I Hate Small Airlines.

  I really hate traveling in the winter and dealing with tiny airlines.  I was supposed to fly out Friday on a charter but a blizzard hit, canceling every flight in and out.  I can just hear you trying to figure out why that would happen!

Think of it in these terms.  The airplanes are small Navajo Caravans only seat 6 to 9 passengers comfortably and they do not fly when its too windy, icy, snowy, or foggy.  These conditions happen quite a bit in winter.

Anyway, due to the nasty weather yesterday, I had to re-book my flight and the charter was also rebooked for this morning.  That was when the problem occurred.  The airline decided to turn the charter into a regular flight and hit every village in the area before heading into the town where I would get on my connecting flight. 

What it meant is the 10 AM flight finally arrived at 11 AM and then hit one more place before heading into town.  I got to my connecting airline just in time to check in before the cut off.  If the plane had been any later, I wouldn't have made it at all.  What made it bad was the airline tried to charge us the regular fair which was $25 higher than the charter flight.

I did make it onto the flight that took us into Anchorage, AK.  It was a very full flight and just short enough  that the stewardesses could not offer refreshments to anyone in Row 25 and back.  I was in row 27, so I didn't get anything to eat or drink.  I will say the stewardesses did apologize profusely. 

I am glad there is a second airline that services the area or I'd be out of luck.  I prefer the other airline but they are just as bad when it comes to charter flights.  When dealing with a small airline, they will book charters but the charters are sent out when its convenient, not always when booked.  This is the third time I've tried going on a charter and its the second time the company messed up fully.

I think I'm going to stick with the regular flights since those seem to fly when scheduled and have a better record than the charters.