Just flew FNT-CLE recently and it was a very pleasant flight, despite the diminutive size of the plane.

There was no waiting to check in with the NW/Mesaba ground crew, no one in line ahead of me at security, and no other flights arriving or departing on the FNT lower concourse in that time frame. The walk outside and around the back of the airport was a bit chilly, but a cheerful copilot was waiting to greet us at the drop-down stairway to the plane.

The plane was quite full due to the holidays (only one empty seat). The co-pilot had to switch around some of our seat assignments, because a woman traveling with a dog was supposed to be in a front row seat but needed to have a seat in front of her to stow the dog. I ended up in an exit row, which elicited from the co-pilot: "This is an exit row. You cool with that?" I assumed he wanted to know whether I was over 16, spoke English, and could open a door, so I said yes.

There was either no door to the cockpit, or else it was just left open, so we had a great view of CLE as we landed. You can really see the runways from a distance at night. The flight got in 22 minutes early, and we landed in such a way that we were facing a large runway and waited for a couple "big" planes to land. The pilot announced that we'd have to wait 10-15 more minutes until we could taxi to the gate, but then, less than a minute later, we took off at a good clip (I don't think I've ever taxied that fast before) and crossed the big runway before another plane landed and got to the gate plenty early.

It was my first time flying from FNT, but a very good experience. On the return (NW metal via DTW -- all the first-class jet flying comfort you can absorb during a 13-minute flight), I was able to get from my seat on the plane to my seat in the car in about 2 minutes or less ($5.50 long-term parking right outside the terminal).