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Quiz: Airport Codes


Sure, you could play "Twenty Questions" or the "Grocery Store" game, but when your father works for an airline, there's another fun way to pass the time and test your memory skills: take the Airport Code Quiz (answers at the end of the post, but no peeking allowed)!

What cities are served by the following airports, identified here only by their codes?

ATH, BKK, BNA, BWI, CAI, CCS, CDG, CEQ, DFW, DTW, DUB, EWR, FCO, GIG, HND, HNL, LAX, LGW, LIM, MCO, MOW, MUC, ORD, ORK, ORY, PTY, SAN, TLS, YYZ, ZRH


I don't know when this first became a game we played, or why we ever stopped playing it, because it really was a lot of fun, and sometimes quite challenging. I just remember that I loved to be tested on the arcane knowledge of IATA Location Identifier codes—those three-letter codes that describe the world's airports, large and small, and that (in theory, anyway) ensure that your luggage arrives at its proper destination. I loved the oddness of some of the codes, and eventually I could tell you codes for all the airports I'd passed through, and many I hadn't (still haven't, and may never in my life). I remember feeling particularly proud of this when I was young. I suppose I also convinced myself that by knowing these codes, I actually had some idea of what my father did at work. (When you're a child, can you really imagine what a parent does in an office all day?) If you want to read a brief explanation and history of the codes, you could check out this link. If you want to play along and haven't yet, then go back to the top of this post and try to identify the cities served by the airport codes provided.

For a bonus:  What is the current code for the airport once known as IDL?

(For the answer to this last one, you'll have to leave your response in a comment.  I'll give the correct answer in my own comment here on this same post tomorrow!)





Answers:

Athens, Bangkok, Nashville, Baltimore, Cairo, Caracas, Paris (Charles de Gaulle), Cannes, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Dublin, Newark, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Honolulu, Los Angeles, London (Gatwick), Lima, Orlando, Moscow, Munich, Chicago (O'Hare), Cork, Paris (Orly), Panama City, San Diego, Toulouse, Toronto, Zurich


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Comments

A. C. Parker said…
To answer the bonus question (What is the current code for the airport once known as IDL?):

New York's JFK is the current name of the airport once known as Idlewild (code IDL).
March 2, 2009 at 10:47 PM

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