are lots of airlines >listed that are not US airlines. >I consider that list as rather useless: >1. by far not every "airline stock" is listed >2. it is no help to most people in the net since this group is avialable >   all over the world. >It is not a bad idea to compile interisting information for the people >on the net, but such a list can be seen all over the world and such >a list is rather uninteresting here in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, >… The same as the posting of a "complete" 1-800-xxx-yyyy list. >Peter A. Loibl >      -or- >– >Peter A. Loibl

There is a comprehensive list of world wide airline codes in world airline timetables such as the ABC World Timetable published in the UK.

Response:

> I consider that list as rather useless: > 1. by far not every "airline stock" is listed > 2. it is no help to most people in the net since this group is avialable >    all over the world.

From a utilitarian standpoint, I suspect that a (purposely) small list covering just the North American market would be of use in decoding about 95% of all the posts in rec.travel.air. and appeal to a similar fraction of lurkers/readers. If some United Nations computer expert took a statistical sample of abbreviations used and company performance questions asked in rec.travel.air and then created a reference based on decoding 95% of all abreviations, I suspect that we would get a very similar list to the one I propose. The U.S. Market (or NAFTA list, which would be about 5 airlines longer) is a natural for a "local" list because: 1) It covers a natural grouping of many of the largest airlines in the world and the largest air travel market in the world. 2) The U.S. is the most competitive, best documented, and most liquid market for airline stocks anywhere and therefore lends itself most easily to airline stock performance questions and comparisons. (The finances of most other world carriers–except BA–remain more a political question than one you can look up every day). 3) Most "tough" abbreviations for major carriers come from the U.S. Market: WN for Southwest and HP for America West. (Decoding AF for Air France, BA for British Airways and LH for Lufthansa is not a problem for most people  SU for Aeroflot may be a problem…) Exhaustive world-wide lists may have a nice sort of one-world/one-net feel to them, but I suspect that a list of most use to most users will be much shorter and look something like the one I have drafted.

Response:

n/a (Various Students) writes: >How about a stab for the FAQ files of the commonly used Airline Codes for >U.S. Carriers (from the latest OAG) supplemented by stock symbols. Since >the front of every Official Airline Guide lists these alphabetically by >code, I thought we could add value here by listing them by Airline.  Any >additions/corrections?

[list deleted] There is a (still pretty uncomplete) list of airlines codes (and a rather complete list of airport codes) in ftp.cc.gatech.edu/pub/people/pas/air and there are lots of airlines listed that are not US airlines. I consider that list as rather useless: 1. by far not every "airline stock" is listed 2. it is no help to most people in the net since this group is avialable    all over the world. It is not a bad idea to compile interisting information for the people on the net, but such a list can be seen all over the world and such a list is rather uninteresting here in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, … The same as the posting of a "complete" 1-800-xxx-yyyy list. Peter A. Loibl       -or- — Peter A. Loibl

Response:

How about a stab for the FAQ files of the commonly used Airline Codes for U.S. Carriers (from the latest OAG) supplemented by stock symbols. Since the front of every Official Airline Guide lists these alphabetically by code, I thought we could add value here by listing them by Airline.  Any additions/corrections? The 2-character abbreviation under "Code" is the one you will see on tickets, in schedules, and in postings in rec.travel.air. AIRLINE              CODE   SYMBOL (Exchange) Air South (!)         WV           (Privately Held, not yet flying?) Alaska Airlines       AS     ALK   (NYSE) Aloha Airlines        AQ           (Privately Held) American Airlines     AA     AMR   (NYSE) AMR is also the company name American Trans Air    TZ           (Privately Held?) America West          HP     AWA   (NYSE) Carnival              KW     CCL   (NYSE) Part of Carnival Cruise Lines Continental Airlines  CO           (NYSE) CAI.A, CAI.B in some lists Delta Airlines        DL     DAL   (NYSE) Frontier Airlines     F9           (Privately Held) Kiwi                  KP           (Privately Held?) MarkAir               BF           (Privately Held?) Midway                JI           (Privately Held?) Midwest Express       YX           (Privately Held? Part of Kimberly-Clark?) Northwest Airlines    NW     NWAC  (NASDAQ) Reno Air              QQ           (Privately Held?) Southwest Airlines    WN     LUV   (NYSE) Tower Air             FF     TOWR  (NASDQ) Trans World Airlines  TW     TWA   (American Stock Exchange) United Airlines       UA     UAL   (NYSE) UAL is also the company name USAir                 US     U     (NYSE) ValuJet               J7     VJET  (NASDAQ)

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