Rust’s Flying Service

Don’t fall into this bear trap ! They have pics of bears on their website but where they’re authorized to land the bears have disappeared. Not sure why but some locals say the bears are tired of Rusts tourists and have found better fishing spots upstream which isn’t accessible. In our 6 hour tour we did not see a single bear and this was peak season. The bears aren’t there anymore.
These guys are overpriced and totally worthless.
To top that the front desk guy (big guy who manages their shop) is extremely rude and nasty. If you aren’t white he treats you like crap. Even if you’re white his attitude isn’t much better.
Drive a couple hours south, Seward or Whittier, and take tours from there, much cheaper and high chances of bear watching.
Rust is a huge expensive disappointment.

I took the Denali tour and it was well worth the time and money. The flight showcased everything from the bustle around Anchorage to the large expanses of land populated only by moose, eagles, bears and other wildlife. The flight through the mountain passes and amongst the peaks is not something I’ll forget. We overflew climbers working their way up Denali, as well as glaciers and moraine before landing for a stop on Swan Lake where a bald eagle surveyed everything from its perch at the top of a tree.
The flight was fun, informative and enjoyable. One of the other passengers in my plane used a wheelchair and they got him in and out of the plane efficiently. All in all, a great time!

One of the best things we have done. We booked a Denali tour, they checked the weather and told us before we left that clouds would likely obscure the peak. We discussed options about what to see, we chose to continue our planned flight. Even without seeing the peak, it was outstanding.
Peter was great in answering our questions and showing us Alaska. He took the time to calm our fears about flying and warning us if he expected any bumpy parts. There weren’t many bumps, much smoother than we expected.
We can’t imagine trying to see Denali any other way, we will be back for a different tour.

Friendly staff. Too bad they dont do hotel pick ups in winter. Well worth every penny spenfor the flight seeing trip. Went upclose to Mckinley and landed on 2 frozen lakes. Woot. Alaskan beauty from a different perspective.

On our first day ever in Alaska, we took a flightseeing tour flown by Bob — my first ride in a small plane. It had turned out that clouds were hanging over the area we’d originally planned to see, so Rust’s suggested we go in the other direction: west «into the wild» toward virtually untouched glaciers, where we landed on a lake. Bob’s take-​offs and landings were smooth as glass and, once on foot in the middle of nowhere, we found bear tracks. We also saw a moose and Beluga whales. A truly stellar, unforgettable experience.

This was really disappointing. We booked a 3-​hour flight at 10:00 AM that was supposed to land on a lake. They told us to arrive half an hour only, so we got there at 9:30 as requested. The gentleman at the counter said our pilot Scott was checking the weather for the flight. As a pilot myself, I do this before all of my flights as well. They said it would take him about half an hour which sounded fishy to me, but what can you do. We waited outside on a picnic bench for 15 minutes, then 30 minutes. 10:00 came and went with nothing. We saw another guy Scott who turned out to be our Scott taking another group away at our time. The guy inside said that Scott hadn’t landed yet which is why we were delayed. So first you tell me he’s briefing and now he just hasn’t landed when we saw him leave? Don’t lie now.
Our flight got underway at around 10:30, half an hour late. Well, actually, we didn’t take off because a water rudder connection snapped (a piece of string). The repair was completed around 10:50, and we were finally off. There really wasn’t much to see. Most of the flight consisted of me getting nauseous because of the steep banks we made to see bears and moose. That was cool but even when my mom mentioned she wasn’t feeling great we continued to do it. Scott was pretty good. He talked to me about my flying, told us some history, and made sure we saw some wildlife. He said it was too windy to land on the lake (understandable) so they would refund that part of the trip.
Overall, I left with a queazy and frustrated mind. I wouldn’t take a flight tour of Alaska and I certainly wouldn’t use Rust’s again.

I think our trip was a little less than the adventure we had hoped it would be. Weather permitted us to fly through a great canyon glacier which was definitely the highlight of the trip. Otherwise the majority of the trip was over flatland before we got to the mountains. If the pilot would not have been able to go through the canyon, the trip would have been very uneventful. We were also able to land on a lake for a short, short bit.
The flying service needs to make sure to replenish the vomit bags and have tissue and water available.
They are a relatively expensive adventure for what we experienced.

Rust’s was our chariot into the wilderness for some back-​country fishing, and we found them to be great to work with throughout the process.
We booked flights months in advance to get out into the Chugach National Forest, but when the day came, it was foggy and raining in Anchorage, foggy in the mountain pass, and raining in the little valley and lake we were flying into. Rust’s let us know early that they weren’t going to be able to fly us based on the weather and the forecast for the day, so we were able to spend the day around town. The next day dawned poorly, but when the weather lifted they were able to get us out on about 90 minutes notice, which was awesome (as was the flight itself, if there is a better way to see Alaska in all its glory than a sight-​seeing flight, I don’t know what it would be).
Then a day and a half before our scheduled flight out of the wilderness back to Anchorage we called to check the weather forecast, and it wasn’t good. On less than a day’s notice, they were able to come back out 12 hours early to pick us up before the weather moved in, and again we had a stunningly beautiful flight (but sure enough the weather was awful by the time we’d have been trying to fly back out at the original time).
On top of their flexibility, everyone we dealt with, from the reservations folks, to the shuttle driver that picked us up from the hotel, to the baggage handlers and our awesome pilot was friendly and professional.
I wouldn’t fly with anyone else next time, but the weather is unpredictable, so you’ve got to take it in stride like they do!

On our flight out, we were delayed (ultimately for six hours) by weather, but Willis (the flight manager?) did a great job keeping us apprised of what he knew and what we could expect. When we knew it would be a while before the weather would clear, Willis arranged for us to be driven to a local restaurant for lunch and then to a hotel /​pub so we could be more comfortable during our wait.
When we did fly, John (one of their pilots) took the four of us in a Beaver (upgraded from a smaller float plane) through pretty rough weather because they really wanted to get us to our lodge (and get the four outbound passengers from the lodge back to Anchorage) in safety.
John didn’t have much attention to spare for explaining what little we could see (he was busy on the radio making sure to avoid the worst of the weather and the other air traffic — there was no air traffic control guiding the planes around; the pilots had to do it all themselves), but John still did a great job tending to the four of us.
While the weather cleared up as we got to Finger Lake and the Winter Lake Lodge, it’s still a float plane and it still lands on water — so I was expecting a bit of an adventurous landing. No such thing. John’s landing was amazing!
So, the above descriptions would have been enough for five stars… but the return trip was even better!
This time the weather was perfect. Our pilot, Stu, on learning that we had not yet seen Denali (and we had even been in the Denali National Park and hadn’t seen it), he flew out of his way to give my wife a chance to snap a picture or two out an open window on the right side of the plane. How cool is that? Oh, and for Stu’s landing, I did not even feel the plane land… it was that smooth.
All around, these folks are tops in our book.
Many thanks to everyone at Rust’s.

We had a terrible experience with Rust’s in June and told management about it so they’d have a chance to rectify the situation. They absolutely do not care. We were told they’d get back to us «either later today or tomorrow». We have sent numerous emails and voicemails with no response. This is definitely not the way to run a first-​class business. This company has gotten way too big for their britches and is totally about $$ and not customer service.

We were so excited about flightseeing in a float plane and Rust’s did not let us down. We had to reschedule because of the weather, but when we got to go this morning, it was a fabulous time! If you’ve never been on a float plane, you have got to put this on your Anchorage must-​do list. It was so cool. The lake was the run way! Our pilot, Pete, was great and the flight was so much fun. I can’t believe I’m saying that even though we had to watch this poor gal from Belgium be sick. At least the airflow was good. Anyways, that’s besides the point. (Although, if someone starts out the flight talking about being scared of heights and looking for the vomit bag, that might be a bad sign).
We took the wilderness and glacier tour and had a grand old time! We saw moose, one black bear, a whole group of sheep, some birds (I wasn’t listening about that part), and a bunch of beluga whales. We also saw three different glaciers. The view of Colony glacier and the one next to it was absolutely breathtaking. Gosh Alaska is gorgeous. Pete was really knowledgeable and it was a smooth flight for being such a small little airplane on a windy day. What an adventure!