What all those numbers and letters on your boarding pass really mean?
Flight code and numberThe letters are the airline code, or the numbers universally recognized to represent the name of the airline in shorthand.
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Checking in 24 hours before your flight will usually land you somewhere in the B boarding group — which is generally adequate to find either a window or aisle seat or 2 seats together if you are flying with a companion.
The boarding pass and the QR or 2D bar code printed on it contain sensitive information about the passenger and their journey that could be exploited by data thieves. The codes on the boarding pass contain all flight-related data, such as booking code, passenger name, date, flight number, class of travel and more.
Regardless of the type, tickets contain the following information: The passenger's name. The issuing airline. A ticket number, including the airline's three-digit code at the start of the number.
Checking in 24 hours before your flight will usually land you somewhere in the B boarding group — which is generally adequate to find either a window or aisle seat or 2 seats together if you are flying with a companion.
Group 5 is not priority boarding on American Airlines, but Preferred boarding. This group includes passengers that pay for Main Cabin Extra perks, as well as those who hold co-branded AAdvantage airline credit cards.
On many aircraft, the rightmost seats have letter designations HJK, skipping the letter I. This is because each seat has a row number followed by letter; letters that may be confused with numbers (I, O, Q, S, or Z) must be avoided, usually for people with dyslexia.
The ICAO phonetic alphabet has assigned the 26 code words to the 26 letters of the English alphabet in alphabetical order: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.
Any airline passenger with the letters “SSSS” printed on their boarding pass have been selected for extra security screening by airport security. Used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the letters SSSS stand for Secondary Security Screening Selection or Secondary Security Screening Selectee.
After preboarding is complete, first-class ticketed passengers are the first boarding group. Then the process continues, in alphabetical order, beginning with Group A and ending with Group E.
Groups 1 and 2 are made up of passengers with elite status in MileagePlus and partner programs, as well as those passengers seated in premium cabins. Group 2 also includes United co-branded credit card members and passengers who have purchased Priority Boarding. Group 3 includes passengers in window seats.
Throughout the industry, as Mental Floss notes, even flight numbers are typically assigned to north and eastbound flights while south and westbound flights end in odd numbers. (There are some exceptions to the rule.) Airlines typically assign the return flight number as one digit higher than the outbound flight.
Group 4 is considered priority boarding on American Airlines. Eligible passengers include elite flyers holder AA Gold or Oneworld Ruby status, as well as AirPass travelers, premium economy ticket holders, travelers who bought priority boarding and eligible corporate travelers.
Front row if first class. Airplanes empty from the seats nearest the doors. In many planes that's the location. Some larger long distance planes board between first class and the next lowest class.