Why is Chicago O'Hare ORD, and why does Newark use EWR? This quiz decodes the three-letter codes on your boarding pass, matches airlines to the countries they fly for, and visits airports with a story, from Maho Beach to a code that was just too cheeky to change.
100 questions · Explorer 34 · Globetrotter 33 · Cartographer 33
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LAX is the airport code for which city?
Answer: B · Los Angeles
Its 1961 Theme Building looks like a flying saucer that has landed on four legs.
Photo: Doug Letterman · CC BY 2.0
Which city's airport has the code JFK?
Answer: B · New York City
Until 1963 everyone called it Idlewild, after the golf course it replaced. Its code back then was IDL.
Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0
Jets roar just over sunbathers on Maho Beach. Which Caribbean island is it on?
Answer: D · St. Martin / Sint Maarten
The planes are landing at Princess Juliana Airport. In 2016, crowds packed the beach to watch KLM's last scheduled 747 jumbo jet arrive.
Photo: Steven Lek · CC BY-SA 4.0
What does the X in Los Angeles's airport code LAX stand for?
Answer: D · Nothing, it's just filler
LA's old two-letter code was simply 'LA'. When codes went to three letters in 1947, it just got an X tacked on.
Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0
Which city's airport has the code YYZ?
Answer: C · Toronto
Rush, a band from nearby, named a 1981 instrumental 'YYZ'. Its intro taps out Y-Y-Z in Morse code.
Which city's airport has the cheeky code SUX?
Answer: B · Sioux City
The replacement codes the FAA offered looked no better, so the airport kept SUX and now sells 'Fly SUX' merch.
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