Flight Review Rex Airlines Brisbane to Sydney B737-800 Economy Class

Airline: Rex Airlines
Flight no: ZL337
Route: Brisbane Airport (BNE) to Sydney Airport (SYD)
Aircraft Type: Boeing B737-800 Rego: VH-REX
Flight time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Travel Class: Economy
Seat: 6A Window seat
Seat Width:  17.5 inches
Seat Pitch: 30 inches

Check out the video of this flight review

Up until 2021, Rex Airlines was a Regional Airline, Rex actually stands for Regional Express. They had the largest fleet in the world of Saab 340s which is a Swedish twin-engine turboprop aircraft. Rex were operating regional flights in all regions of Australia except for Northern Territory.

In 2020, Rex Airlines purchased 8 B737-800s from the struggling Virgin Australia so they could start flying between the capital cities on the east coast of Australia. At the end of 2021, Rex had flight routes flying in and out of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Adelaide and Canberra. The route between Sydney and Brisbane started on 21st December 2021.

I managed to get a promo price for this flight which was only $69. I had to pay an extra $10 to pick my seat which I was happy to pay to secure my preferred window seat.

At the time of this writing (January 2022) Rex only have 1 flight per day flying from Brisbane to Sydney, departing Brisbane at 11.30am. When this route first started, they had 2 flights scheduled per day. I would say they will increase the flights per day soon as passenger numbers increase.

Getting to the airport

Brisbane Airport is 14.2km from the Brisbane CBD where I was staying. I was traveling by myself, so the cheapest way to get to the airport is on the Airtrain. I got the train from Brisbane Central Train station and train ride is 24 minutes. The cost of the one way ticket from the city to the airport costs $19.50 which seems expensive but the cost of an Uber will be over $40 and a taxi a bit more expensive than the Uber ride.

At the Airport

At Brisbane Domestic Airport the Rex Airlines check in is located in the middle of the terminal, in the same area as the Jetstar check ins.
There are electronic check in kiosks which are shared by Jetstar. These are very easy to use and checkin for me only took 1 minute.
There is a bag drop check in area just behind the Jetstar check in area.

I took this flight on 2nd January 2022 and Brisbane airport seemed to be recovered with a healthy number of passengers and all the food and beverage shops seemed to be open.

On the plane

The plane they used for my flight was the Rex Airlines B737-800 with Rego: VH-REX. This is an 11 year old Boeing 737 which joined the Rex fleet in February 2021. Before this, the aircraft had the registration of VH-VUU and was part of the Virgin Australia fleet from May 2011 and it started its life back when it was Virgin Blue in April 2010.

They board the plane using the front and rear doors, so if you are sitting at the back of the plane then you will need to go down some stairs and cross the tarmac then climb up the stairs to board the plane. I was sitting in seat 6A so boarded from the front via the sky bridge.

The interior of the Rex Airlines B737-800 is exactly the same as Virgin Australia. While they have painted the exterior of the plane in the Rex livery, the interior has not changed since they purchased the planes. I guess there is no reason to change the interior as is is still in very good condition.

The legroom is the same as most B737s that operate in Australia. I am 187cms tall (6 foot 2) and there is a bit of room between my knees and the seat in front, enough for this short 1 hour 10 minute flight.

Entertainment System

Rex Airlines have activated the onboard WiFi Internet service but there is a cost to using this. It was $6.50 for a 30 minute internet browsing access or $9.99 for internet access for the entire flight. If you want faster internet speed to be able to stream video then it will cost $9.75 for 30 minutes or $14.99 for the full flight.

There is complimentary entertainment which you need to stream on your own device. You just connect to the onboard WiFi network and you can then stream the free selection of latest release movies and TV shows.

Food Served on this flight

You get a complimentary ‘meal‘ on this flight. While they call it a ‘meal‘ when you book your ticket, it is actually just a snack. On my flight they served a choice of tea, coffee or water and gave out a tasty snack of smoked corn and soy crisps. You can purchase soft drinks or beer and wine during the flight.

The service

Overall I give Rex Airlines 2 big thumbs up for this flight from Brisbane to Sydney. I had flown with Rex from Sydney to Gold Coast in 2021 and had previously flown on their Saab 340 from Bathurst to Sydney and all flights have been great.

This flight only cost me $80, so to get a snack onboard and free entertainment I think Rex is a great option to fly with and definitely gives some strong competition against Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin that operate flights on this same route.

One of the highlights of this flight was flying over Sydney Harbour. I was on the left hand side of the plane which gave me this spectacular view of the best harbour in the world!