Did you every wonder how some people travel the world in first and business class on an economy budget? Or how you can get a 9 hour return flight to Manila for less than 140 USD ?
Well it’s time to start wondering why Dubai International Airport is referred to as DXB and why there is EK on an Emirates ticket. It’s all about understanding the travel industry. And once you do, it will be much easier to travel on shoestring budget.
Welcome to the world of travel hacking!
In part 1 we will look at basic vocabulary: OTA, IATA airport/airline abbreviations and fare codes.
What Is Travel Hacking?
Travel Hacking is the art of collecting miles, points and finding epic deals to travel cheap. Let’s get started with some travel codes.
OTA – Online Travel Agent
An online travel agent is just a website that offers flights and hotel nights. Before you see your search results on for example expedia.com a lot of systems are interacting with airline and hotel services. A glitch in that system can result in a very cheap price.
Examples:
IATA – International Air Transport Association
The travel industry is global, so you need some standardization and structure. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) created standard codes for airports and airlines. It’s very useful to know these codes as travel geeks on forums will use these codes instead of the full names.
IATA Airport Codes
The IATA airport code is a 3 letter code to identify an Airport.
DXB – BKK – HKT – AUH. Looks quite cryptic at first but it’s just a flight itinerary:
DXB - Dubai International BKK - Suvarnabhumi International (Bangkok) HKT - Phuket AUH - Abu Dhabi International
The history behind the 3 letter codes is quite interesting. In the beginning 2 letter weather station codes were used. When the airline industry exploded an X was added to make the transition easier. So Los Angeles used to be LA and is now called LAX. Nowadays some airports use the first 3 letters like Atlanta (ATL) and Sydney (SYD). Other cities use letters from the airport name like Charles De Gaulle in Paris (CDG) or Incheon International Airport in Seoul Korea (ICN)
So why is Dubai International referred to as DXB? Well Dublin already took DUB so they did the trick with adding an X.
Tip: Learn the codes from airports around you and the big international airports by heart to demystify the content on travel forums.
Resources: IATA Airport Codes
IATA Airline Codes
The IATA Airline Code is a 2 letter code to identify an airline.
Which airline do you prefer QR, EK, EY or maybe SQ? I guess you can answer that question easier if you know which airlines these codes are referring to?
QR - Qatar Airways EK - Emirates EY - Etihad SQ - Singapore Airlines
Tip: Just learn the major or your preferred airline codes by heart to make your life easier. So if you see DXB – BKK on EK you know immediately that this is a flight from Dubai to Bangkok with Emirates.
Resources: IATA Airline Codes
Fare Codes aka Economy, Business, First
When booking a flight you can choose between (premium) Economy, Business and First. These fares also have a code. Most of the codes are the same for every airline, some are different. Here is a list of codes you should remember:
Y - Economy W - Premium economy J - Business F - First X - Economy award seat I - Business award seat O - First award seat
Next time
- Type of flights
- Open Jaw
- Double Open Jaw
- Circle
- Oops
- Error Fare
- Fuel Dump
- Miles
- Earning miles
- Millage run
- Buying Miles
- Converting Miles
- Airline promotions