New airline GOWAIR

I don't suppose there are any genuine Air Maroc flights from Marseille to Casablanca, are there? Marrakech is only a few hours from Casablanca.

I'm sure that substitute flight will be fine, but it's the sort of thing I'd never book. I got switched to a commuter line on a domestic trip in January, and I called the airline and insisted on being put back on a flight it was operating itself.

Thank you so much for your advice. I did check flights via Casablanca but they are much more complicated. There is a possibility of taking Royal Air Maroc to Casablanca and then another flight to Marrakech but we arrive at midnight.

I called Royal Air Maroc and they said their crew and pilot are all Royal Air Maroc staff and it's only the plane that they use from GOWAIR.

Do not worry. This happens all the time for many reasons. We recently saw something like this on the wrongway flight from London to Edinburgh to Dusseldorf. (Though that is a rare example.)

With the grounding of Boeing 737 Max and airlines getting more airport slots than they have aircraft to scheduled aircraft maintenance, the airlines have to sometimes lease aircraft to fill routes. These leased aircraft are safe as they have to live up to the same standards as any other EU based airline (It's Spanish.) In most cases you wouldn't even know that another company was flying the route until you got to the airport.

Most of the time these leased aircraft are leased "wet" meaning they come with crew.

Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to take the flight.

Oh, I wouldn't worry about the source of the plane. It's having an experienced pilot I care about!

How have you known over the years of flying how experienced the pilot was?

The more experienced pilots filter up to the main airlines because they pay better. Some of the folks working on the commuter lines have much less experience and are comparatively poorly paid. Remember the commuter-line crash in Buffalon about 10 years ago, after which it was discovered the co-pilot had commuted by plane from many hours away, slept in an office at the airport (or something like that), then boarded the plane without adequate rest? I think she was earning less than $30,000 a year. Who would stay in a job like that if they had a choice?

PBS's Frontline program had an episode, called "Flying Cheap" in 2010. The script is online.

The more experienced pilots filter up to the main airlines because they pay better.

Not necessarily. For many years there was a glut of pilots and the majors weren't hiring. In fact, the major put pilots on furlough. So some pilots stayed with the regional airlines and gained lots of experience. After 20 years on a regional, a captain can make well over $100,000/year. And many are based in smaller, less expensive cities.

Now, there is a shortage of pilots. I could have sworn on my regional flight a few weeks ago the first officer was about 16.

$100,000 plus a year living in a rural area, say West Virginia, and you would have a nice, big house and yard.

In Washington D.C. the cost of homes and living is about double that of West Virginia. A home of our size and quality in Hicksville would be 2.5 - 3 times as much in a major city.

It's hard to buy a condominium apartment in a convenient part of the Washington DC area for much less than $300,000. And I'm talking about a small, one-bedroom place. If it's a high-rise building, the parking spot would probably be extra. I don't own a car, so I don't keep up with the value of parking places, but we're certainly talking about tens of thousands of dollars. And then you have monthly condo fees that can be really substantial.