I’m thinking of visiting some fam in Prescott, AZ, and there are flights on Great Lakes airlines out of Ontario, CA, to Prescott Municipal airport. It would be much more direct than trying to get to the nearest large city, Flagstaff, and then taking a bus for 50 miles or expecting the cousins to drive that far for a pick-up.
Great Lakes has two turboprops–a 19-seater and a 30-seater. What is it like to fly on these things?
Well, it’s a bit like flying! 
Horizon Air operates [del]de Havilland[/del] Bombardier Dash-8s. I’ve flown with them several times. United used to fly Embraers from the same airport, but they’re gone now. I prefer the Dash-8 because the high wings give a better view. I also like watching the landing gear come up. Compared to a pure jet, they’re a little noisier. The seats are also not as comfortable. Not that the seats in airliners are comfortable. The well-used seats in a Dash-8 remind me of the well-used seats in a '70s Cessna. You feel more turbulence in a smaller aircraft than a larger one. Partly this is because the smaller planes fly lower, in the weather. Partly it is because large jets have long and flexible wings ti absorb some of the shock. Since turboprops have fewer seats, loading takes less time. For whatever reason, people don’t seem to grok the idea that airline seats are numbered sequentially, that stowing baggage is really a simple matter, that the way to remember how to sit down is ‘Bend in the middle’, and that while they’re standing in the aisle nobody can get to his seat. But it’s quicker on a 19-seat aircraft than one that hold a hundred or more.
Given the choice, I’d go for the turboprop. As a (lapsed) pilot, I like being in an airplane instead of a bus. Turbulence makes me smile. I like the view. I like the ease of getting on and off. If I were to really be given a choice, I’d fly myself in a four-seat piston single. It might take longer (actually, it can take less time depending on the length of the trip, where the airports are, what the security queue is like, etc.) and much more expensive. But it would definitely be more fun.
The salient points are that you feel the turbulence more, and it’s loud. I’d recommend having earplugs along with you, especially if you have sensitive ears.
Other than that, it’s the same as any small commuter aircraft–the seats are pretty tiny.
What Johnny said, although I’m no pilot of any sort. I’ve flown many times as a passenger on Beech 1900s (18 seats) on local hops flown by a regional airline, and while there may be a bit of turbulence, it’s true that they are quick to load and unload, and the view is terrific.
Why not fly to Phoenix?
I hate turboprops. I flew on one from Charlotte to Knoxville one time. Hated the thing, my ears were stopped up for an entire day.
Phoenix is even farther from Prescott than Flagstaff is.
I’m sure if I just bring some headphones or earplugs, I could handle the noise. The turbulence is another issue but I guess I could deal.
Thanks for the info, folks.
Horizon Air used to fly the 80-seater bombardier to Prescott from L.A. but that is no longer an option, I hear.
Did you valsalva?
Is it similar to the rhumba?
Dad went from a Navion (6-cylinder, normally aspirated, boxer lycoming) to a Piper Saratoga (Turbocharged 6 cylinder lycoming.)
The turboprop pulled harder. 
It colored my experience with commercial commuter-class airplanes. They’re louder than jets, but MUCH quiter than the Navion was.
Remember, aviation has a perfect record: We’ve never left anyone up there.
Went from Knoxville, to DC and back 6 times, I always liked them.
This thread brings back memories. When I was a kid in the early 70s the airport in Erie PA serviced Allegheny Airlines and they used Convair 580s like this one.
I was an airplane nut, and in those days you could walk right out to the gate not 50’ from the plane and watch the passengers board. I can still see those big props rev up to full throttle and feel the wind blast on my face and deafening noise as they taxied off. What fun, kids today are missing a lot.
I’ve flown on them from Grand Junction to Denver and (usually) back several times. The first time I saw one my reaction was " I didn’t know MicroMachines made airplanes!".
I get sick on them, even if it’s only an hour flight. Ginger will help if you get motion sickness. And they ARE loud! IME, they seem to get grounded due to snowstorms more than jets. Getting grounded in Denver means it’s usually faster to take the bus or rent a car back to GJT. I got grounded once in Denver; United said they couldn’t get us on another flight for two days. We drove.
I was trying to be funny. I probably damaged my ears by doing that maneuver.
Some people can’t pop their ears, too. I have “incompetent Eustachian tubes”, which is really quite a cruel thing to say to them.
It has been a while since I flew in one, but it seems like in addition to feeling the turbulence more, the turbulence itself was a little different, at least in the storms we flew through. In addition to the normal bumping up and down you get in a jet, there was some more side-to-side and twisting action going on.
Never lown in one, but work at an airport.
Those suckers are noisey!!!
Really noisey.
I envy all you turboprop veterans! Small jets like the DC-9 and Boeing 737s and 727s pushed the props and turboprops almost entirely out of the market in California by the early 1960s. At different times of my life I’ve made countless short puddle-jump flights within the state, and never once have I set foot in a turboprop. It always amazed me to see them at the gates whenever I happened to pass through an Eastern or Midwestern airport.
Once we flew from Santa Barbara to San Francisco, and the flight was supposed to use a turboprop of some kind, an Embraer perhaps. But the airline ended up combining two flights and using a 737 instead.
I’ve flown on a bunch of turbprops, in the USA and elswhere, and have no problem with the aircraft themselves; my only concern is that when flying locally overseas, older turboprops in this day and age tend to be emblematic of third-world economics and maintenance standards. I hasten to say that this will certainly not be not be a problem with the operation the OP plans to fly on.
Types I recall having flown in:
ATR-72
Convair 580 (my first flight ever, at about age 12)
De Havilland Canada (DHC) Twin Otter (my personal favorite)
DHC Dash 7, Dash 8
Embraer Bandierante
Fairchild-Swearingen Metroliner
Fokker F27
Pilatus Turbo-Porter (my other favorite, got a front-seat ride one time)
Saab 340
Beech 1900 (my personal least favorite)
Everyone else has hit the main points: possibly higher noise levels, more susceptibility to turbulence, more scenic due to flying at lower altitudes. Seeing the props churning away a few feet from one’s seat can be disconcerting. Still, overall, I like 'em.