The Idaho Falls airport is IDA, while Idaho (Boise) is BOI; Randall probably chose Boise as it is the largest and best-known city in Idaho.

These codes are overseen by the IATA (International Air Transport Association).

Other codes make seemingly no sense at all (e.g., ORD for Chicagos OHare International, due to it formerly being named Orchard Field).

In many cases, the airport codes appear to have been chosen (or invented) because they are also common abbreviations and acronyms.

Randall is obviously confused by these codes, replying to his friend that he definitely knows what those mean without googling, basically revealing that he used Google to search for the codes, and has created a list for us to memorize.

In fact, this list is complete nonsense, with some of the airports mentioned not even existing, and the existing airports are all paired with the wrong codes, except for Huntsville (HSV) and Toronto Pearson (YYZ).

Its airport (called Schiphol ) has the IATA code AMS.

AMD is also an abbreviated name for Advanced Micro Devices, a company that makes computer processors and graphics cards, among other products.

ANC is also an abbreviated name for the African National Congress.

ATL may also be an abbreviation for above the line - the area in an internet article or post containing the main content; as contrasted with BTL (below the line) where readers comments appear.

Its airport has the IATA code PEK (probably from Peking, alternate former spelling of its name).

BAE Systems is the worlds second-largest defense contractor, while Bae is a slang term meaning girlfriend, boyfriend, or significant other.

Randall has presumably assigned this to Beijing as, when pronounced as a word, rather than an abbreviation, it resembles the first syllable.

Randall has used this word in the comic before ( 243: Appropriate Term ), but it is censored here for comic effect.

Randall notes in the what if book that Delaware has no commercial airports.

This entry is also a play on the nearby real airport BWI, Baltimore-Washington International.

It is notable for its pivotal role in NASA spaceflight development.

Wikipedia has a page titled Flagstaff station (lowercase s), which was a former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway depot, and is now an Amtrak station.

However, Amtrak calls the station simply Flagstaff, without the word station, on their station lists.

Melbourne, Australia also has a Flagstaff station, which has station code FGS.

Fresno Yosemite International has the code FAT for Fresno Air Terminal.

Fayetteville is the name of many cities in the United States.

Fayetteville, NC is the only Fayetteville served by airports: POB and FAY.

HSV is better known as the Hue-Saturation-Value color space or German soccer club Hamburger SV.

It is worth noting that the Marshall Space Flight Center and the U.S.

Space Rocket Center are both located in Huntsville and linked to NASA, which Randall worked for prior to October 2006.

Airport Abbreviations List