#Travel140 #TravelTip: Know Your Airport. When booking air fare, be sure you’re looking at the right cities/airports!
You might think this is just common sense, but the recent story of a Birmingham (England) couple shows the danger: They grabbed what seemed like great tickets for a trip to Vegas. £1200 (about $1700) round trip, from Birmingham to Las Vegas? That’s a deal. Unless it’s from Birmingham, Alabama. Which it was. The couple was denied a refund on the tickets, which were purchased online at lastminute.com. (We tried the search, and it’s pretty obvious which Birmingham is which.)
When booking air fare, make sure you have the right city – state and country – selected! (Photo: LastMinute.com)
Lest you think it was just them, we’re told it happens occasionally. You may remember a lawsuit several years ago; a man sued British Airways over his flight to Grenada. He meant to visit Granada. As in Spain, not the Caribbean island paradise. To be fair, he did purchase his tickets over the phone, and the two do sound remarkably similar.
Just to be safe, know your cities of departure and arrival, and know the appropriate airport codes. Granted, that’s trickier done than said, and doesn’t always make sense. BHX versus BHM; I think any reasonable person flying through any Birmingham would assume BHM is their airport.
So, how do you know which airport code is yours? The fun and fascinating website World Airport Codes lists every airport in the world, from AAA (Anaa, French Polynesia) to ZZV (Zanesville, Ohio), searchable by city name and airport code. (For our purposes, it’s the IATA column we’re interested in.) What it won’t tell you is how Toronto got to be YYZ. But then, what’s life without a little mystery?
Hat tip to @First2Board:
Couple out more than $1,700 after booking flight from the wrong Birmingham https://t.co/OByCgpdz8Y
— first2board (@first2board) April 27, 2016
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funny! But I don’t think that this can happen to anyone who has at least a little knowledge of geography and common sense to check airport abbreviations:)
You would think so! I suppose there is always someone who will be the example of what not to do, though. Thanks for your comment, Tanja!