[Rumball]

This charter airline leases fully serviced equipment and flies from points throughout the northeast and north midwest to southern destinations like Myrtle Beach and Florida. It is growing. Its prices, when discounts are offered, are cheap.

We flew out of Niagara Falls aboard this airline twice in the past year, to Florida. There were problems. The first return flight in December '09 was uneventful, and only slightly delayed.

But the second flight from Niagara, in March '10, was delayed more than 8 hours. After initial boarding which was slightly delayed it was discovered (reportedly) that a cargo door would not open. It could not be repaired quickly. A replacement aircraft was called for, but since this charter airline does not have its own aircraft, that seemed to mean "borrowing" an aircraft from another major airline for the night. That aircraft was supposedly flown in from Miami. It was smaller than the craft it was replacing, and so not all the passengers could even fit. Therefore Direct Air offered to fly a few volunteers out of Buffalo aboard another airline the next day. Those volunteers (only) were also offered free vouchers for a future return flight aboard Direct Air.

The return flight from Florida two and a half weeks later was also delayed.....about 10 hours!! Instead of arriving in Niagara Falls around 5pm, it arrived at Buffalo airport well after midnight. Then passengers were bussed to Niagara Airport. What a nightmare!! Significantly, NO COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER WAS OFFERED TO US FOR THIS MAJOR FOUL-UP!! Neither delay was caused by weather. It appeared to us this airline's leased equipment is not new, and has issues.

I think Direct Air could have done a much better job of offering to compensate aggrieved passengers for the inconvenience it caused. But there was no effort. Perhaps Direct Air doesn't feel it has much by way of goodwill that is worth the effort to salvage?