FullCryHounds...
I respect your position and I have no doubt with your experience you know what your talking about.
For me.. being my first time I wanted as much information as possible in order to make the best decision. I researched this hunt for a year and half and spoke to several hunt consultant, one being from outdoors international. I spoke to several outfitters, transporters and recommendations from fellow hunters. I read two books, I spoke with the USFW service, as well as the biologist out of Kotz and countless hours on the interet.
You are right... I read and heard of horrible things going wrong with transporters and outfitters in Kotz. The whole key is making the right choice and hope the weather cooperates.
For me.. all the information I gathered pointed to a transporter and that would be Arctic Backcountry Flying Service or Golden Eagle Outfitters. Arctic Backcountry proved I made the right choice, not just for the flight and location, but all the communication over the phone and emails throughout the entire year prior to the hunt. Walt was equally helpfull.
I am 100% sure there are several excellent outfitters out of that country that can provide the same experience I had, but for this hunt, for me, this was the way to go.