Most travelers type an airport code into a flight search and never think about it again. But a handful of three-letter codes don't belong to any single airport. NYC, LON, CHI, WAS, PAR and TYO are city codes: shorthand for every major airport serving that city.

What a City Code Actually Covers

City codes are assigned by IATA, the same body that assigns airport codes. A few of the most useful:

  • NYC (New York): JFK, LaGuardia (LGA) and Newark (EWR)
  • LON (London): Heathrow (LHR), Gatwick (LGW), Stansted (STN), Luton (LTN), London City (LCY) and Southend (SEN)
  • CHI (Chicago): O'Hare (ORD) and Midway (MDW)
  • WAS (Washington): Dulles (IAD), Reagan National (DCA) and Baltimore/Washington (BWI)
  • TYO (Tokyo): Haneda (HND) and Narita (NRT)
  • PAR (Paris): Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly (ORY), among others

Searching LON instead of LHR asks for every London airport in one go. The cheapest London fare is often not at Heathrow.

Why One Airport Is the Wrong Default

Searching a single airport assumes you already know which one is best. Usually you don't:

  1. Airlines split their networks. In New York, some carriers concentrate long-haul flying at JFK and others at Newark. The nonstop you want may only exist at one of them.
  2. Price gaps are route-specific. One airport can be cheaper for one destination and more expensive for the next.
  3. Mixing airports is often allowed. Many airlines price a round trip that leaves from one airport and returns to another in the same city as a normal round trip. Fly into JFK and home from Newark if that's where the better flight is.

The Catch: Ground Time and Cost

A cheaper airport is only cheaper once you add the trip to and from it. Stansted and Luton are much farther from central London than City Airport. Dulles is a longer ride from downtown Washington than Reagan National. Before you book, compare the fare difference against the ground transport, door to door.

How Wayzuno Uses City Codes

Wayzuno searches the whole metro area by default. Type New York and it checks JFK, LaGuardia and Newark together, then shows which airport each option uses. If an airport doesn't work for you, untick it, and Wayzuno leaves it out of the search.