TRIP REPORT - Air Choice One (Cessna 208B), St. Louis to Chicago (ORD)

This is, without a doubt, one of the most unusual itineraries I've ever arranged. This is going to be a little long-winded, but worth reading. Let me tell you the story of how this strange flight came to be. Back in January, I was invited to a conference up in Chicago. Lodging was included, but transportation was not. I thought I'd switch things up and take Amtrak to save money. My plan was to shoot my first ever train trip report, but things quickly got derailed (nice pun, I know). Less than a week out, I ran into a schedule conflict that meant I had to push my trip up to Chicago back by one day. Thankfully the Amtrak ticket was refundable, but the trains that worked with my schedule the next day were sold out. Of course, the big airlines that fly STL-Chicago (American, Southwest, and United) were charging tons of money since the date was less than a week away. Parking can cost upwards of $30/night in Chicago, so driving wasn't an option. I was about to cancel the whole trip when I came up with an idea. Essential Air Service carriers charge a flat rate, meaning that they don't raise their prices as planes fill up or dates get closer. I decided to check if one of the two EAS carriers in St. Louis (Air Choice One and Cape Air) offered connecting tickets to Chicago. As it turns out, Air Choice One actually does! If you aren't familiar with Essential Air Service, it's a program run by the federal government that subsidizes flights to small cities that couldn't otherwise support air service. These flights typically connect passengers to larger airports (like St. Louis and O'Hare) where they can connect to flights on other airlines. In my case, I booked a ticket from St. Louis to O'Hare that stopped in a small town called Decatur, Illinois along the way. The point of the flight is (in theory) to get people in and out of Decatur, but Air Choice One routes their planes to go from STL-DEC-ORD and ORD-DEC-STL so they can allow people to stay onboard in Decatur and travel all the way between St. Louis and Chicago as well. It's not a well-known service and the fares are subsidized (in other words, cheap). I found my solution. And as it turns out, this solution allowed me to take my first ever propellor plane flight out of St. Louis. It also meant that I got to land at the world's second-busiest airport in a single engine Cessna! And to top it off, Air Choice One's staff is nothing short of awesome and made the trip lots of fun. I saved the trip and made it more fun at the same time!
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