Hi All,

I thought I maybe could shed some light on the situation about MSO. I am a pilot for Compass Airlines. First off, I am really sorry that the service hasn't been what you have come to expect or deserve.

For those of you who aren't familiar with MSO, mountains surround the area. Because of this there, the approaches going into that airport don't allow you to descend as low without having the airport in sight. Someone mentioned we aren't qualified to do some approaches, that's partially true but not entirely. Without going into too much boring detail, we are fully qualified to perform the GPS approaches that were mentioned above, but MSO's GPS approaches don't allow us or any other airline to descend as low as many other airports. One poster linked to Wikipedia with references to the category of ILS approach that we are allowed to do. That is true we are not approve to do Category II or III approaches, but MSO does not have those type of approaches so that is not the issue here. (Those types of ILS approaches are for very low visibility and the airline is currently in the process of being certified to do those types of approaches). In this case, there is a normal ILS which does have very high minimums and then there is another special ILS approach that has normal ILS minimums. In order to do the special ILS you need special approval from the FAA. We are having a hard time getting that approval, it does not have anything to do with Compass though. Any other airline that would attempt to get approval to do that special ILS at this point would not have an easy time. Every other airline that has been flying in there or has in the past and then starts again is basically grandfathered in. That may not make much sense, but anyone who has dealt with a government agency knows that progress can be slow moving and may not make much sense at times.

I'm really sorry for the frustration, the flight crews are equally as frustrated I can assure you. This explanation may not reassure you of the quality of the airline that is Compass, but operating certificates do not come in a variety of qualities and we are certainly not bottom basement, not in my opinion anyway. I do hope that you give Compass another shot, we are all pretty proud of our little airline. I don't blame you though if you choose to go elsewhere until we do get that approval.

As for Jake, to my knowledge they should at least be handing out juice and water. I would write in a complaint about that. I'm sorry that that was your experience with Compass Airlines. I realize that with a thread title of "I hate Compass Airlines" it's going to attract complaint posts about the airline, but like I said about please try to give it another chance I can all but promise that next time your experience will be better.