Speaking the Lingo

[Shanghai]

There are a few other abbreviations that use commonly recognized Amtrak/Airport codes: SOL as an example!!

 

[AutoTrDvr]

LaGuardia factors in, the city isn't named LaGuardia after all.

CAK (also hear Cack), EWR, PDX, DFW, SAC (like 'sack') to name a few more as "ones I've heard in public"

CAK is interesting because the airport code only kinda-sorta matches the city. The airport is Akron-Canton Regional, which seems like it should be AKC, or ACN. Whenever I search for flights out of there I google "CAK departures" versus "Akron Canton Airport Departures".

Except SAC isn't the airport code for Sacramento International Airport. That code is SMF.

We do however say Sac to refer to the actual city in general conversation.

Whenever I hear "SAC" I think of Strategic Air Command, not Sacramento...

peter

For us divers, "SAC" is "Surface Air Consumption" (i.e. what's your consumption rate of breathing gas on the surface, as opposed to underwater which, due to pressure, is greater as you go deeper). As opposed to RMV - Respiratory Minute Volume, or "How many CuFt. of gas do you consume in a minute at a given depth?" Critical to know, in order to plan how much gas to bring on a dive, or how long/deep the dive can be, given the gas you're able to bring.

 

[jis]

I also thought I should mention Denver. Whenever I am in town here, I almost always will hear someone say that they are flying to Denver. When I am w/family in Colorado, they almost always w/o fail will say DIA. I like that they use DIA, even though that is not even the real code! It is DEN, just like the pax train station, but I have never heard that used in airport/air-context once.

When the current airport was under construction it got the moniker Denver International Airport to differentiate it from Stapleton, the old airport. The abbreviation DIA has stuck from then. Both Stapleton and DIA had/have the IATA code DEN. There was a flash cut over from Stapleton to DIA, i.e. on day everything was flying to/from Stapleton and next day to/from DIA, so there was no time when two airports had the DEN code.

 

[Ozark Southern]

It's nice when Amtrak and the airports share the same code, such as in STL. However, Kansas City is very different. The Amtrak station is KCY, whereas the airport is MCI. Amtrak's MCI station is in Michigan City, Indiana! To further add to the confusion, locals most often refer to the airport as KCI, for Kansas City International.

 

[Steve P.]

I like your posts in bold. It's easier on my aging eyes.

Sorry, I meant a Drop Down File!!

 

If you don't like to see my posts in Bold Type, just close one of your eyes.

 

[Phil S]

demanding that somebody change the way they talk

Who made that demand?

Many people "demand" that illegal aliens from Mexico speak English - not Spanish or Spanglish!

My personal demand is that Puerto Ricans speak Spanish (I live half time over there). The well educated ones do indeed speak beuatiful Spanish. Many however think they're speaking Spanish when in fact they're using English words pronounced in Spanish. Utterly incomprehensible for me, often even for them.

My confusion centers around what to call the thing with a smokestack on the point of a train that provides the motive power and head-end electrical power - locomotive, loco, engine, unit, slug? What did I forget.

But I agree - learning the lingo is half the fun.

 

[jis]

It's nice when Amtrak and the airports share the same code, such as in STL. However, Kansas City is very different. The Amtrak station is KCY, whereas the airport is MCI. Amtrak's MCI station is in Michigan City, Indiana! To further add to the confusion, locals most often refer to the airport as KCI, for Kansas City International.

The Amtrak Codes and the Airport Codes are not produced by the same authority. Amtrak codes are derived from old railroad codes in some case and simply cooked up by Amtrak in others. The airport codes are administered by IATA and FAA, and also ICAO (4 letter codes).

The MCI code comes from the previous name of the airport, which was Mid Continent International. Actually it is kind of fun to figure out the origins of some of the strange IATA codes like ORD, MCO, MSY etc., and for extra point figure out what was the code for JFK before it became JFK.

Whether the airport code and Amtrak station code being the same is good or not depends on the situation. For example in Newark, it is probably a good thing that Newark Penn Station is NWK and Newark Liberty International Airport is EWR. It worked out well when a station was opened by the airport and given the code EWR without having to change the code for Newark Penn Station. BTW, the code for the other Newark Station - Newark Broad Street, which is an NJT station is BNW. The NWK code for Newark Penn predates Amtrak.

In New York one would be hard pressed to figure out which of the two airport codes should be applied to the originally two and now only one Amtrak station. Boston is another interesting case. It has three Amtrak stations BOS, BON and BBY, and the airport code happens to be BOS.

Then again, when the new Amtrak station adjacent to Miami Airport comes on line then the MIA code would nicely fit in.

Then there are other places where it sort of works like in San Diego (SAN), Santa Ana (SNA), Los Angeles (LAX), Seattle (SEA though the airport is equally for Seattle and Tacoma), Portland OR (PDX), etc., except that the unaware could mistakenly believe that the airport and the train station are collocated and be unpleasantly surprised.

In general I think it is better if things that are not collocated do not share a code. But as I said, there is no mechanism at present to enforce any alignment or lack thereof between Amtrak station codes and IATA codes for an airport in the same city as the station. Indeed there are several stations that do have IATA codes that are very different from the Amtrak codes.

 

[JayPea]

Spokane is one place where the airport code seemingly makes no sense. The Amtrak station code of SPK is straightforward, but their airport code is GEG. Their airport code came about because, before being renamed Spokane International Airport in 1965, the airport was called Geiger Field. And Geiger Field was named for Major Harold Geiger, a US military aviation pioneer who was killed in a 1927 plane crash.

My favorite airport code??? It's the code for the Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa: SUX :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Texan Eagle]

and for extra point figure out what was the code for JFK before it became JFK.

You mean Idlewild Airport (IDL)?

Then there are other places where it sort of works like in San Diego (SAN), Santa Ana (SNA), Los Angeles (LAX), Seattle (SEA though the airport is equally for Seattle and Tacoma), Portland OR (PDX), etc., except that the unaware could mistakenly believe that the airport and the train station are collocated and be unpleasantly surprised.

On that note, has anyone tried to make a list of all Amtrak station codes that are also airport codes for their respective cities? Apart from the ones you listed, some I can remember offhand-

DAL - Dallas Love Field

BWI - Baltimore Washington International

AUS - Austin

SAT - San Antonio

ABQ - Albuquerque

and so on...

My favorite airport code??? It's the code for the Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa: SUX :lol: :lol: :lol:

Not directly related to Amtrak, but on Indian Railways network there is a rail station called Seroni Road whose station code is... well.... ***

 

[jis]

and for extra point figure out what was the code for JFK before it became JFK.

You mean Idlewild Airport (IDL)?

Yep. And it was named after a Golf Course that it replaced.

In between for a while it was also known as New York International Airport, Anderson Field (though there was no change of IATA code AFAIK), before it got its present name and IATA code in 1963.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Has anyone tried to make a list of all Amtrak station codes that are also airport codes for their respective cities? Apart from the ones you listed, some I can remember offhand-DAL - Dallas Love Field

BWI - Baltimore Washington International

AUS - Austin

SAT - San Antonio

ABQ - Albuquerque

and so on...

SAT is the San Antonio International airport while SAS is Sunset Station. BWI is no random coincidence as both codes are essentially referring to the same area and have a bus link and parking garage between them.

My favorite airport code??? It's the code for the Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa: SUX

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Sioux City Iowa is where United Flight 232 gave us an easy example of what can happen when you allow a manufacturer (McDonnell Douglas) to undermine their our safety mandates by carelessly routing multiple redundant systems into a single point of failure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyJwX7FRV3g

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

On that note, has anyone tried to make a list of all Amtrak station codes that are also airport codes for their respective cities? Apart from the ones you listed, some I can remember offhand-

DAL - Dallas Love Field

BWI - Baltimore Washington International

AUS - Austin

SAT - San Antonio

ABQ - Albuquerque

and so on...

LAX- Los Angeles

BOS-Boston

 

[Ryan]

Spokane is one place where the airport code seemingly makes no sense. The Amtrak station code of SPK is straightforward, but their airport code is GEG. Their airport code came about because, before being renamed Spokane International Airport in 1965, the airport was called Geiger Field. And Geiger Field was named for Major Harold Geiger, a US military aviation pioneer who was killed in a 1927 plane crash.

Newport News, VA is in the same boat. The Amtrak station is NPN, but the airport is PHF (Patrick Henry Field).