#68 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
384 reviews
This is the second flight of my trip to Aspen with friends.
Despite the delay from the go around, apparently the inbound aircraft for this flight was also somewhat delayed coming in. More importantly, we were literally parked right next to each other - giving me a great view of the plane.
We were carried by N790SK, a 9-years old CRJ-700.
Boarding was called around 7:45am and somehow I managed to end up being the first person to board, despite the long list of pre-boarding categories before 1Ks are called. Here is the empty CRJ-700 cabin. You can see that the first class seats aren't much better than the economy ones - just a little more pitch and width.
I was seated in 8A, the second row of economy plus. It has plenty of legroom for a 5'8 guy like me. More importantly, I also scored an empty seat next to mine. On a flight like this, arguably better than first?
One word of caution (this picture is from a later flight): you'll notice the smaller overhead compartments on the port side (because the first class is arranged 1-2). This applies to the first row of economy plus as well, even though it is a 2-2 arrangement. Something to consider if you are sitting in 7A or 7B.
Since I did not have enough time to go to the bathroom before they called boarding, I rushed on so I could use the bathroom. There is only a single bathroom and it is at the rear of the plane. Cramped as expected. Before the doors close would be the only time you can use the bathroom anyways since the seat belt sign is kept on this entire flight.
As promised, it was a very short flight. The doors closed at 7:59 and we pushed back at 8:06. We took off 10 minutes later and landed at 8:44am - approximately 28 minutes in the air. The flight attendants remained seated the entire flight as the seat belt sign is never turned off. No service is provided. Aspen is a tiny airport, so we were at our gate 2 minutes after touch down.
This might be the shortest flight I have ever been on. Even the shortest Dulles to Roanoke flights have been just over 30 minutes. It is very much a no-frills flight over the beautiful state of Colorado.
Lounge: None
Seat & Cabin: I like CRJ700s for short domestic flights - they are not as cramped as the 200s or ERJ145s and no one has to be in a middle seat. ERJ-175s are probably a little better though.
Service: There was no service by design - and I can't fault them for it (it was a 28-minute flight with some turbulence).
Meal & Catering: None
Bottom Line: United has by far the most flights to/from Aspen due to the Denver hub. I would definitely recommend them again because of the frequency and convenience. If anything, I wouldn't bother paying for First because the seats on a CRJ-700 aren't really much better and there is zero inflight service.
2 Comments
I agree regarding the different CRJs, but I almost never have the opportunity to fly any CRJ-900s. The CRJ-550s look interesting, but I get the feeling I'm probably not going to end up frequenting those routes.
Thanks again.
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