Tuesday, October 23, 2007

unfortunate airport codes?

Some time ago, I read the true story of a woman who called her travel agent and was irate because she had been offended by the airline ticket agent at the airport.

"Is it normal to have ticket agents put tags that describe you on your luggage??" she asked.

After discussing it with her travel agent, they discovered the problem. The woman's trip destination was Fresno, California.

What is odd about that? The woman's bags had been tagged with tickets bearing the 3-letter airport designation code for Fresno... which happens to be FAT.

(That is why at our home, we sometimes refer to weight gain as "moving to Fresno" and to extra pounds as "living in Fresno." :) )

Anyhow... a new development in that area--

It seems that Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa was given the letter code of SUX.

Twice, they have petitioned the FAA to change the letters for obvious reasons. The FAA offered them: GWU, GYO, GYT, SGV and GAY as alternatives.

However, after discussing the possibilities, Sioux City decided to keep their designation and turn it into a marketing campaign. You can now order your "Fly Sux" gear at the airport's website: http://www.flysux.com/

Hey, how about a round trip from Sioux City to Fresno? FAT SUX and then, SUX FAT.

for story click here
to validate that Fresno Terminal is indeed FAT, click here

1 comment:

Aaron Cook said...

Ha ha, good post on that. I never noticed that some airport codes were so crazy. Pretty funny. :)

Shine on,
Aaron