BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. (WBOY) – Tickets for flights on North Central West Virginia Airport’s newest airline partner, Contour Airlines, are now available for purchase. Here’s what you need to know if you plan to travel on the new airline.

What to expect ticket-wise

The flights will start operating on Dec. 1, 2022, and will take you directly to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina; from Charlotte, travelers can connect with destinations across the globe, from Hawaii to London. Prior to the Contour start date, a flight from Clarksburg to Charlotte may require several stops and several times the cost.

The flights to Charlotte will be an estimated one hour and 35 minutes and available almost every single day after Dec. 1. One-way flights start at $43.40, but most round-trip flights will cost $98. The partnership between North Central West Virginia Airport and Contour Airlines will last three years, and tickets for up to a year away are now available on Contour’s website.

Baggage Policy

In general, Contour Airlines does allow for one free carry-on bag and one free personal item while traveling. According to Contour’s website, bags must be 22 x 14 x 9 inches or smaller, and items must fit under your seat. Diaper bags, child safety seats, strollers and medical or mobility devices don’t count as your bag or personal item. 

If you have no checked bags, Contour recommends allowing 45 minutes between connecting flights, and if you do have checked bags, it recommends allowing 90 minutes. If you fly with one of Contour’s partner airlines, they do the checked bag transfer behind the scenes for you, according to the website.

Contour’s baggage policy states that, “if you have checked bags and are connecting from Contour to another airline at the same airport, you must retrieve your items from baggage claim, check them with your airline, and be re-screened by TSA before proceeding to the departure gate,” and vice versus. But this only applies if you are transferring from non-partner airlines, including DL, Spirit and JetBlue.

Other flights from CKB

If you want to take a direct flight from the Clarksburg airport in Bridgeport, flights to Tampa and Orlando, Florida are also available. Direct flights to PIE in Tampa will be available on Mondays and Fridays starting in October, and direct flights to SFB in Orlando will be available on Sundays and Thursdays starting in September. Both of these routes will be available through Allegiant, which started a partnership with CKB earlier this year.

Formerly, SkyWest Airlines was the source of international connecting flights for CKB with flights to ORD in Chicago, and it will continue to serve until Contour’s start date this winter.