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Browsing Tag: Phoenix Sky Harbor

Flying Abroad – Giving the Smaller Airports Some Love Too!

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A British Airways Boeing 747-400 – Photo: Cory W Watts | Flickr CC

I think of my nearest airport as the world’s biggest little airport. Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) serves the 12th-largest metro area in the country, yet its only intercontinental flight is a daily British Airways 747-400 to London Heathrow (LHR). The laundry list of reasons to explain this doesn’t make the situation any more palatable when I book a long-haul flight ’¦ and have to go through Los Angeles, Chicago, or San Francisco. I even get envious when I see the international flights from cities like Portland, Seattle, or even Charlotte.

Often overlooked, there are many great international options are smaller airports. There are benefits like being less busy, parking is cheaper, and it provides a little different experience. I started researching long-haul flights that would let me skip the big airports as much as possible. Here’s what I learned:

Flyers, Rejoice! American CRJ200s Being Replaced By E-175s

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An American Eagle CRJ-200 taxiing at LAX, with a new Embraer 175 following. Photo: John Nguyen | AirlineReporter

An American Eagle CRJ200 taxiing at LAX, with an Embraer 175 following – Photo: John Nguyen | AirlineReporter

Let’s face it… the 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200 isn’t very popular.  At all.  You’ll find countless articles and blogs about how much flyers dread flying in it, and how all-around terrible the experience was.  Complaints were numerous: claustrophobic cabin, tiny overhead bins that fit only the smallest of carry-on bags, no first class, inoperable lavatories, and so on. This wasn’t limited to just one airline either; CR2s are found in the regional fleets for most of the major U.S. airlines.  Coincidentally, many of them are operated under contract by the same regional carrier, SkyWest Airlines.

Does the CR2 deserve its bum rap? Maybe, maybe not (but probably).  For some passengers, however, there is hope just over the horizon…