Flying from Vancouver or Seattle

[no1racefan1]

Yeah I kind of feel like DH would be very displeased if I booked us a 4 hour bus ride, so it's probably a no go, but I'm looking at all options anyways.

 

Second question: what would be a minimum layover time you would book if we were changing airlines in Seattle and had to collect bags, go back through security, etc.? 3 hours?

[scottbee]

On 3/29/2023 at 9:01 PM, em-sk said:

 

Well Canadian airports all start with "Y".   Airports that start with "Y" are always in Canada (with the exception of one US airport that is violating the rule for some reason).  That only leaves two letter to play with.   We have no shortage of similar airport codes.

 

 

Actually not.  While the majority of IATA [used by travel agents/airlines] codes for Canadian airports start with a Y, however CXH and QBC are two [on commercial flights] I've been to, both here in BC.  Note that CXH-YWH (right in your back yard) is the busiest commercial air route in the country, in terms of departures/day.

Now when you get into the four letter ICAO codes [used by pilots], it's a little different, with all starting with a C, and most just being a C prefixing the three letter IATA code, but not all, with CZBB (YDT) a notable exception not too far from you; and likewise QBC (CYDT)

If you're confused by ICAO vs IATA; think of it this way; you'd buy an airline ticket from YYJ-YVR, but the pilot would file a flight plan for CYYJ-CYVR

 

 

[Zach1213]

7 hours ago, scottbee said:

QBC

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Zach1213

[scottbee]

Yep, QBC (ICAO: CYBD - I mistyped it above) is an oddball, although quite a few of the smaller coastal airports have some weird IATA/ICAO combos, with quite a few not having [international] ICAO codes at all, but instead Transport Canada 4 letter codes, such as ZEL, YAA and XQU (yes you can book commercial flights to all of these). Note that weather and flight planning all use the four letter codes, the three letter codes are used by travel agencies. 

 

There's a few weird ones in the USA too; normally for the lower 48, you just add a K in front to go from IATA to ICAO (LAX/KLAX), however AZA/KIWA is a notable exception.

It wouldn't surprise me if at some point in the future they just drop the 3 letter codes altogether and just use a single system; but I'm sure theres a lot of "I dont want to change" out there.