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It's Getting Hard to Tell Airports By Their Name

Name Changes Add Little But Confusion

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

February 25, 2006
Getting from Point A to Point B is getting more complicated � thanks to a wave of airport name changes ostensibly designed to boost business.

Passengers already befuddled by bag-tag abbreviations taken directly from the alphabet-soup now have new ways to get lost before they even approach the airport.

EWR used to represent Newark Airport, later called Newark International but more recently Newark Liberty International. Technically, the airport is in nearby Elizabeth anyway.

JFK is easy enough, since John F. Kennedy was known by those initials, but that airport used to be Idlewild.

Chicago's sprawling O'Hare hasn't changed its name but might consider changing its ORD abbreviation. And why is there an X at the end of the LA initials for Los Angeles International?

Thanks to Republican control of Congress, Houston Intercontinental is now George Bush Intercontinental, named for the 41st president, while Washington National is now Reagan National, named for the 40th -- and the man who not only fired striking air-traffic controllers but enacted airline deregulation.

The airfield in Rockford, IL is now called Chicago/Rockford International even though the Windy City is 90 miles distant. Stewart International of Newburgh, NY is about to become New York Hudson Valley International, though it lies 70 miles from Manhattan.

Baltimore-Washington International Airport was always a lot closer to Baltimore than Washington. Now it's Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, much more long-winded than the late Supreme Court justice ever was.

Not to be outdone, Savannah airport is now Savannah/Hilton Head International, though getting to the island resort requires more than a hop, skip, and jump.

Reno-Tahoe airport, located in Reno, adopted the hyphenated name in the �90s, about the same time that airports in Allentown, Buffalo, and Terre Haute also thought new names would boost travel-related business.

While the Newburgh airport lies within the Hudson Valley � giving logic to half its name � not all name changes are well-received. When the National Tour Association attempted to change its name to CrosSphere during its Toronto convention in November 2004, members reacted so angrily that the original name had to be restored.

Not all airports are getting that keep-it-simple message.

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