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.
