KCRag Forum

Kind of a tangent, but airline codes make no sense to me at least half the time. DL and AA? Sure, that's clearly Delta and American. But WN, NK, B6? I know WN is Southwest (somehow), but where do they get NK and B6 from Jet Blue and Spirit? Is it merger legacy codes like railroad reporting marks (i.e. a Union Pacific car with an MP number because it was Missouri Pacific pre-merger).

I think it's mostly random when the desired code is already taken, and then people try to retcon it. I don't think there's any meaning behind it.

The airline codes are legacy codes assigned long ago. Each airline also has a unique, three-digit ticket number prefix. AA is 001, as it was apparently (or possibly alphabetically) the first airline to accept the protocols of the post-war IATA which implemented the prewar Warsaw convention (1929, ratification 1933). DL is 006; LH is 020 and BA is 125 (why didn't BA get a number until 125, maybe because BOAC and shorthaul BA didn't combine until later).

Also, each airline has a "call sign" used in communications with the tower and ATC -- BA is "Speedbird" but DL is simply Delta.

For more arcana about airlines, there is an active public forum called Flyertalk.

Flew on SW nonstop to LGA this morning. Flight attendant mentioned 75 empty seats. Was the same way last month. Selfishly would hate to see it go away but figure SWA has noticed as well.

brooksidebadgers wrote: ↑Mon Jan 22, 2024 5:27 pm Flew on SW nonstop to LGA this morning. Flight attendant mentioned 75 empty seats. Was the same way last month. Selfishly would hate to see it go away but figure SWA has noticed as well.

Airlines have to fill slots at LGA. So unless there is another route just doing awesome and it needs more flights I wouldn’t be all that worried. NYC still is down across the board for the most part. I can’t see them pulling out of the route completely. Also with perimeter restrictions it cuts down on where they can fly in the first place from LGA

Air Canada pushed the restart of Toronto back a month to June.

But in better news it’s fun to see all the Super Bowl flights get added. Seems to be a lot of media attention on AA and UA doing flight numbers for Swift and Kelce.

hartliss wrote: ↑Sat Jan 20, 2024 9:04 am Spirit adding FLL-MCI direct, only for March and April though https://twitter.com/adrianwaltz/status ... 1613013028

It will be interesting with NK/B6 merger all but dead how that impacts service at MCI. B6 has started to pull back in other markets and have to think the lone JFK flight is on life support.

Adding MCI-TPA for the same month now also. 3x a week

dev49 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 3:12 pm

brooksidebadgers wrote: ↑Mon Jan 22, 2024 5:27 pm Flew on SW nonstop to LGA this morning. Flight attendant mentioned 75 empty seats. Was the same way last month. Selfishly would hate to see it go away but figure SWA has noticed as well.

Airlines have to fill slots at LGA. So unless there is another route just doing awesome and it needs more flights I wouldn’t be all that worried. NYC still is down across the board for the most part. I can’t see them pulling out of the route completely. Also with perimeter restrictions it cuts down on where they can fly in the first place from LGA

UA will start back up EWR in April double daily. Added a 5th daily DEN mainline in July and put the Max on SFO

langosta wrote: ↑Sat Feb 03, 2024 10:24 am

dev49 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 3:12 pm

brooksidebadgers wrote: ↑Mon Jan 22, 2024 5:27 pm Flew on SW nonstop to LGA this morning. Flight attendant mentioned 75 empty seats. Was the same way last month. Selfishly would hate to see it go away but figure SWA has noticed as well.

Airlines have to fill slots at LGA. So unless there is another route just doing awesome and it needs more flights I wouldn’t be all that worried. NYC still is down across the board for the most part. I can’t see them pulling out of the route completely. Also with perimeter restrictions it cuts down on where they can fly in the first place from LGA

UA will start back up EWR in April double daily. Added a 5th daily DEN mainline in July and put the Max on SFO

Alaska MCI-PDX going year round

langosta wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 9:17 pmAlaska MCI-PDX going year round

Are there any details on when that starts and how many flights per week there will be?

Sani wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 9:02 am

langosta wrote: ↑Sun Feb 04, 2024 9:17 pmAlaska MCI-PDX going year round

Are there any details on when that starts and how many flights per week there will be?

1x a day. Starts May 16

Frontier launching MCI-PHL in May. In addition to the 3x daily American Airlines A319s planned for this summer

langosta wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 9:03 pm Frontier launching MCI-PHL in May. In addition to the 3x daily American Airlines A319s planned for this summer

Nice to see this flight back.

Southwest -> Montego Bay is being discontinued after 8/3

hartliss wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 4:08 pm Southwest -> Montego Bay is being discontinued after 8/3

Wonder if Jamaica travel is hurting right now. There is a safety advisory for travel to Jamaica. I don't really hear people talk about traveling to Jamaica as much, the DR has kind of taking over for Caribbean all inclusive and Cancun is basically turning into a theme park with all the growth the last 5-10 years.

hartliss wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 4:08 pm Southwest -> Montego Bay is being discontinued after 8/3

Hopefully just a seasonal thing. Would suck to lose that

brewcrew1000 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 4:14 pm

hartliss wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 4:08 pm Southwest -> Montego Bay is being discontinued after 8/3

Wonder if Jamaica travel is hurting right now. There is a safety advisory for travel to Jamaica. I don't really hear people talk about traveling to Jamaica as much, the DR has kind of taking over for Caribbean all inclusive and Cancun is basically turning into a theme park with all the growth the last 5-10 years.

Tulum and DR would better serve modern taste. Maybe Aruba if we had more connecting traffic.

Don’t know anyone whose done Jamaica in the last 10-15 years

A totally unrelated NY Times article about Swift and Kelce mentioned that Mayor Q was recently in France... sorry if I missed the boat, but does anyone know why he was there? Wishful thinking but I hope he met with Air France.

langosta wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 4:32 pm

brewcrew1000 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 4:14 pm

hartliss wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 4:08 pm Southwest -> Montego Bay is being discontinued after 8/3

Wonder if Jamaica travel is hurting right now. There is a safety advisory for travel to Jamaica. I don't really hear people talk about traveling to Jamaica as much, the DR has kind of taking over for Caribbean all inclusive and Cancun is basically turning into a theme park with all the growth the last 5-10 years.

Tulum and DR would better serve modern taste. Maybe Aruba if we had more connecting traffic.

Don’t know anyone whose done Jamaica in the last 10-15 years

Back in the 00s, I "won" a trip to Jamaica at a work event. Flights not included -- so basically 3 nights at a hotel with who knows what upcharges. I declined.

msmith011 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 12:32 pm A totally unrelated NY Times article about Swift and Kelce mentioned that Mayor Q was recently in France... sorry if I missed the boat, but does anyone know why he was there? Wishful thinking but I hope he met with Air France.

I know he was in France back in October for the rugby world cup, think he wants to get rugby world cup as a host city