I’ve ran this before in the past, but I’m re-running it as some of the hints are useful in it after dealing with BMI’s wonderful call centre to modify a redemption.
First things first, ensure your phone line is reasonable. Voice Over IP can be a bit choppy, so ensure you speak clearly.
However, it will come to a point where you need to spell something out – be it an airport code or your name. And this is where the IACO/NATO Spelling Alphabet comes into play.
Letters become words which are pronounceable by all, and understandable by all – which makes the ICAO Spelling alphabet standard – anywhere in the world (with some regional variations).
Wikipedia has an excellent article on it, including the million and one variations on the alphabet that exists, however lets get to the nitty-gritty
Firstly, the actual alphabet:
| Letter | ICAO Word | Letter | ICAO Word | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Alpha | N | November | |
| B | Bravo | O | Oscar | |
| C | Charlie | P | Papa | |
| D | Delta | Q | Quebec | |
| E | Echo | R | Romeo | |
| F | Foxtrot | S | Sierra | |
| G | Golf | T | Tango | |
| H | Hotel | U | Uniform | |
| I | India | V | Victor | |
| J | Juliett | W | Whiskey | |
| K | Kilo | X | X-ray | |
| L | Lima | Y | Yankee | |
| M | Mike | Z | Zulu |
And it if you need to spell something, then use the phonetics. For example, if I was to spell the name Jones*, you’d spell that as Juliett, Oscar, November, Echo, Sierra.
If you were spelling out an airport code, for example Chicago O’Hare, that would be Oscar, Romeo, Delta (ORD).
If you were spelling out a Passenger Name Record (PNR) to a call centre agent that was X1AT13, you’d pronounce that as X-ray, One, Alpha, Tango One, Three
And so on. It’s a useful tool if you have to spend hours sitting on a phone to call centre, least of all you’ll be able to communicate in a clear format that both sides should be able to understand.
How of course the rest of the call centre will handle the call is in the lap of the gods… 😉
I was talking to the SriLankan call center the other day and they were completely flummoxed by my use of the “standard” alphabet. It took me nearly forever. I was making the call from a local ticket office and the agent I was sitting in front of noted my frustration and I saw her writing down what I was saying into the phone. I asked here to explain it to the colleague on the other end of the line so I could actually make progress. It was impressively ridiculous.
Thanks, Seth. I’ve been on the phone with the bmi call center a bunch this week, and this is definitely critical information when dealing with them. Now, if they could only learn how to calculate taxes…
I think we all learn after a while dealing with call centres. Alas if your pronunciation is slightly off, it can lead to hours of fun.
And not with BMI. Yes – I’m still bitching about Vodafone 😉
I’ve done this exact thing for years.