also called IATA code · three-letter airport code
The three-letter code identifying an airport, such as the one printed on your luggage tag.
The three-letter tag that identifies a specific airport, the one printed on your luggage tag and boarding pass. It pins down one airport, not a whole city. A city with several airports has a separate city code covering all of them, and mixing up the two is how people book into the wrong airport across town.
Someone books a cheap fare into a city with more than one airport and picks the wrong three-letter code. On arrival they land far out from where they meant to be, facing a long, pricey transfer to the side of the city they actually booked accommodation in.
Cities with several airports share codes carelessly, and booking the wrong one strands you far from where you meant to be.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
An IATA airport code is the three-letter code for one specific airport, the kind printed on your luggage tag.
A city code represents a whole city and can cover several airports at once in a search, which is why searching one can return flights to more than one airport.
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