If it wasn’t for acronyms, we would have a mouthful of words/names to say. CVS would be Consumer Value Stores. AT&T would still be its original 1885-era American Telephone and Telegraph. GEICO would be known as Government Employees Insurance Company.
The same goes for airlines, How many of these acronyms do you know?
- ANA
All Nippon Airways (Nippon is the Japanese word for “Japan”) - COPA
Compañía Panameña de Aviación (it means Panamanian Aviation Company in English) - BOAC
British Overseas Airway Corporation - LATAM
LAN – Linea Aérea Nacional & TAM – Táxi Aéreo Marília (Chile’s LAN Airlines and Brazil’s TAM Airlines merged in 2012) - JAL
Japan Airlines Company, Ltd. - KLM
Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (it means Royal Aviation Company in English) - LIAT
Leeward Islands Air Transport - LOT
Polskie Linie Lotnicze (the Polish word “lot” means “flight”) - PAN-AM
Pan-American Airlines - PSA
Pacific Southwest Airlines - QANTAS
Queensland And Northern Territory Aerial Services - SAS
Scandinavian Airlines System - SATA
Sociedade Açoreana de Transportes Aéreos (English: Azorean Air Transport Company) - TAAG
Transportes Aéreos de Angola (in English, it means Air Transport of Angola) - TACA
Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano, (Air Transports of the American Continent) - TAME
Transportes Aéreos Militares Ecuatorianos (it means Ecuadorian Military Air Transport in English) - TAP
Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (it means Portuguese Air Transportations in English) - TAROM
Transporturi Aeriene Române (in English it’s Romanian Air Transport) - TUI
Touristik Union International (Tourism Union International) - TWA
Trans World Airlines
I am embarrassed to admit how few of these I knew. OK, OK…4. How about you?
Of course, I would be amiss if I didn’t include some of the funny acronyms some people have come up with for some airlines:
- AA (American Airlines)
Always Awful - Air India
Assuming I Return, I’ll Never Do It Again - Alitalia
Always Late In Takeoff Always Late In Arrival
After Landing In Turin All Luggage In Atlanta - BA (British Airways)
Bloody Awful
Bureaucracy, Always! - BOAC
Better On Air Canada
Better On A Camel - Comair
Cancel Or Make Appropriate Itinerary Revisions - Cubana
Castro usually boarded another airline - Delta
Don’t Expect Luggage To Arrive
Don’t Expect Lunch Today Aboard
Doesn’t Ever Leave The Airport
Departing Extremely Late Throughout America
Distributing Enraged Liquored Travelers About - El Al
Every Landing Always Late
Everyone’s Luggage Always Lost - Iberia
It Beats Every Record In Awfulness - LOT
Left On Tarmac
Last One There - Lufthansa
Let Us Fondle The Hostess And Not Say Anything - Olympic
Onassis Likes Your Money Paid In cash - PAM AM
Plan On Arriving Nervewracked And Mad - QANTAS
Quick And Nasty Terrible Australian Service
Queens And Nymphos Trained As Stewards
Queasy And Nauseous Tired And Sic - Ryanair
Really You Are Nuts: Avoid, It’s Rehensible - SABENA
Such A Bloody Experience Never Again - TACA
Take a chance airlines - TAP
Take Another Plane - TWA
The Wrong Airline
Try Walking Across
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
5 comments
On the first part you say that you were embarrassed at how few you knew. If you meant that you didn’t know that LOT was the Polish national airline I can understand but can you really be expected to know what KLM stands for? I’m an ex-travel agent and an aviation geek and I didn’t know.
I meant what they stood for. I only knew what PAN AM, TWA, ANA and JAL stood for. I don’t think that most know about KLM but I suspect some people know at least some of the others.
The real question to ask here is how many of these airlines will be left standing once the crisis is over?
One of my favorites:
Northwest Orient = Northwest Dis-orient
Picking on NWA – “if you see a red tail — ride the rails”
I was probably one of the very few that liked the “old” Northwest Orient/NWA before they purchased
Republic Airlines – my service was generally very good on NWA flights from LGA to the Twin Cities, and on to the Orient
on their 747 widebodies. Never cared for NWA’s DTW hub – but MSP was always very pleasant.
When I moved west to California – I would try to route myself through MSP for flights to Europe and back to New York, but only on mainline NWA jets – and not the ex-Republic DC9’s/MD-80’s. Just the 727’s, 757’s, DC-10-40’s and occasional 747 and A320 I never warmed up to their 330’s though – the DC-10-40’s were roomier. Never flew on their later acquired DC-10-30’s. Then Delta came along – and I moved on to other airlines…lol
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
I managed 11. But having spent 57 years in aviation, working all over the world as a pilot, l should have known more.
TAP
-Todos os Aviões Parados (All planes stopped)
-Tamancos Aéreos Portugueses (Portuguese Air
slippers)