I think some people have a misconception about the Q400s. They're not small planes, and they have first class sections.

Compared to a 44 or 50 seat ERJ, the Dash-8 really wins on a lot of routes and environments.

CLT flies to GSP 8x daily and the difference between the CRJ and the Dash-8 on this 76 mile route varies from 1 to 3 minutes travel time.

CLT flies to AVL 6x daily and the difference between the CRJ and the Dash-8 on this 91 mile route is about 7 minutes.

The same is true of airports like FAY, EWN, OAJ, LYH, ROA, TRI, AGS, CAE, and HHH.