Yeah but when someone writes TPE in a forum post, they are referring to Taipei/Xinbei, right?
Which, as you suggest, is confusing as TPE airport is in Taoyuan 
Unless i’m wrong, of course
Yes, I am. And I rarely heard anyone refer to SF as SFO, or LA as LAX, etc. (unless they’re talking about the airport). I’ve only heard some Chinese Americans do it.
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kinda makes the whole idea basically useless from the get go then, dunnit?
Only heard this style used by super travellers. Business, certain politicians, air crew and rainbow family gurus
Yeah, i mean, if they airport was still called CKS would they do the same?
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Yeah, seriously, my experience more aligns with that of @HongKonger.
I’m OP and also from this US, and this is why I made this post. I actually can’t recall anyone in my life using an airport code to talk about a city, and this use in the forums here is my first time seeing such examples. But obviously some people do use airport codes to talk about cities, which is why we all have different stories here I guess…
and funnily enough, I’m Chinese American, but I personally don’t use airport codes to talk about cities and haven’t really heard other Chinese Americans do so, but it’s interesting that you’ve heard some do so @HongKonger!
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I’ve never heard of LA as LAX, either, and SFO is less common than some of the others I listed. I think it’s more of a newer city inland thing than an older city coastal thing, but on the whole it’s certainly common.
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In the global sense Taoyuan is generally viewed as Taipei’s airport, so the abbreviation fits. Most large, modern airports are located outside the city proper.
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Also useless.
I mean, cities, towns, countries and so on have their code names. Called names. Making things more confusing seems very counter productive!
Same with many, as you mention. YVR is outside vancouver. Hence why it is silly to call a city by a different citys’ airport code lol. Only people that visit many places and spend very little meaningful time in said places would find this convenient. For normal folk, the city names are their codes or ID.
Meh. I don’t agree that it’s “silly”, but that’s really a moot point. The fact is that it’s common enough, for better or worse.
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Do you find it common in Taiwan? curious if people can ask directions to taipei and askwwhere is TPE?
just kidding. I just dont find it common outside those select few job markets. Never heard anyone use airport codes otherwise.
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It’s clearly common in Taiwan. The question being posed by the OP was whether it is also common outside of Taiwan, which it also clearly is.
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racist, old backwards ways, Southern USA and USA Western cities are really more open and progressive not backwards
Is Boston America’s Most Racist City? Ask a Black Bostonian for Once (bostonmagazine.com)
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In the US some people use the area code.
“I’m from the 619.”
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Just hit the east side of the LBC, on a mission tryna find Mr Warren G. Seen a car full of girls, ain’t no need to tweak, all you skirts know what’s up with 213.
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That’s a strange outlook. Never heard that before. You can find plenty of articles about racism in London, Dublin or wherever else you think is culturally superior. Racism is not unique to the US.
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American here who lived in both southern and northern California for many years. I never heard any cities referred to by their airport codes, only when talking about the actual airports, as others have mentioned.
Except ATL.
Maybe this is just one of those young generation things that passed me by?
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Yes! This is way more common than using airport IATA codes.
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I have no idea which airport PDX is. Can you please just take the extra second to spell out the name?
The only airports I even recognize in this list besides SFO are ATL, DEN, and DFW, but that’s only because they are large transit hubs for most the major airlines.