Originally Posted by
tarheelnj
I think the 340's are really the issue. The Q400s seem fine. If you get one of the new "NextGen" Q400's they're adding at EWR at about 1 per month, you'll be surprised. It's a great plane, particularly with ELR seating in the first few rows.
www.q400nextgen.com/
I get the hatred for Colgan's 340s and the general concerns around lower-time pilots and training. But the Q400s are almost like a different operation entirely. Was on a plane delivered in Oct 2010 which still had that "new-plane" smell, it was spotless, relatively quiet, and rows 1-3 were e+ legroom. I'd take that over any ExpressJet pencil-plane or CRJ any day (and let's be realistic, those are the only options we're going to get in a lot of smaller cities).