DanS Wrote:
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> The door has a pretty great picture of 486(?) on
> it.
>
> I would caution on relying on flying into Durango
> or Santa Fe (or Montrose). Those flights are
> operated by a contractor to United. Generally
> Trans States Airlines, GoJet, Republic, or
> SkyWest. Three of those are seriously
> unreliable. Not well enough staffed, and have an
> indirect financial incentive to cancel those
> flights. And if it’s a 145 or CRJ200 (TSA or
> SkyWest), there’s a high likelihood that they
> are weight limited and need to boot passengers or
> bags.
>
> I’m speaking from experience here. I was a
> captain for one of those companies, and flew
> regularly to Durango for more than a decade (if
> any of you saw a pilot wearing a Cumbres and
> Toltec Lanyard—that’s me). If I wanted to
> fly and get as short of a drive as possible, I’d
> go to Albuquerque personally.
>
> Or just accept that flights might not be real
> punctual. Which isn’t a huge deal, unless
> you’ve got a flight to catch, or a train first
> thing the next morning.
>
> Dan
I've commuted every summer in/out of dro since 2014 as standby. It's been upgraded to all jets and no turbo props on den-dro. A summer thunderstorm will cause cancellations. That would be the biggest concern. I would shop wisely since dro is a high yield market for UA and AA. Can get expensive if one doesn't pay attention. Dro airport is super easy and with 5-7 flights a day on UA. if weather mucks things up, just take the next flight. However, do leave time when using the dro airport to take into account weather issues.
Weight restrictions highly effect standby however not as much with revenue passengers who purchased the right type of fare.
I've used abq as backup. Its 3.5 hrs up to Chama. Beautiful ride however a summer thunderstorm will cause same issues in abq.