Salt Spring Island Air

I had a fantastic experience with Salt Spring Air. Booking online was simple and I received a confirmation email within 24 hours, as promised. When I wrote with questions about scheduling and luggage they were quick to respond and pleasant when they did. Check in was quick and easy, and all the staff I encountered, from reception to be pilot, were personable and friendly.
And then the flight itself! I flew from Ganges to Vancouver airport this morning — my first flight on a float plane! We boarded from the dock, which was fun all on its own. Luggage was brought from the office to the dock for us and loaded into a compartment under the plane. Once the five passengers were seated in the plane, the pilot gave us the necessary speech about safety and emergency exits, which I will admit to paying more attention to than usual as it was all new to me. Lifejackets were pointed out, headsets (necessary, as little planes are really really loud) were distributed, and then we were off! It’s worth doing this once just for the view! We arrived safe and sound in Richmond and were shuttled to YVR by complimentary taxi.
We were about ten minutes later than by anticipated — someone on my flight had a year’s worth of luggage — but I still had plenty of time, so I didn’t really care.
A final note: the other way to get to the airport from Salt Spring is to take the ferry to the mainland, then the bus to the sky train, and the sky train to the airport. A travel time of 4 hours or so. I did it on the way over. That way is cheaper (bus = 2.50, ferry = 17 $, compared with my flight which was $ 97 after taxes) but wastes hours of your life and leaves so much room for error. If I’m ever leaving SSI and trying to make a flight on van, I will absolutely fly Salt Spring Air.

It’s a nice flight, as good as the other companies that do the routes from downtown to the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island.
Very accommodating pilots and a very cute little shack-​for-​an-​office at the Vancouver dock (it’s by the Westin Bayshore). They were especially helpful with my travelling companion, who’s in a wheelchair, though the ramp at Maple Bay is dangerously short. And the «non-​slip» rubber on it has worn down, so it’s actually much more slippery than if they just had it on raw wood.
They charged her $ 20 for the wheelchair because they said it’d need its own seat. It didn’t. It fit just fine in the regular luggage compartment and actually took less space than a regular-​sized suitcase. That kind of pissed me off.
What’s frustrating, though, is they’re never able to tell you what time your plane will arrive. Even on the same day! I was flying from Maple Bay (Duncan) to Vancouver and asked the pilot if we were stopping anywhere en route to Vancouver (like Ganges or YVR) and thus delaying arrival at Vancouver. He said that yes, we’d be stopping at both Ganges AND YVR. So I told the person who was picking me up that I wouldn’t be in for 90 minutes. But we never did stop at YVR, so I just sat around for a half-​hour waiting for my ride.
I really don’t get why they can’t tell me what order they’re doing the flights in, or at the least what stops they will have on the flight day.