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I'm wondering if there is a common placeholder name for an airline, either implying a legally disclosed or fictional entity, which is frequently used?

For instance, I've seen the terms containing 'widgets' used very often in an economics context. John Doe is often used in legal cases.

*"Placeholder names are words that can refer to objects or people whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown in the context in which they are being discussed." -Wikipedia

Federico
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Thunderstrike
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    I'm going to ask my sister Alice to ask her friend Bob about this, but she has been charged with mopery due to financial irregularities surrounding her purchase of Blackacre in Outerstan, so I'll need a few cartons of Morley cigarettes from BigCo to bribe the Lord High Executioner. – Robert Columbia Jan 13 '17 at 12:14
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    @RobertColumbia Alice can't talk to Bob. Carol is listening. – Jamiec Jan 13 '17 at 12:35
  • Here's a little list but I'm not really convinced. I don't think there is that one airline name that immediately pops into one's mind when thinking about a placeholder. Like "ACME" for a company, "John/Jane Doe" for a person, "foo/bar" for an arbitrary string (in programming), or "42" for an arbitrary number. But "Oceanic" seems popular albeit I've never heard of it before. – PerlDuck Jan 13 '17 at 12:44
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    @Jamiec Eve is listening. – David Richerby Jan 13 '17 at 12:53
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    @DavidRicherby Eve's dropping. – FreeMan Jan 13 '17 at 13:20
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    The thing about "widgets" is we know almost nothing about what they are. Any kind of airline is already in a much more specific industry than a widget manufacturer. I suppose you don't want a name of an airline from a particular work of fiction, that is, you want something analogous to John Doe and not John McClane. – David K Jan 13 '17 at 14:51
  • @PerlDuck 'Oceanic' was the name of the airline in Lost. Remember not to get on flight 815. – reirab Jan 13 '17 at 15:13
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    @DavidRicherby I just looked again, and you're right it is Eve. You obviously got the pun/joke, I've always seen Carol (or Catherine) as the third party, but it really is more commonly referred to as Eve. – Jamiec Jan 13 '17 at 15:54
  • @Jamiec It depends what the third party's doing. If they're eavesdropping, they're usually called Eve; if it's a consensual 3-way communication, then a name beginning with C would make sense. – David Richerby Jan 13 '17 at 16:00
  • Another analogy is that example.com is a domain name that was specifically created to be used as an example in documentation. Hence, its use is safe in the help feature of this website. – cardiff space man Jan 13 '17 at 18:09
  • http://fictional-airlines.wikia.com/wiki/Fictional_Airlines_Wikia – TomMcW Jan 13 '17 at 20:49
  • @Jamiec: Here's the full-cast of the exciting Cryptography Games, if you're interested: https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_and_Bob#Cast_of_characters – Jörg W Mittag Jan 13 '17 at 22:48
  • Sandpiper Air from Wings ? :-) – Jason S Jan 13 '17 at 23:55
  • "Fly-EZ: The airline that can't afford to crash." – keshlam Jan 14 '17 at 03:31
  • @Jamiec Mallory is inserting himself into the communications (man-in-the-middle). Alice, Bob, Carol and Dave are traditionally the parties considered privy to the communications, whereas Eve and Mallory are not privy but try anyway using various means. Sometimes they try to break things, sometimes they just want to listen. – user Jan 14 '17 at 17:09
  • If you want to attempt to be humorous you could use High Flyer Airways or Mile High Airlines. – JScarry Jan 19 '17 at 14:56

3 Answers3

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I think Oceanic Airlines is well known fictive airline. It is used widely in Lost and also Alias, Castle, JAG, Category 6: Day of Destruction and in Executive Decision (the material from this movie was reused in a lot of low budget movies).

Peter
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I would suggest Acme.

At least within certain communities, Acme is a generally recognized placeholder name for airlines. This includes Acme Airlines, Acme Red, Acme Giant, Acme Express, etc. This convention is often used in the podcast world as a means of referring to one's employing company without directly naming the company but still differentiating between many of the real airlines. However, these names may have outgrown their placeholder status in some cases and may now be synonymous with the names of the real airlines.

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Artwork from the APG community

J W
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    That's a really nice logo for A Company Moving Everything. Looks cute. – PerlDuck Jan 13 '17 at 15:31
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    I remember the old Warner Brother's cartoon's used to use ACME for just about every company you could imagine. I'd have to think one of them was an airline at some point or another. – Jae Carr Jan 13 '17 at 23:49
  • @JayCarr Considering that (IIRC) Wile E. Coyote was able to procure rockets from Acme Corp, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they are into airlines as well. – user Jan 14 '17 at 17:11
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    Credit for this Acme logo should go to The Airline Pilot Guy, Capt. Jeff and his crew. http://airlinepilotguy.com Great podcast, by the way. – thetoolman Jan 18 '17 at 01:10
  • @thetoolman Agreed, though it wasn't created by Jeff Nielsen but someone from the community (I forget who). – J W Jan 18 '17 at 01:16
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Why not use a variation on the "generic company names" from the aforementioned Wikipedia page?

For example, Acme Airlines, Ace Airlines, XYZ Air.

If it's a small airline, Mom and Pop Air.

Note that in the example "XYZ Widget Company," the idea is to obscure not only the identity of the company, but also to obscure what they do. Since you have stated you want an airline, the "widget" part of the company name is redundant. That's why I suggested simply replacing "Widget Company" with "Airlines" or "Air".

If the generic airline is not associated with a particular market, an alternative is to use a placeholder geographical name: Utopia Airlines or Air Ruritania for a national-scale airline, Podunk Airlines for a local operation.

David K
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