Discussion

Six Characters

NewsaHackO: Very interesting article. However, almost didn't open due to the vague title. I was expecting something about short DOS names

Procrastes: A half-joking comment I once heard from someone who was part of the group that established the NUC. It stood for "Not US Currency," but tracks the dollar because that compromise was the only thing everyone could agree on. The first stablecoin.

bbanyc: I wonder why they didn't go with the IMF Special Drawing Right, which is used in many other international contexts. (Including aviation - the liability limits under the Montreal Convention are in SDRs.)

wildzzz: I'm guessing it's because the SDR didn't exist until 1969

Every airline has a 3-digit IATA numeric code. 098 = Air India. British Airways is 125. IndiGo is 526. These codes predate the familiar 2-letter IATA codes (AI, BA, 6E): they were used when teletypes could not reliably transmit letters and numbers interchangeably.

Mordisquitos: After reading the article, for some reason I am finding the following fact profoundly distressing. Surely there are more than 1000 active airlines worldwide‽> Every airline has a 3-digit IATA numeric code. 098 = Air India. British Airways is 125. IndiGo is 526. These codes predate the familiar 2-letter IATA codes (AI, BA, 6E): they were used when teletypes could not reliably transmit letters and numbers interchangeably.

decimalenough: Two-letter codes are assigned to anybody on request, but three-digit codes are assigned only to full IATA members.The three-digit code is used primarily for ticketing (it's the first three digits of a ticket number), and as an airline you only really need it if you're going to do complex interop things like ticketing another airline's flights. Most low cost carriers like Ryanair are not IATA members, and even Southwest only joined last year.