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This is part 1 of A Holiday to Remember..., a 14-part puzzle hunt. Each part is solvable on its own, with the exception of the meta-puzzle at the end.

✈✈✈

A map of the US with 23 unlabelled locations marked by pins
Image made using Google Maps.
ACCUSE AUSTRALIAN COMMENTS
BEARLIKE EXPLOSIVE EXPRESSION
FIXED GRIMACING FOOTWEAR
HIGHLY LARGE GOVERNOR
JACK PHOTO IDENTIFICATION
MAKES PROVINCIAL MARSUPIALS
OPEN SARCASTIC MATERIAL
PERSIAN SOMEBODY NUMBER
REMOVES SPARROW'S OFFICIALLY
VERY TOED PROFESSIONAL
YOUNG UPWARDLY-MOBILE TRADE

The answer is 3-letters long.

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As hinted by the three airplanes, we can

identify the 3-letter airport codes of the airports at the given locations. These are:

KOA, SNA, SAN, LAS, YUM, TUS, RKS, RAP, PIR, DEN, ICT, AMA, DAL, SAT, IND, TOL, DET, ACY, IAD, RIC, MYR, AGS, PIE.

We can also note that the three columns of the grid below are (separately) sorted alphabetically. They can be rearranged within their columns to form three-word clues:
VERY LARGE NUMBER→MYRIAD
REMOVES PHOTO IDENTIFICATION→DETAGS
FIXED GRIMACING EXPRESSION→RICTUS
OPEN TOED FOOTWEAR→SANDAL
MAKES SARCASTIC COMMENTS→SNARKS
HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE MATERIAL→AMATOL
BEARLIKE AUSTRALIAN MARSUPIALS→KOALAS
JACK SPARROW'S TRADE→PIRACY
YOUNG UPWARDLY-MOBILE PROFESSIONAL→YUMPIE
ACCUSE SOMEBODY OFFICIALLY→INDICT
PERSIAN PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR→SATRAP

Each of these is formed by putting together two of our airport codes. There is one airport code left over, from Denver, Colorado. This makes our final answer DEN.

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  • $\begingroup$ Exactly right. Impressively concise write-up too - thought it would be a bit messy to explain so am pleased to see it so clear, thanks! $\endgroup$ Commented yesterday

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