I read about this a few weeks ago over at Paddle Your Own Kanoo where they shared a reddit thread showing what they called a “lewd” message on the in-flight video screen.
The “lewd” message displayed? A flight number showing up as “BITEME1”. Personally, I would not consider that to be a lewd message and would not be upset if I saw that on the in-flight video screen. Is it probably unprofessional for someone (gate agent? pilot? flight attendant? someone else) to set that? Yeah, probably.
Weird Record Locators
While that message appears to be a flight number, it got me to thinking about weird and/or offensive record locators. Record locators are a 6 character Recently, my daughter got the record locator “WE LOSE” on her flight back home.
I am not 100% sure how record locators are generated, though I assume there are certain combinations that are banned, similar to custom license plates. Looking through the reddit threat, I saw a few
- Delta got in trouble for giving out the code H8GAYS in 2013.
- Ben from One Mile at a Time had code FFCKME in 2024
- Flyertalk contributors mentioned codes CAMPER, PILLOW and CATBOD among others
Ever had a funny or interesting record locator on a flight? Leave it in the comments below
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Record locators are generated in the back end SHARES platform… The actual reservation system left over from Continental that is still alive and well… Yes, the “green screen”.
These are not flight numbers as your referenced.
United has been toying the flight entertainment system… doing things like displaying your name on the screen of your seat… so I can 100% see how they mixed up something like that (putting the record locator as the flight number).
There are some blacklisted Record locators that have been blocked over the years, but if you blacklisted everything that someone might think was offensive, the remaining ones would rollover (start again) and get re-issued much more often and could cause mayor issues.
again, the world doesn’t need to stop for the .01% of the people who will without a fail find SOMETHING to complain about..
that at best, is a Ha-Ha moment.
That’s not a flight number. I thought someone had gone all Le Gasp! at flight 80085 or 6969 or something like that.
If a number of people were actually “shocked” at that record locator, it is time for them to grow up, or stay at home.
BITEME is lewd? Lewdness is in yourself, what is your naughty mind thinking of?