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After a wonderful stay at Old Faithful Inn we packed our bags and drove to West Yellowstone Airport. Our returning flight again was on Delta as Sky West operates this flight as a Delta Connection flight. The weather was clear when we first arrived at the airport, but shortly after arriving the sky turned dark and it began to rain.
Introduction: Yellowstone for Labor Day
Review: Delta Regional Short-haul Coach Salt Lake City to West Yellowstone
Review: Old Faithful Inn Suite
Review: Delta Regional Short-haul Coach West Yellow Stone to Salt Lake City
Additional Thoughts: Yellowstone National Park
Everything looked ok so far
Starting to rain
Love the rustic feel of this location
As you can see there is only one relatively small building for this terminal, and it is divided up into a couple sections. I snapped a shot of the check-in desks when we first arrived, and then included the one of the day we flew out. What a disorganized bit of chaos.
There was a Sky Priority line available, but no easy access to it when traveling with 3 persons and bags. It really was a mess. Fortunately, we had arrived early, and so we waited patiently for our turn to check in. After 15 minutes it was our turn. One of the female agents that was working the counter checked us in, printed out our boarding passes, but could not get the luggage documents to print. She confirmed with us what baggage was ours and then asked us to store it in a corner next to the check in desk. She would finish the tagging process and find us in the terminal – at the time I thought it was a nice gesture on her part.
The terminal was really packed as it looked like there may have been a tour group on our flight. We found a corner in the terminal and sat down waiting for the check-in agent. About 30 minutes later I was being paged to the check in counter. I negotiated my way back to the counter and indicated I had been paged. The exchange went something like this.
- New agent: “Are you Jimmy Gottfredson?! Is this your luggage?”
- Me: “Yes I am, do you have our luggage tags?”
- New agent: “You just can’t pile up and leave your luggage here!”
- Me: “Your colleague told me to do so…?”
- New agent: “She wouldn’t have done that, and you can’t just go putting your luggage up here without checking it in.”
By this time Susan was standing next to me. After the new agent’s last comment, I saw red, and in a completely different tone looked directly at her and said, “Miss, your colleague instructed us to put our bags in THAT location. I have been flying with Delta for years and know the procedure. It was chaotic up here during check-in, but I can assure your co-worker instructed us to place our bags in that location.”
Susan then pointed to the other agent and stated, “She was the one who told us.” At that point the original agent acted like she had never seen us (which I actually thought was funny, but I wasn’t laughing). To her credit, the new agent completely backed down at this point. I think she realized this wasn’t our first time flying, and maybe it was a mistake on their part. She apologized for the confusion and then helped us finalize our bags for check-in.
Proceeding to check-in
Main terminal hall
Empty check-in area (on arrival)
Check-in area on travel day
We waited for another 30 minutes and then the TSA security line was opened to process this flight. Once you pass through TSA, boarding of the aircraft is done outside in a fenced in area next to a couple picnic tables. I would imagine you couldn’t do it any other way at West Yellowstone Airport. Once your group is called you walk out onto the Tarmac and then board directly into the plane via mobile airstairs. All exposed to the elements. Fortunately for us the rain took a pause.
Delta Airlines 7407
West Yellowstone(WYS) – Salt Lake City (SLC)
Monday September 5th, 2016
Departure Time: 3:12pm
Arrival Time: 4:20pm
Flight Time: 1hr08min
Aircraft: Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-200
Seat: 04D, Regional Coach
Our flight today
Waiting for your group number to be called
Walking onto the plane
Side view 4A and 4B
4D looking forward
Leg room
Regional seat back
The CRJ-200 was the same as on the way up. 2×2 seating in 13 rows left, 12 right all coach. The seats although small, are not that much different than a mainline narrow body flight, which for this plane is 31″ of pitch and a width on 17.3″. The flight attendant gave the safety talk and secured the aircraft. Door close was at 3:05pm, taxing started at 3:15pm and take off was 3:25pm. The little regionals are quite and smooth in operation, and so was this one.
Some blue sky
Temporary stop
Approval for take off
Starting to climb
Climb out
Nice views
Wheels up to wheels’ down is just under an hour. Not much takes place on this flight, except for the wonderful views that float by the window. Service includes a beverage and a snack, which I was awake for this time.
Service included a drink and pretzels
Big puffy clouds
Wyoming farm land
Into Salt Lake City
Another CRJ-200
De-planning on the mobile airstair
Exit of our regional aircraft went smooth and after a good jog to concourse B (from E!) we made it time for our leg to Sacramento.
In Summary:
Regional flights take a lot of criticism. Small, cramped and with few services you can see why there not popular. But they’re also magical. Frequently it’s the small plans that take us on the last legs to the lesser accessible locations. Delta’s connection flight from their Salt Lake City hub to West Yellowstone airport is just such a regional route. From West Yellowstone airport you’re in Yellowstone National Park in 10 minutes. Yellowstone National park is a treasure and certainly should be on anyone’s bucket list. Even though this route only flies 5 months of the years with a small schedule, the flight is relatively affordable if booked in advance. It’s more or less comfortable do so, it’s a short duration, and although West Yellowstone is an outpost airport, it’s hospitable enough for a journey in and out of. You also have rental car services, a small restaurant, and the small town of West Yellowstone five minutes away. I highly recommend this route into Yellowstone National Park, and I look forward to doing the journey again.
