"Airline Acronyms"

Asked by ~Lyn~ 24 months ago

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When I worked in the travel industry we had acronyms for some of the airlines and they weren't too nice. For example the acronym for USAir is/was Useless Air. Can you think of any other acronyms for domestic or international carriers?


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"When even the pilots used the nickname, you knew you were in for a ride"
 by islander on Feb 02 2008 (24 months ago)
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The late and mostly unlamented PBA (Provincetown-Boston Airline) which flew in the northeast between the airports in its name as well as Nantucket and Hyannis--and also seasonally in Florida--was a hodgepodge of old airplanes including some of the last DC-3s in passenger service. It was shut down for a while by the FAA in 1984, returned to the air in bankruptcy, and finally was gobbled up in an airline merger.

 

The DC3s would shudder down the runway with their tailwheels dragging on the tarmac, lurch into the air, and roar out over the ocean with flames shooting from its enormous 14-cylinder radial-design engines. After one particularly rough flight, the pilot parted the curtain at the front and came back to see the passengers--including me--off the plane: "Pretty Bad Airline," he said . . . confirming its nickname.

 

ISLANDER
Sources: Personal experience
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"NorthWorst! "
 by Ladylucky on Feb 04 2008 (24 months ago)
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This is a fun question.
I remember everyone called Northwest "NorthWorst".

To be honest, that’s the only one I remember using, but I did a search and came up with this forum that shows tons of funny or maybe not-so-funny (to the airlines) takes on the various names:  http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/print.main?id=1238906

Some of these (taken from the above, to whet your appetite) are:

Alitalia: Always Late In Takeoff And Late In Arrival
USAir: US Scare
BEA: Broken Engines Everywhere
BOAC: Best on a Camel
TWA: Try Western Airlines
TAP: Take Another Plane
Sources: my experience and link cited above

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But is there really anything funny anymore about flying???
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"Stand by for QANTAS, and don't even think about Air Lingus."
 by EnglishLady on Feb 01 2008 (24 months ago)
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QANTAS, the Australian carrier, carries various acronyms but they all start with Queers and Nymphomaniacs in a way that indicates their supposed over-representation amongst the airline's staff.

 

In South Africa, one of the non-PC words for a gay man is 'moffie,' so of course the male stewards are known as 'coffee moffies.'

 

And let us leave Air Lingus to one side ...
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"Not an acronym...."
 by Michelley on Feb 01 2008 (24 months ago)
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But my brother always calls American Airlines - AMERI-CAN'T Airlines & Delta "Dull-ta" Airlines
Sources: my brother

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I wonder if my brother would think this is dull too?
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"Oh, these slow days..."
 by IchtheosaurusRex on Feb 01 2008 (24 months ago)
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Used to say TWA stood for The Worst Airline.  That honor now goes to Southworst (Southwest), although they're by far not the worst airline I've flown.  That honor would go to Eastern, now out of business, and not worthy of any nickname I can use here.

That's all pretty lame so far...

I've lived in the Chicago area for the last 30 years.  In 1979, I think, we had a terrible plane crash here, a McDonnel Douglas DC-10 widebody, with a full load of passengers, crashed on takeoff from O'Hare, with no survivors.  I think it was a United flight, but I can't remember the details now.  But I do remember seeing the smoke from the 4th floor window of my building. There were suggestions that the design of the aircraft itself was to blame, and they might have grounded all the DC-10s for a while afterwards.  Fuzzy memories again. But I was flying a lot on business back then, and I remember my boss checking the type of aircraft we'd be flying before accepting a reservation. His quip was,

"If it isn't Boeing, it isn't going."

Still lame... Slow day...
Sources: Fuzzy memories

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Not about airlines...
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Ask a question of your own:
 

Latest post on this question's discussion board:

TY, I'm probably being unfair to Southwest, too. They have a better on-time record than most other airlines, although I was delayed on my last flight with them because they oversold the flight and we had to wait until they brought in another aircraft. That's no fun when you have a 2-year-old running all over the terminal.

Let's take one more jab, at the TSA: This Sucks Anytime.

Every time I have to take my shoes off in an airport, my blood boils. One of these days, some miscreant is going to sneak something aboard in body cavity, then what will we have to do?
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