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The preceding flight from Sacramento to Salt Lake City went without indecent. Our arrival was at 8:50am from Sacramento and we had a little over than a 2-hour layover. Normally we would find an airport lounge somewhere and enjoy some quiet tie until our next flight. In Salt Lake City the only lounge is the habitually crowded Delta Sky Club, and so we decided to split our time and also have a leisurely breakfast at Cat Cora’s Kitchen restaurant.
Introduction: Yellowstone for Labor Day
Review: Delta Regional Short-haul Coach Salt Lake City to West Yellow Stone
Review: Old Faithful Inn Suite
Review: Delta Regional Short-haul Coach West Yellow Stone to Salt Lake City
Additional Thoughts: Yellowstone National Park
Cat Cora’s Kitchen lower concourse B
Busy Friday morning in the beehive state
Cat Cora’s Kitchen is located Concourse B, lower level. At Salt Lake City all the concourses are connected and usually a relatively short walk from one concourse to another. Breakfast was excellent, and afterward we stopped by the Delta Sky Club for a short visit on our way the gate. Again I reviewed the Salt Lake City Delta Sky Club on an earlier visit which can be read here (as well as link above). Our flight was leaving out of the E gates (E77) so 45 minutes before hand we left the club to walk to the Concourse E.
Salt Lake City Airport looks spread out, but can be traversed relativity quick
Delta Airlines 7412
Salt Lake City (SLC) – West Yellowstone(WYS)
Friday September 2nd, 2016
Departure Time: 11:00am
Arrival Time: 12:02pm
Flight Time: 1hr02min
Aircraft: Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-200
Seat: 02D, Regional Coach
Our flight today
The E concourses are setup for small regional aircrafts, and there is an elongated glass window encased corridor that is a part of the “permanent jetway”. After having your boarding pass scanned and passing through the gate door, you enter a small access corridor shared with the other gates in the vicinity. At the end of that is the entrance to the main corridor and that leads to all the “doors” which access the open tarmac for outdoor mobile-stair loading. It’s a non-typical setup and the only similar situation I’ve seen is the C concourse gates at Seattle for the Bombardier Q400s that Alaska Airlines flies. I would guess other airports use a similar situation for small regional jets, but again I’ve only seen it at Salt Lake City and Seattle. As you pass through the first leg of the main corridor you can see the construction for the terminal on the left had side.
Small access corridor
Door 23 for flight DL7412
First part of the main boarding corridor
Construction of the new terminal – view walking by
Second part of the main boarding corridor
At the end of the main corridor are doors 23 and 24. As you walk through the door you step onto the ramp and then up the mobile stairway. There were several CRJ aircraft parked at this end of the ramp. The weather was clear and we walked up the metal stairs and extension and into our plane. The Canadair Regional Jet CRJ-200 has 50 coach seats in 13 and 12 rows of double seats. There is no Delta Comfort+ seating and the seat width is 17″ with 31″ pitch. Not bad for a small regional. Upon entering the plane there was another individual taking pictures of the cabin and I had to laugh to myself. What are the odds of this on a little regional flight.
Another CRJ200
Walking on
Another enthusiast taking pictures
Across from 2D
2A and 2B
Double bench
Knee room
Susan and her daughter were 3A and 3B. The guy who sat down next to me had to be 6’6″, at least. He really had to scrunch up to fit in 2C. Fortunately it’s a short flight. Door close came at 10 minute before 11:00am; pushback was 5 minutes later and 5 minutes early. It took approximately 20 minute to get out to the runaway and prepare for takeoff, which went smooth. Another advantage of the little regional jets is how smooth takeoff and landings are. The weather was clear and it was a nice day to travel.
Frontier Airbus
No engine under that wing
Our flight was quick and the only service offered was a beverage and package snack (pretzels). I must have dozed off because before long we were making our initial decent into West Yellowstone. There were fires in some park locations and you could see them off in the distance. Our area was slightly overcast and beautiful as we descended our way to the airport.
Not a lot to look at coming into West Yellowstone
Another view
Coming down
Touchdown and landing was smooth. It was interesting location to travel into, in that West Yellowstone is an airport serviced by only a couple commercial flights a day by one carrier (Delta) for 5 months of the year. Not a lot here. It felt very rural and rustic. After 5 minutes the outside mobile staircase was in place and we deplaned onto the ramp. 12:08 which was 6 minutes late.
Once off the plane it was an immediate walk through the outdoor boarding area into the terminal building. We picked up the paperwork for our rental car and walked outside to front of the terminal building for luggage pickup. The airport building and services are simple and dated, and it feels like you’ve reached the not so distant past. There is a quaint and sweet quality about it.
Ann’s polka dot rollaboard was the first bag unloaded off the luggage cart. The rest of our bags were quickly unloaded, and soon afterward we had picked up the rental car and were driving to the park.
Our CRJ200 deplaning
Casual process
West Yellowstone’s one and only terminal building
Loved this sign
Boarding area
Main terminal hall and rental car desk
Empty ticket area
Ann’s bag was first off
In Summary:
Regional flights are often criticized for being cramped, hustled, and uncomfortable. But regional flights can also take you to those remote locations in your back yard – or off the beaten path. Delta did a nice job on this regional flight. This flight, though not service rich, was fast and comfortable for a 50 minutes in the air. From this airport we drove into Yellowstone National Park, which took only fifteen minutes. That was a luxury onto itself.
