PaulST
Established Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2014
- Posts
- 1,196
Regional Express (REX) Saab 340 - from Sydney to Lismore (ZL332)
Hi all, I thought this would make for an interesting flight report since they’re not usually one of the airlines you aspire to fly on. Alas, they’re pretty good for a rural airline (they’re SYD based, but only really serve rural airports).
Price-wise they’ve usually got a monopoly so they’re probably not the cheapest. Having said that, once you include the costs of driving to a larger airport and then paying for parking there (parking is free at Lismore airport, I think!), their prices are pretty good. My tickets were $300 return from Lismore to Sydney so I’m happy with that.
Check-in can be done online or at the airport. Check-in closes 20 minutes before the flight in rural airports although you’ve got less time at the bigger airports. If you don’t have check-in luggage and haven’t checked-in online, you can do so at the boarding gate (which is handy!) They allocate the seats at check-in so you'll have to get in early if you want a good seat.
The aircraft themselves are in decent shape. There was quite a bit of vibration but I guess that made up for the fairly quiet engines. Legroom is standard and the seats were comfy.
The FAs were friendly and being greeted by the first officer on boarding and deplaning was a nice touch. In fact every interaction I had was pleasant. They come across as a nice, friendly country airline (and I say ‘country’ in every positive sense of the word.)
The flight itself was 1hr and 15mins (IIRC) which is a bit slower than if I flew to Ballina with JQ or VA, but it’s still reasonable.
On-board catering consists of a ‘sweat or savory’ snack and hot or cold drinks. Alcohol was offered for extra cost.
Overall, it was a positive experience and I’d gladly fly with them. It was probably one of my rougher (but still easily tolerable) recent flights but I guess you have to expect that since it’s a small aircraft.
[video=youtube;aT4XhOLFbrs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT4XhOLFbrs[/video]
Hi all, I thought this would make for an interesting flight report since they’re not usually one of the airlines you aspire to fly on. Alas, they’re pretty good for a rural airline (they’re SYD based, but only really serve rural airports).
Price-wise they’ve usually got a monopoly so they’re probably not the cheapest. Having said that, once you include the costs of driving to a larger airport and then paying for parking there (parking is free at Lismore airport, I think!), their prices are pretty good. My tickets were $300 return from Lismore to Sydney so I’m happy with that.
Check-in can be done online or at the airport. Check-in closes 20 minutes before the flight in rural airports although you’ve got less time at the bigger airports. If you don’t have check-in luggage and haven’t checked-in online, you can do so at the boarding gate (which is handy!) They allocate the seats at check-in so you'll have to get in early if you want a good seat.
The aircraft themselves are in decent shape. There was quite a bit of vibration but I guess that made up for the fairly quiet engines. Legroom is standard and the seats were comfy.
The FAs were friendly and being greeted by the first officer on boarding and deplaning was a nice touch. In fact every interaction I had was pleasant. They come across as a nice, friendly country airline (and I say ‘country’ in every positive sense of the word.)
The flight itself was 1hr and 15mins (IIRC) which is a bit slower than if I flew to Ballina with JQ or VA, but it’s still reasonable.
On-board catering consists of a ‘sweat or savory’ snack and hot or cold drinks. Alcohol was offered for extra cost.
Overall, it was a positive experience and I’d gladly fly with them. It was probably one of my rougher (but still easily tolerable) recent flights but I guess you have to expect that since it’s a small aircraft.
[video=youtube;aT4XhOLFbrs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT4XhOLFbrs[/video]
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