My husband and I were staying in Vegas for a week. I have never seen the Grand Canyon but could not justify being so close and not seeing it. However a 4 hour car drive was not setting well with the husband. After a little online research I found Papillion/ Grand Canyon Airlines. Once booked, we discover that they are a collaboration company. I confirmed our trip with Papillion and were picked up by the Papillion tour bus from our hotel right on time. Then we proceeded to Boulder city to the Grand Canyon Airline airport where we checked in and were give color coded cards. Within an 30-45 minutes we were escorted to our plane and ready to go. The ride was a little ruff as it was a breezy day. Most of the passengers were a little green when we arrived at the Canyon Airport. Best way to combat this is to look straight ahead at the cock pit instead of looking out the window until the wave of nausea passes. I also packed a granola bar in my purse this helped settle my husband and I stomach once we DE boarded the plane and had two feet firmly planted on the ground. Otherwise the pilots were awesome and did their jobs very well.
When we landed at the Canyons airport we were taken into a little shop to wait for the coach bus. After using the restroom we loaded the bus and continued. Daniel our driver prepaid admission to the park to avoid the long 4th of July holiday travel lines getting into the park. This was great because otherwise we would have been waiting for hours to get thought the entry gates leaving us very little time to see the two sites we were scheduled to stop at: Bright Angel and Mathers point. Daniel and Luya (Japaneese translator) were very informational and were a great hosts and driver. When de boarding the bus, we were provided a boxed lunch to eat while at Bright Angel. I was a little worried about this aspect of the trip because of the previous reviews; as to why I had the granola bars. My husband and I found a great secluded spot off the point by the lower Lookout Studio went down the steps to eat lunch on the flat rock. Much to our surprise when we opened the lunch boxed they were packed full: A croissant turkey sandwich, granola bar, cheese stick, water, chips and an apple. The sandwich was good and the rest was cold. We were very pleased with the lunch provided. So it appears they have read the reviews and improved their lunch boxes. After about an hour and a half or two hours (I can't remember, but it was enough time to see it all and check out the Hopi House) at Bright Angel we continued on our way to Mather's point where we spent the same amount of time and took our picture with the park sign. My husband I arrived a little early back to the bus so we started talking to Daniel and LUya. Daniel had some great stories to share about his years in the business and his personal travels within the Canyons.
After everyone returned at the designated time we returned to the canyon airport to board our plane back to Bolder city. Unfortunately, when we arrived back we were not informed that we needed to visit the Las Vegas transportation kiosks within the airport to acquire a colored slip that would inform us of which bus to get on to go back to Vegas. After we seen a few members of our bus group from the coach leave I decided to ask and was informed that we needed to get this pass. So I informed our plane buddies of this information. After acquiring the right colored passes we soon boarded another bus to return to Vegas. A very short trip and we were back in Vegas. To our surprise the company was short on the smaller vans to split the group to return us to your according hotels so my husband and I along with two other couples were provided a free limo to take us to our hotel. A perfect end to a great day!
If you have read this far, I highly recommend this tour group for your view of the Grand Canyons.