Tips for Flying on Small Regional Airlines

You Can Visit More Places on Your Vacation When You Fly “Puddle Jumpers”

You’ve probably heard of most of the major airlines that operate throughout the world, even if their home base isn’t in your country. KLM, China Airlines, Delta, all of these airlines operate across the planet and will take you to almost any continent you wish. These and other major airlines will even fly you domestically inside the countries to which you’re traveling or your home country.

However, these large airlines aren’t the only game in town. You don’t necessarily need to search for the biggest and most expansive flight network to find the best travel options during your international vacation. There are small domestic airlines that offer quick service from town to town in every country around the world where travelers routinely visit and where citizens need to travel great distances.

Not only do these small airlines travel from large airports to smaller airports, but they also usually provide service between regional airports and to cities that are far enough away that a fight makes more sense than surface travel. Often, air travel can allow you to visit more of your destination country, particularly when time is of the essence and you don’t have a lot of time to spare on your international itinerary.

Trains are great when you can relax on your month-long journey, but airline travel on regional airlines is a great and affordable alternative when you have places to go, tours to book, and activities to pursue. There are some choices you can make during the booking process that can help you fly with less stress and get the best airfare prices, so let’s discuss those choices, as well as the instances when you may want to choose train travel or a road trip instead of a flight.

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Searching for Your Quick Domestic Flight Options

You can search for flights on regional airlines as easily as you can major airlines. Any of the major travel search engines will help you get familiar with the airlines that operate in your destination country (or countries), as well as the routes that those airlines offer. You’ll probably find small regional airlines in countries with populations in the hundred thousands as easily as you can in countries with populations in the billions.

Sometimes, regional airports will offer international flights to other countries, but often focus on domestic flights. For example, Reykjavik City Airport hosts flights from Icelandair and Norlandair, which land in other domestic regional airports like Akureyri Airport. You can also often reach other countries via some of the regional airports that offer connections to other countries.

Occasionally, small domestic airlines will not only get you across the country, but also to countries right across the border (or across the water, as in the case of Iceland). If you’ve never flown on a small airline, don’t assume that they’ll offer less enjoyable service than a major airline. Many regional airlines and airlines that operate in just a single country are quite efficient and offer several departures each day.

Sometimes, you’ll notice that the major international airlines will give you one option for your flight, and the time might not coincide that well with the itinerary you’ve designed. A regional or small airline with several small flights that travel to all the major tourist destinations in the country may help you arrange your itinerary with less downtime and more efficiency.

Low-Budget Airlines Versus Small Domestic Airlines

It’s worth noting that there’s a difference between a small airline that serves just a few locations inside a country or within a few countries that are close geographically versus a low-budget airline that offers bargain basement prices for flights across a large portion of the planet. Although regional airlines and low-budget airlines tend to offer similarly priced fares overall, regional airlines don’t always have the same reputation.

If you fly with an airline with an infamous reputation, something like Ryanair, you’re willing to encounter some inconveniences when you fly. Maybe the seats will feel exceptionally small, or you’ll experience getting bumped off your flight because of overbooking, or you’ll miss your connection because of a late departure.

Some low-budget and low-cost air carriers feel like the Wild West of flying, and a small domestic airline may provide a less stressful experience, but you really never know. When we traveled to Vietnam, one of the airlines we used was VietJet Air. The flights were fine, but we encountered a departure delay when we left from Ho Chi Min City to the airport in Da Nang, as well as a delay when we flew from Da Nang to Hanoi a few days later.

Reading reviews of various airlines can help you decide whether a low-cost airline or a small regional airline is the best option for your travel needs. The one thing I tend to do when booking flights of any kind – whether it’s a tiny carrier or a major international airline – is I leave more time than I think I need for layovers. I try to leave at least three hours between flights when I’m landing in a country via a major airline and switching to a small regional carrier for the next leg of my journey.

Deciding on What Class to Book on Your Regional Flight

Sometimes, you may find it fun to upgrade your flight class on a small regional airline. Even if the flight is just an hour long, check the airline’s options for premium economy tickets, business class, and first class. Some small regional airlines only offer one class – economy – but others do have upgrades available, and their prices aren’t always stratospheric.

When I was booking flights in Colombia between Bogota, Medellin, and Cartagena, the domestic airlines I was looking at (I also considered bigger airlines) sometimes offered business class that was only a few times the rate of economy class. However, since the economy class seats were only $28 (I’m writing in USD here, just for consistency), that meant the business class tickets were only around $100.

Before you laugh off the idea of upgrading your flight class for an hour-long flight or for a quick domestic jaunt across the skies, consider that those upper classes do sometimes include a free luggage allowance while the basic economy class has you pay for every piece of baggage. The cost might not actually be that much more when you take baggage into consideration, especially if you’re checking a bag or two.

I will admit that I usually default to basic economy and just pay for the baggage fee, but that doesn’t mean I don’t also check on the prices of other classes. Even if I’m only in the air for 45 minutes, I check on all of my options on every possible airline. You never know when the premium economy from one airline will be on sale and come in at a rate that’s lower than the cost of a basic economy ticket on another airline. Comparison shopping is an excellent way to spend your time when booking short domestic flights.

Arranging an Itinerary With Major Airlines & Regional Airlines

As you plan your itinerary, one search you may want to make is the cost of a ticket to the first city you want to visit in your destination country versus the cost of a ticket to a nearby city and an additional flight to your destination city. You might find that it’s less expensive to fly to the biggest city in the country with a major airline and then use a small airline to get further into the country.

I used this strategy when I visited Vietnam, since our first night in the country would occur in Da Nang. It was much less expensive to fly into Ho Chi Min City on our major airline and then use a small airline to fly an hour north to get to Da Nang. I didn’t plan any activities in Ho Chi Min City and chose instead to focus our time on Da Nang and Hanoi.

With all the searches I conducted for flights into various airports throughout the country, it just made the most sense for a ticket into Ho Chi Min and then another ticket from Ho Chi Min to Da Nang. I did check trains, just to satisfy my curiosity, but the transit time was hours and hours, while the small flight took just an hour in the sky.

Another benefit of using a major airline to get into the country and then smaller airlines inside the country is that you can splurge on an upgrade to premium economy for the first part of your flight and then get around very affordably inside the country on the smaller airlines. This was my strategy when we flew to Colombia. We flew into Bogota on Avianca Airlines, which is a major international carrier, but we used a smaller carrier inside the country to hop from Bogota to Medellin to Cartagena.

Reducing Your Carbon Footprint With Train Travel

The environmental cost of transoceanic flights is a major sticking point for international travelers interested in reducing their carbon footprint. Unfortunately, choosing domestic flights when you travel internationally instead of train travel does mean an increase in the energy you use on your vacation. There are benefits for each type of travel, and we’ll cover them briefly here.

You may not realize it, but train travel usually the same price as the short domestic flights you’re considering, and the time investment might not actually be that different. If you’re visiting a country that offers service on high speed trains, and the distance you’re traveling would only take about an hour of flying time, choosing to ride the train can often provide similar benefits to flying, but with a reduced environmental cost.

Remember that you usually have to arrive at the airport anywhere from two to three hours before your flight takes off, but you can stroll right up to the train just minutes before it departs. Sure, some tiny regional airports are easy and quick when it comes to departures (we could have arrived at the Siem Reap Airport with 45 minutes to spare and easily gotten on board our flight out of Cambodia), but most still require that you check in quite early.

Therefore, while it might take three hours to ride a train to your destination, it might take the same amount of time to take a flight when you add in the time spent sitting at the airport, waiting to board the flight. In cases where you’re flying a much greater distance or where high speed trains aren’t in use, flying would probably be the quickest option, but still at a higher environmental cost.

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