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
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love if you decided to hang around and get emailed notifications of when we post. Or maybe you’d like to join our Facebook group – we have 11,000+ members and we talk and ask questions about travel (including Disney parks), creative ways to earn frequent flyer miles and hotel points, how to save money on or for your trips, get access to travel articles you may not see otherwise, etc. Whether you’ve read our posts before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.