I was traveling through the airport the other day and noticed a sign in the bathroom aimed at stopping the spread of human trafficking. I had seen this sign many times before – I think just about every airport bathroom has signs like these aimed to stop human trafficking. I can imagine that airports are frequent human trafficking hot spots, though I remain skeptical about how well flight attendants can really identify it rather than just confirming their own preexisting biases.
The Stop Human Trafficking Phone Number Is Formatted Weird
So this is the sign that is in the bathroom at Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG).
I took a second look at it recently because I noticed that the phone number at the bottom is formatted strangely, with a format of 3-4-3, rather than the traditional 3-3-4 phone number that is common in the United States.
At first, I thought it was a misprint, and I am always on the lookout for signs and other printed material that are done incorrectly. I find it amusing that signs and other large printed material can make it all the way through design, editing and production with glaring mistakes.
So Why Is The Stop Human Trafficking Phone Number Formatted Strangely?
But when I thought about it and talked to a few friends, we came up with what seems to be a pretty reasonable theory. It’s formatted this way to make it easy to remember. Formatted in 3-4-3, the poster can make the phone number a palindrome, which would probably be easier to remember than if it was formatted 888-373-7888.
Interestingly, while traveling at a different airport (Fort Lauderdale / FLL), I found a similar sign in the bathroom there that had the phone number formatted in the standard 3-3-4 formatting.
The Bottom Line
Many (most) airports have signs attempting to stop the spread of human trafficking, and/or to let people who may be traveling under duress that there is help for them available. A stop human trafficking sign in the bathroom in Cincinnati was formatted in a nonstandard 3-4-3 phone number format, but it’s probably to make the number easier for people to remember, especially if they don’t have any other way to write the number down or record it.
Why is the stop human trafficking phone number formatted weirdly? What do you think about my theory? Leave your thoughts in the comments below
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at
Spam. To get ones into it.