It’s not unusual to see last minute aircraft swaps. Maybe you were scheduled to fly on a Boeing 737-800, and at the last minute, the plane is upgauged to a Boeing 737-900. However, that pales in comparison to what passengers in Russia recently experienced, when their passenger plane was swapped for a cargo plane, as flagged by aeroTELEGRAPH.
I suspect what’s really going on here is that Russian airlines have been under immense pressure in recent years, as they’ve been unable to secure parts for their massive Airbus and Boeing fleets, causing the planes to be grounded. As a result, airlines have increasingly been relying on “local” aircraft to operate flights, with absolutely no flexibility in their schedule.
So I assume the An-24 initially scheduled to operate the flight had some sort of an issue or was needed elsewhere, so this was the next best option.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
