Flew them today, PIT-AOO (Altoona/Martinsburg). I was the sole passenger.
Southern no longer serves JST, or IAD for that matter. JST replaced Southern with Boutique Air, which flies five flights a day, two to/fr BWI and three to/fr PIT. Boutique Air has put in a bid for service in and out of AOO . The authorities are considering whether to change from Southern to Boutique.
My experience could not have been any better. I stopped using AOO because it had gotten so expensive and DL had a direct ATL-SCE flight. That flight is gone. Now you have to connect through DTW and it is very expensive. Flying ATL-PIT is inexpensive and the PIT-AOO flight was $29, making this option hundreds of dollars less on a three day advance purchase.
- PROs: The price. Because I was the only passenger, the flight was able to leave when I was ready, so we got into AOO an hour early. AOO is a very easy airport to fly in and out of and even has a good restaurant now. Parking is free. The check-in agent, GA, Pilot, FO and AOO ground crew were exceptionally helpful/pleasant.
- CONs: It is a nine-seat Cessna plane, with no lav or FA. They only interline bags with AA, meaning if you fly into PIT on any other airline you have to collect any checked bags and recheck them. They use the farthest gate out at PIT which would make tight connections hard.
- BTW, I had a second bag, triggering a $30 fee, so the bag fee was higher than the ticket price!
- For those unfamiliar, AOO is about thirty minutes south of Altoona, so this airport is not a great option if you need to be in State College and do not want to drive over an hour, as opposed to SCE, which is south of State College, making it about a forty-minute drive to Altoona.