Department ofTransportation Docket Operations. M 30 West Building Ground Floor Room W12-140 1200 New JerseyAvenue, SE Washington, D.C. 20590
Docket Operations Decision Makers,
We are very unhappy with the situation with our current EAS service. Itwas a forgone conclusion two years ago when we had to switch our EAS carrierto Gulf Stream (Silver Airways), thatour ridership would fall, and we would be in jeopardy of loosing our EAS service.
We moved back to Lewistown in the summer of 2006from Colorado. We had used the Great Lakes flights back and forth to Denver a lot. Both my husband and Itraveled back and forth, and our children, who still live in Colorado, also flew back and forth frequently. During the lasttwo years of EAS service only to Billings, we have resorted to hitching rides to Billings, and driving ourselvesto Bozeman, and/or Great Falls tofly to Denver.
Just lastweek, I made a reservation toflyto Denverfrom Bozeman. The flight I chose on Frontier cost $200 less than a United flight out ofGreat Falls, and $125 lessthan a United flight out of Billings. Itwill cost $26 dollars extrato drive back and forth to Bozeman than to Great Falls, and I can park for free at my in-laws while I am gone. The "seasonal" service Frontier provides out of Great Falls doesn't start soon enough for me totake advantage ofthe hour less driving time to getthere vs Bozeman.
When we had Great Lakes service from Lewistown to Denver, we spent at leastfour less hours getting to and from Denver, and any connecting flights to other parts ofthe country were significantly cheaperthan going out of Billings. The Great Lakes flights were atconvenienttimes, affordable and we could parkforfree atthe Lewistown airport. My husband's sisters live in the midwest. When his mother had hip replacement surgery, theywere able to connectthrough Denverwith the Great Lakes flights. We could leave vehicle keys atthe airportfor his sisters who were coming in to care for her post surgery. We were not here when they arrived, yettheywere able to getthemselvesfrom the airportto the hospital with no inconvenience for anyone outside the family. Both these sisters have children who live outofstate also. They can fly to Lewistown a Jot cheaperthrough Denver, and they don't have to rent vehicles to get them from any ofthe bigger airports to Lewistown. It makes visiting family here in Lewistown a lot more userfriendly and likely, because the costs and inconveniences are less. Ithink we also had people driving to Lewistown from Great Fallsto use the much less expensive flights to Denver and take advantage ofthe free parking.
It made absolutely no sense to switch carriers, especially a carrier whose pilots and service crews had no experience flying in the weather conditions Montana has duringour winter months. From my recollection, we were promised all kinds of better options from Gulf Stream during the bidding process, but none ofthem were useful to the customers who frequented the former Great Lakes flights to Denverfrom Lewistown. I recently puttogether a list of 15families who have ties to Colorado who would once again use the EAS service ifwe have Great Lakesflights to Denver. I am sure there are many more that I am not familiarwith.
I sincerely hope you will use the ridership numbers from the**2009~201**0 years to make your decision on removing Lewistown's EAS service. They more accurately reflect the use ofthe EAS service in Lewistown, and we surely do benefit as a community from having a more userfriendly option available to us. Sincerely,

Dana Leininger 1015 Lower Cottonwood Creek Road Lewistown, Montana 59457
Phone:**406~538~3167**