Advanced Air is a newcomer to the commercial service side of the industry, being awarded the contract from Boutique Air in 2018. I recently flew on a cross-country Essential Air Service Journey, evaluating every EAS airline in great detail. I will provide a comprehensive review of my experience from booking to arrival. My first segment was on Advanced Air from Phoenix to Albuquerque via Silver City. Their web site recently received a major upgrade and shows off all the different markets they serve. In addition to EAS and charters, Advanced operates flights for Surf Air (membership based services using the PC-12 in Texas and California) and Taos Air (Ski resort town in Taos, New Mexico with four destinations in CA/TX). The booking tool was easy to navigate and the calendar showed the fares for each day. It should be noted that Advaned only uses two fare classes, refundable and non-refundable. Therefore, tickets will usually be more expensive than alternative transportation. The ticket cost about $174 all the way thru to ABQ. The web site noted that Advanced operates out of Swift Aviaton (FBO separate from the main terminal), so I would need a shuttle to get from Terminal 4 two hours before departure. Due to scheduling, I was arriving about 90 minutes before departure in Terminal 3. Fortunately, a quick call to the Phoenix location advised that they would run the shuttle up to 30 minutes before departure, but I would still have to transfer to Terminal 4. Online check in only opens two hours before departure, so I had to wait until I got to the FBO to check in. Once I arrived to Terminal 4, I called the shuttle number and waited about 20 minutes for the van to arrive. Advanced uses the same FBO as JSX, although JSX has their own holding area, and I was offered snacks and drinks while I was waiting to board. There was no formal boarding announcement but passengers began following a pilot out and I was told by the CSA we were ready to board. No boarding pass was ever handed out for either flight, which I found to be interesting. The King Air 350 is a long twin turbo prop aircraft. The ceiling is very low (lower than I expected) and I sat at the last row (open seating policy). The operating PIC was in training and the trainer did the safety briefing. Seats are quite comfortable, however, my legs were practically inside of the legs of the person in front of me (we were both over 6'), which was very uncomfortable. The King Air is also set in a double club configuration (all rows face each other essentially). There was a very long hold for the ground (typical of IOE flights) and we taxied out and held in the ramp doing engine runs. Ultimately, we were only running about 15 minutes behind schedule. The departure was a little bumpy but once we got our of Phoenix weather it was smooth sailing. Advanced King Air's have very comfortable padding, and a small controller for electronically controlling the window shading, seat warmers and even XM radio (only couple channels, barely audible). The flight was very uneventful, no wifi available on board or in flight service. It was a very turbulent arrival into Silver City. After arrival, everyone deplaned and we waited in the small terminal for the continuation onto Albuquerque. As we were about to board, I noticed a small plane that was stuck on the runway with the pilot standing outside. We still boarded and taxied out. However, our pilot turned around and said "Folks, a plane crashed on the runway so we have to go back!" We deplaned and the CSA provided snacks and drinks as we waited for more news. Very little information was provided about a timeline, which made me nervous as I had a connection to my next EAS carrier in Albuquerque. State police and the airport manager investigated the aircraft and after three long hours, the plane was moved off. We boarded and informed that due to a buildup of thunderstorms, the en route time will be longer than normal. We took off to Albuquerque and went around a lot of large storm cells. Similar to Silver City, our approach into Albuquerque was very bumpy but we made a safe landing. In all three locations, there was little to no face mask compliance (which is still a federal policy), however, most people wore them on board the aircraft. Overall, the customer service exceeded expectations but the on board service was quite lacking and uncomfortable. This was certainly not a 'First Class Experience', but I enjoyed trying out a new aircraft type and exploring new places. I am excited to watch Advanced grow and continue to improve the passenger experience! read more