Originally Posted by
storewanderer
No jetway attached to the planes- the Q400s emptied right out onto the tarmac and you walked on the tarmac to the building or jetway entry. Stairs/ramps were present to get into the terminals. PDX/SEA are set up like this for these regional planes.
Not pre-9/11. Last time I flew one was in 2022.
Alaska/Horizon stopped flying these planes in 2023. This is how it was until the end.
I forget if the replacement small jets board from front and back too, they are much nicer planes.
I've boarded AS 737s through the rear door at SEA, at least from the gates that required walking halfway to Everett, and that's in the past 6 years (well after 9/11). It's also standard practice in most of the rest of the world to use both doors when doing ground-level boarding, anyway. Can't tell you about the Embraers since my size (all around, not just my middle) now dictates flying F so I never look in back.