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Comment by sokoloff | Hacker News Reader

If it’s important and hard to get this data, is it really ridiculous that a provider of the data charges $700 for it?

It's only hard to get because IATA doesn't easily provide it. IATA isn't "a" provider of the data, they are the data. It would be like if you had to purchase a list of the bus stops and schedule in your city from your transportation department.

Many (most?) standards bodies charge for their standards documents and data feeds. There are obviously costs associated with running IATA; I don't see why they should be obliged to provide their data for free, especially when the typical user of such data is likely to build a for-profit business on top of it.

I don't think IATA actually assigns the codes, but rather aggregates them. In the US, the FAA assigns the airport identifiers: https://www.faa.gov/nextgen/cip/airport_facility/

I think the FAA will only assign the four letter ICAO code. The 3 letter IATA code is assigned by them directly: https://www.iata.org/contentassets/1277d04d575843dc80a3f613d...

If you tell me the FAA code for a US airport, I can tell you the IATA code without a database lookup and without checking with IATA.

C83

Good luck

I’d have returned that it has no IATA code assigned, which appears to be correct from spot-checking it on several online sites.

I’m guessing you know that’s not correct or you’d have not asked, so what is it?

That’s a good point. The US has a somewhat unique system there. I’ve been googling this and I can find any definitive reference. All I can turn up is that the application for an IATA code is supposed to be made by an an airline or CSR, not the airport itself. What I can’t find is an explanation for the “coincidence” of the K prefix.

I have to pay the bus company to ride the bus, it doesn't seem insane that the bus company may want to charge me money if I asked them for a full, comprehensive, organized list of stops and schedules.

Sure, there are reasons for why they would want to make it available for free, but there are also reasons for why they would want to charge me, and they aren't unreasonable. I don't have any fundamental, natural right to a transportation network curating and providing their data for my consumption. It might not care enough about my needs to spend money do so. It might not care enough about my needs to spend money to do so for free.

Oh they charge way more than $700. For a recent project, for four months of flights in North America cost roughly $5000.

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