Why fly Qantas or Virgin, when you can fly Pelican!

[kamchatsky]

Prologue

Due to work requirements, I had a requirement to fly from NTL-CBR on Tuesday. Originally I was thinking of "Why fly direct when you can connect" mantra, and thinking of flying either QF or VA to CBR via MEL/BNE, especially that it was actually cheaper to fly QF/VA via another city, get more SCs, and have lounge access in the transit city (only applied to VA)? In fact, I had another thread asking this question earlier.

For those you don't know, apart from QF and VA, there are actually other small Australian airlines that does not offer any of these benefits:

- Status Credits
- Airline Points
- Status
- Lounge Access for Elites
- Food
- Wireless In-Flight Streaming, or IFE
- Large jet aircraft which offers much more stable ride

However they do offer the following:
- Direct service to city pairs where QF/VA does not offer anything other than connection via another city

In this case, the only flight between NTL-CBR is Fly Pelican (FP138). FlyPelican - Your local NSW Airline

The ticket itself is $399, which is their most flexible fare. QF and VA offer lower fare to CBR via another city (MEL/BNE).

At the end, I have decided to give this little airline a go because of the following:
- The flight time suits me quite well (depart NTL at 4:30pm, arriving at CBR at 5:40pm)
- It is a direct flight, great when I spent 4 hour driving from Sydney to around the Hunter region before getting to NTL on the day of departure.
- They offer Jetstream 32 which I have never tried before.
- Fly Pelican offers a flight which QF/VA are not offering, I should be supporting the "little guys".

I was willing to forgo 20SCs on VA (which I am aiming Gold) to give this little airline a go.

 

[kamchatsky]

Check-In

Now I have never been to NTL before, but with my GPS, it was not hard to locate NTL after doing my round of driving around the hunter to visit my customer. I arrive at NTL at 3pm on Tuesday to return my hire car. The weather was very hot (around 40C). So walking from the car return to the departure was actually quite draining due to the weather.

The checkin are was pretty empty at 3pm. There were no flights open at that time. It was at 3:20pm when Fly Pelican checkin was open:



Now as you can see, QF flight to BNE was actually cancelled, and anyone on the QF flight would need to catch JQ. I am so glad I didn't pick QF!

When I check in, I was't even sure I can bring any of my luggage on board (which would never be a problem in QF/VA). So I had to ask the check-in staff about it. They told me that due to both luggage with total weight of 10kg, I can take it with me without checkin. However once I get to the plane we need to leave our bags to the staff to stow as there are no overhead storage. She checked me in, and gave me 2 tags so that I can take them on board:



Now I have never had these tags before, and at the end of the journey, I actually kept them as souvenir. I am sure they are rarer than say QF/VA gold luggage tags!

After checkin, I proceed to security and to the departure area. The area is pretty spacious and comfortable, given that lack of flights available.



I waited there as there are no lounge access . I just took out my iPad to watch my downloaded Netflix TV series.

 

[kamchatsky]

Time for Boarding!

At 4:15pm, we have commenced boarding. So I went to departure gate 1A. From there I can see the Jetstream 32:



Now I have NEVER flown such small aircraft before. The smallest I have ever flown was a Dash 8, and even then, it was much bigger than this plane! If you noticed, at the background there was a RAAF fighter taking off, and it was very loud! It lets you know that NTL is a RAAF air base!

Now as I walk closer, you can see a First Officer welcoming the passenger as they get on board. He does the checking of the ticket, gives you a bottle of chilled water from the Esky (yep, an Esky!), and ask you to leave your bag there!



So he checked my ticket, and I left my bags on the tarmac, and he handed me a bottle of water. I got on, and then I realised how small it was: It only has 6 full rows of 3 seats, plus a single seat on the back. Total of 19 seats.

I was on 5C, second last full row. This is a shot of the aircraft inside from my seat:



As you can see, you can see the whole aircraft from here. It is a SMALL plane.

After everyone was on board, the First Officer then took all the bags that are left at the tarmac, and stowed at the back of the plane. The pilot (see picture above) then start talking about all the usual safety requirements etc, before we are ready for take off.

For AFFers, it is the obligatory knee shot:



Now the seat is small, but I am glad that I am on an aisle seat, and not window seat, as I can see the seat next to me has very less room. The A row (single seat) is better as it is both window and aisle, but I think C column is best for room.

 

[kamchatsky]

Up In The Air!

Once Captain and First Officer (FO) are seated then the plane starts firing up and air conditioning kicks in. Now I really need it as it was a very hot day. Very quickly the plane has done the taxiing and waiting for number of RAAF aircraft to clear, before taking off!

Now one of my worry is the stability of the small aircraft when takeoff and landing. In this case, I could really feel the bumpiness when the plane was taking off. I never had that kind of experience when flying B737 or larger planes. I flew Dash 8 long time ago and I had never had that experience. It is not the most pleasant experience.

However, once on cruising altitude, the plane itself was quite stable. It was actually quite comfortable, I did bring my iPad on board so I spent my time watching Netflix. Obviously there are no IFE, or even Pelican inflight magazines (they did have general Newcastle and Port Stephens magazines though).

The flight last 1 hour before it start to land. Again, I can feel the bumpiness of the aircraft, and wasn't the most comfortable ride down. However the pilot door was open all the time of the flight, so I can actually see the CBR airport strip through the door and the pilot windscreen. It was actually quite fun seeing the pilot and FO landing the plane.

The landing itself was actually smoother than expected. Then it taxi very quickly to still position. The FO got out, open the back door, grab all the bags from the back of the aircraft, and take them out to the tarmac. We then proceed to leave the aircraft, grab our bags, and wait at the tarmac at FO's instruction:



Once everyone has gone off and grabbed their bags, we all then proceed to arrival hall. Once I arrived at the arrival hall, I took the final picture of the aircraft, before heading off to exit.

 

[kamchatsky]

Epilogue

This is the first time I have ever flown an Australian domestic flight that is NOT belong QF, VA or AN (Yes i have done JQ and TT but they belong to QF/VA). Whilst I didn't earn any Status Credit, airline points, or gone to lounges, or enjoying complimentary Inflight Entertainment and food, or even see beautiful flight attendants (there were none). I did experienced the following, which I really enjoyed:

- Flying Jetstream 32 for the first time. The smallness of the airline surprises me. But it was overall a great experience;
- Seeing First Officer checking tickets, storing/retrieving bags and offering cold water from an Esky for the first time;
- Seeing a small Australian airline in action, offering flights on a route where QF and VA did not bother to do so;
- Receiving my very own Fly Pelican luggage tags. Surely they are rarer than those QF/VA Gold tags in everyone else's luggages;
- Flying from NTL for the first time;


Will I fly with Pelican again? I would say yes on the NTL-CBR route. It is a direct flight, the timing suits me quite well. Not to mention that it is important to support the little guys who is willing to give a go on this route.

However, I would try to avoid flying that in winter, on rainy or windy day. I may end up feeling too uncomfortable during takeoff or landing.

I have decided to write my first ever Trip Report on AFF because I want to let people know that there are other domestic airlines that is not QF or VA that you should try. It gives you different experience altogether.

So I recommend to give Pelican a go, if you ever have such opportunity present itself.

 

[ajd]

Huh, I'd always wondered who actually flies on the CBR-NTL route - nice writeup!

 

[OZDUCK]

Nice report about a very different flight to most on here. You probably missed out on some good views not being by the window.

I flew Perth/Albany return on a Jetstream in the early 1990,s. We actually had sandwiches in the on-board eskie. Flight was mostly good except for flying through a storm coming into Perth, as you suggested very bumpy - I would have been much happier on a bigger plane.

 

[JohnK]

Very nice trip report.

I have tried Air North as it was on a QF award but never really considered Rex or Pelican as I have found their airfares a little too expensive for leisure travel.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Nice TR!
From the photo's, your trip looks quite nostalgic, in the sense that I remember flying very small planes like that Ex NTL as a kid in the 80's.
Looks like Pelican have the right aircraft to match demand on that route.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Steady]

Thanks for the interesting TR

 

[love_the_life]

Thanks for the great TR. I really enjoyed reading about the experience though I'm not a fan of small planes generally.

 

[jb747]

I use Rex a lot for flying between Albury/Melbourne (and occasionally even to Sydney). I've found them to be friendly and quite efficient. I look for different 'issues' to the rest of you, but I've had no real concerns with them.

And they do have nice lounges in some ports.

 

[docjames]

Great TR, thanks for sharing.

 

[njba]

Love this. I had a two really great flights with REX last year (to and from NTL as luck has it). Essential for anyone interested in aviation.

 

[kamchatsky]

Thank you everyone for your compliments and comments!

Nice report about a very different flight to most on here. You probably missed out on some good views not being by the window.

I flew Perth/Albany return on a Jetstream in the early 1990,s. We actually had sandwiches in the on-board eskie. Flight was mostly good except for flying through a storm coming into Perth, as you suggested very bumpy - I would have been much happier on a bigger plane.

Yes, in many ways I normally prefer window seat. Somehow I completely forgot about it when I checked in, maybe because I was too curious about everything else!

Very nice trip report.

I have tried Air North as it was on a QF award but never really considered Rex or Pelican as I have found their airfares a little too expensive for leisure travel.

I would love to see Trip Report on this, do they use small planes such as this? You can fly Pelican for much cheaper price when booking ahead. However the destination may be not what you are after.

Nice TR!
From the photo's, your trip looks quite nostalgic, in the sense that I remember flying very small planes like that Ex NTL as a kid in the 80's.
Looks like Pelican have the right aircraft to match demand on that route.
Thanks for sharing.

17 of the 19 available seats were occupied (i.e. 89.4%).

I use Rex a lot for flying between Albury/Melbourne (and occasionally even to Sydney). I've found them to be friendly and quite efficient. I look for different 'issues' to the rest of you, but I've had no real concerns with them.

And they do have nice lounges in some ports.

I think small airlines tend to be more friendly, as everyone knows each other, and they need to make up in customer service compare to the giants such as QF and VA.

Love this. I had a two really great flights with REX last year (to and from NTL as luck has it). Essential for anyone interested in aviation.

Yes, after this flight, I still have good memory about it, even if taking off and landing is not that smooth. It felt like going back time!

 

[OzEire]

Thanks for the TR Kam, I enjoyed it very much. I have taken this route, it was a few years ago (4?) and onboard Brindabella Airlines (CBR based) - the experience was very similar to yours....sort of, see below.

Out of interest Brindabella was later acquired by Pelican who slowly retired the Brindy aircraft (or repainted them) and took over the route.

My NTL-CBR flight on a little Metro turned out to be NTL-SYD as CBR was not available for landing. I enjoyed watching through the coughpit door to see the huge Rwy 35L as we landed. Rough weather made our little plane jump around like a kids toy. After arriving in SYD we were offered overnight in SYD and continue to CBR or transfer to VA (DJ?). I took the DJ option so my trip unexpectedly ended up with a transit but as I recall no SC or Lounge (perhaps it was in the DJ time and these weren't avail?). I was just glad to get home

 

[kermatu]

Thanks for posting this TR - really nice to see support for the regional players.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Thanks for the trip report, reminded me to do a trip report of a small Australian airline that is not part of the Qantas or Virgin group.

 

[jazza1971]

Thats great! I remember using Aeropelican back in the day to fly between Syd & Belmont and landing on this strip in Twin Otters which was a great experience

 

[Cessna 180]

Thanks for the great TR. I really enjoyed reading about the experience though I'm not a fan of small planes generally.

Funny, I actually thought the Jetsream was a Big plane!

Was a nice read Kam