Rex Airlines Business Class Review

Gold Coast to Melbourne – 17 July 2021

Rex Airlines Business Class

July 2021

Today July 17th, I had the privileged opportunity to fly business class on the new Rex Airlines from Gold Coast to Melbourne. I am writing this review as I currently sit in this lovely Business class seat. As a photographer, nearly every penny is spent on camera gear which leaves little left to spend on flights. So to travel in business class is something truly special. In summary, the experience was great.  

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Figure 1: Rex Airlines Boeing 737-800; Heart is in the country.

Rex Airlines has been around in Australia since 2002 however only recently (4 months to be exact) did it start regional services connecting each state capital.

This was possible due to the Covid pandemic slowing all air travel, nearly bringing everything to a halt. Because air travel was practically dead, financial issues with Virgin Australia meant it had to declare bankruptcy. Virgin Australia was bought over by Bain industries in the US which planned to streamline its services. In doing so, Bain Industries downsized Virgin’s fleet and staff. This gave Rex the perfect chance to start regional and compete with already established airlines as it bought its fleet of regional 737-800 from Virgin (at a bargain due to the pandemic and Virgin eager to get some money back in its bank) and employed ex-virgin staff to grow. This would not have been possible pre pandemic.

I had initially purchased an economy ticket for $65! This was a bargain for a 2 hour flight which included 23kg checked in luggage and complementary snacks on board. This also came with the assurance of a flight voucher should borders suddenly close. Luckily though, I was given the green light to travel to Melbourne.

At the airport, the counters were similar to Jetstar where it was predominantly self serve with the Rex representative stationed at the Business class check in and helping out customers drop their luggage at the carousel. After getting my boarding pass and bag tag printed out, I headed to drop my bags off however there was a small issue so I went to the representative and she happily checked my bag in for me. Going through security was a breeze and I finally headed over to the gate when it was time to board. As I handed in my boarding pass, the Rex staff happily informed me that I had been upgraded to a business class seat. It was exciting as I had never flown business class before.

Figure 2: The business class seats offered on today’s flights. There are 8 seats in total.

Once I boarded the aircraft, the air hostess greeted everyone with a smile and directed me to my seat, 2F. There were 8 business class seats in total and 168 economy seats in total on this aircraft. My flight today consisted of ~160 passengers with 2 pilots and 5 air hostess. The seats were nicely presented with plenty of width and leg room. Upon research, I found out that these seats are the exact same as Virgin’s business class seats which were part of the airplane when Rex purchased it with the logo being the only difference. The seats were nicely presented however the aircraft did feel a bit old. A bit of mood lighting could fix that though.

We took off Northwards and the take off was on-time and smooth. We then immediately banked right and made a U-turn of sorts as we climbed out of Gold Coast and headed towards Melbourne. After reaching near cruising altitude, the seat belt signed was switched off and the crew began serving the complimentary snacks to all passengers. Business class however got served a meal.

Figure 3: Take off from beautiful Gold Coast.

The 2 meal options were hot lamb or a veg haloumi salad along with a choice of an alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink. As I am a vegetarian, I opted for the haloumi salad. It was served with a can of coke and a glass, with bread, butter and a tasty dessert which was orange cupcake. The salad consisted of chickpeas and haloumi which was tasty though a teeny bit dry. The orange cupcake was splendid and my highlight for the meal. Later during the flight, I was given choc honey crunch cookies as a snack.

Figure 4: Main veg meal served on today’s flight.
Figure 5: The delicious orange cupcake and icing (left) with Choc honey crunch cookies as a snack provided later during the flight (right).

What really did impress me was the use of the recycled and biodegradable products such as the cutlery and the tissues. It may not seem as much but over the many thousands of flights for the rest of the year, this small act will add up and help conserve the environment.

Figure 6: Rex’s commitment to the environment by using recycled and bio-degradable products.

Figure 7: Plenty of room to take out my laptop and type out this review. Would have been difficult to do in an economy seat.

The rest of the flight was uneventful with only small / light turbulence every now and then. Our air hostess that was assigned to Business class regularly made sure everyone was satisfied and happy. As we started our decent into Melbourne, the rubbish was collected and the seat belt signs came back on. The landing was smooth and we were allowed to disembark first. Before disembarking, whilst waiting for the doors to open, I managed to talk to one of the flight attendants. Sadly, I didn’t get her name but she mentioned that a lot of the crew were ex-virgin employees with 90-95% of the pilots ex-virgin. While she was fresh and just started her journey as an air-crew, she did express how lovely it was to work for Rex Airlines. How everyone within the company are friendly and how it’s just a wholesome airline to work for.

Flight Highlights:

  • Exciting times for Rex to expand its network. The excitement can be seen in the crew
  • Exciting times to have a real competitor with a solid business class product to offer and compete with Virgin and Qantas.
  • Business class felt comfortable and not too old (it is an ex-virgn business class product)
  • Food was decent and there was a pleasant variety of snacks.
  • Smooth boarding and disembarking. Punctual departure and arrival.
  • Friendly crew.
  • Rex’s commitment to the environment by using biodegradable cutlery.
Figure 8: Stunning sunset viewed in the air.

Whilst Rex offers a really good business class product to customers giving everyone a good choice between itself, Virgin and Qantas, I feel that there are a couple minor things that can be done for Rex to really shine and stand out. Customer service was excellent. The aircraft, whilst the paint work looks good on the outside, the interior cabin could do with a small makeover to make it stand out. There wasn’t anything major but small things like fixing carpet trimmings or adding mood lighting could add to the customer experience. With regards to the environment, Rex already started great with the cutlery but now could focus on other items such as slowly move away from plastic cups into a more environmentally friendly replacement.

In conclusion, the journey was smooth and I was really impressed with my first Rex flight. Their prices were really competitive and the products offered at that price did give them an edge over competitors. The crew were fantastic and the experience was really lovely. I will definitely fly with them again.

Enjoy Shooting!

Figure 9: Just another picture of the sunset though pictures could not describe how beautiful it was.

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