Has anyone taken a flight within Ecuador? Any experience flying Tame or Saeta airlines? I'm considered a round trip flight from Quito to Manta.

Hi,
I have flown on Tame and Saeta within Ecuador and they are pretty horrible airlines but the flights are very short. The most important thing for you to do is get to the airport way in advance of your flight because the lines tend to be chaotic and the airline personnel very inefficient. They also have a tendency to give away your seat and there is not much you can do about it. On the positive side you'll be in Manta in under an hour.

Just got back from Equador yesterday. Took Tame' airlines from Guayaquil to Galapagos and back. The plane is not bad, but they do seem to like to try the Latin "drop from the sky" method of landing 727's that jar your teeth. I'm alive and home safely, and had a great trip. Just be glad you can get a flite in the Galapagos as they seem to land and take off when they feel like it. Schedules are a moot point. Don't plan a connection out of the area the same day as you can arrive on the mainland at noon or 5, depending on the mystery of the scheduling. Even the locals don't get it!

Deloris

Very good advice about Tame airlines and their schedule.
Our flight back to Quito from the Galapagos was ran inot ?engine problem in Guayaquil, so we went back to our yacht to spend more time and watched some terrific movies on the Galapagos..one wasentitled "Darwins Finches".
Then we got the call to head to the airport again and finally we left at 1:30PM as opposed to 10 Am.

My flight back home was not leaving until 11:45PM so I was okay ,but many other had a mid afternooon flight and had to spend the nightin Quito and then start making arrangments as to how to get back home !!!!

So all you Galapagos Travellers listen to Deloris.do NOT book a same day flight to go back home unless it is almost midnight like mine was.

I could tell you that for local flights ,Ecuador has one of South Americas most abysmal safety records.

I could that you that( which is true) but I won't because I do not want to scare you.!!

Percy

Ecuador is indeed 'an adventure in flight'.
A friend and I once waited 3 long hours for a flight down from Quito to Guayaquil.
Upon boarding we found that 3 'men in suits' had commandeered the exit seats we had reserved.
In less than polite Mexican styled Spanish I demanded they cough the seats up NOW!!
MUEVETE!!!
AHORITA!!!
They did and so started a wave of people struggling to claim what was actually written on their tickets instead of just jamming themselves in anywhere Ecuadoran stylee.
When another suited oil goon proclaimed that tourists were 'messing up the system' I shot back in Spanish 'tourists are human too"!
The resultant laughter-half at my Gringo Spanish/half at the goon for being a boor smoothed things over and the rest of flight was short and sweet.
Without some Spanish though it would have been even more of a trial.

You go, Sam!
Spanish came in very handy for me too!
Mostly in a friendly and positive manner.
The mid week day new passengers were joining our ship, we sat on the deck, cold beer in hand and watched their plane fly IN at 3:50PM and out at 4:30PM.
It was scheduled to fly OUT at !0:30 AM.
Fortunately ours was on time, but we had smash but not crash landings! Aye yi yi!!
Just comidas for thought!!

We flew TAME from Quito to the Galapagos in May. We had a very old 727 on the way over and a brand new Airbus on the way back. Amazingly both flights departed and arrive exactly on schedule. I found the airline staff in both Quito and the Galapagos very professional and the boarding process well organized. I was expecting much worse and was pleasantly surprised. Both of our flights were quite full and we were instructed to take our assigned seats.

A wealth of free information on internal Ecuador Flights can be found at http://www.turisvision.com/tours/flights/domestic.htm

This webpage has constantly updated flight itineraries and rates on all Ecuador Internal (Domestic) Flights.

This is also one of the few (if not the only) place to book those flight online.

All this for free of course!.