Rex Business Class meals

[Mattg]

AFF already has threads where people can post photos and discuss the Business Class meals on Qantas & Virgin Australia.

Since Rex now has a Business Class cabin on its Boeing 737 flights, I thought we could have a thread to discuss Rex Business class catering.

I'll start...

I flew on ZL102 (MEL-SYD 12pm departure) this week, and the business class meal choices were described as "braised beef with polenta" or an "artisan cheese plate". By the time they got to my seat (in row 2), only the cheese plate was left as everyone before me chose the hot option... which actually turned out to be a quiche.

This was the cheese plate:



This came with a warm bread roll, butter, crackers, a cupcake and a bottle of water.

It was served on a disposable cardboard tray with cardboard cutlery and the drinks were served in plastic cups. Every food/service item was individually wrapped.

The drinks available were water, soft drinks, juice, beer (Furphy or One Fifty Lashes), wine (a GSM, rosé or sauvignon blanc), tea and coffee.

 

[Ade]

Flew REX J CBR-MEL (ZL621) today. I booked in Y, but got upgraded at check-in. The check-in agent also put a "Caterin Not Guaranteed" stamp on my BP, which sort of set the expectation that I need to eat at the lounge before boarding ... but more that later (in a post down the thread)

Priority boarding - done extremely well

PDB - choice of orange juice OR sparkling water with lemon

In-flight WIFI - offered a coupon code that gave free WIFI for the duration of the flight. I streamed a video on YouTube and it was uninterrupted.

Meals - choice of Cheese & Leek quiche/pie with a side of bacon OR Cheese platter.

I opted for the Cheese Platter. Substantial spread - loved the fig pate & the passionfruit, almond cake (or friand?) Served with a warm bread roll, butter, chocolates & water

Wine - A Chardy, Rose & Pinot Noir. I opted the PN, it was a 2019 Oakridge Yarra Valley. Mellow and easy on the pallete.

Photos to be attached soon

 

[Lynda2475]

The drinks available were water, soft drinks, juice, beer (Furphy or One Fifty Lashes), wine (a GSM, rosé or sauvignon blanc), tea and coffee.

Rosé is my wine of choice and it annoys me that QF have never offered it on any of the domestic J flights ive done, nor in the domestic lounges. So Rex has one upped QF for sure in the catering department.

 

[clifford]

Wine - A Chardy, Rose & Pinot Noir. I opted the PN, it was a 2019 Oakridge Yarra Valley. Mellow and easy on the pallete.

I guess they would have had a (real) red as well?

 

[Lynda2475]

Pinot Noir is a real red

 

[clifford]

Pinot Noir is a real red

Only just (but my wife would disagree).

 

[Mattg]

Nice to see someone else posting their experience in this thread @Ade.

Perhaps it's telling though that it's taken a year since I started this thread for another AFF member to report back their Rex business class experience, which was a free upgrade anyway. Clearly AFFers are not jumping to book Rex J.

 

[mrsterryn]

Have to say, I didn't realise REX had a business class oops

 

[jase05]

Nice to see someone else posting their experience in this thread @Ade.

Perhaps it's telling though that it's taken a year since I started this thread for another AFF member to report back their Rex business class experience, which was a free upgrade anyway. Clearly AFFers are not jumping to book Rex J.

I have heard some good things about their J product and have a friend who swears by them. With a woeful lounge network and no FFP though it’s a hard no for me for now though

 

[Ade]

Nice to see someone else posting their experience in this thread @Ade.

Perhaps it's telling though that it's taken a year since I started this thread for another AFF member to report back their Rex business class experience, which was a free upgrade anyway. Clearly AFFers are not jumping to book Rex J.

Thanks @Mattg

Yes, I would not have purchased a J ticket on Rex using cash. I got to to experience Rex J because of a free upgrade. Some pax (as always) started queuing on the business class check-in and I overheard the check-in agent talking to her supervisor, that there were no commercial J tickets on yesterday's flight. All the 8 seats were complimentary upgrades offered to Y pax.

Now, on what grounds were the upgrades offered, I'm not sure. But bought the 2nd cheapest fare on Y and was upgraded.

With a woeful lounge network and no FFP though it’s a hard no for me for now though

Oh, thank you for reminding about their woeful lounge! GAWD!! So, the check-in agent was nice enough to ask me if I have been to the rex lounge before, I said no. So she said it's opposite Gate 6 blah blah, you can enjoy beverages & food before your flight. Little did I know that I need to pay for the food & drinks in the lounge.

There was one barista working the entire lounge. No Rex staff were in the lounge, there was no display of arrivals/departures etc. I rocked up to the barista and ordered a large long black. He took the order in and then said, that will be $7, card or cash?!?!?!? I was like, what?!?!?! I paid him without saying anything, but kept thinking to myself - what just happened! I didn't have lunch yesterday, so I took a kit-kat chocolate and paid $5 for that ... so spent $12 in the lounge for a coffee & a chocolate ... The barista was kind enough to say that he will bring it over to my table. But the lounge was getting busy and orders were pouring in, so I felt bad for him to leave his job and serve me. So I said I will wait and it took him 10 mins to get to my order of a long black (coffee & hot water mate!!)

The barista was TOTALLY uninterested in what he was doing and it clearly showed ... but hey, with just one person running the lounge, I guess he is allowed to be uninterested, I'd say

Now, my flight was delayed. As mentioned earlier, no staff in the lounge & no displays of arr/dep in the lounge. They had one big tv that was broke. There was announcement over the speakers about the flight delay & I missed it as I was on the phone. I rocked up to the gate at 1:40 for boarding and a staff said the flight was delayed to late arrival of inbound aircraft. So I rallied back to the lounge and continued drinking my over-priced coffee ...

Re the lounge experience - I think I took it for granted that the lounge would be similar to QF or VA - but nah! Rex needs to up their lounge game and their FF program ...

 

[Ade]

I guess they would have had a (real) red as well?

Nah, they just had a Chardy, Rose & PN ... no Shiraz or Cab Sav or any red blends ... The PN was definitely good .. nice drop

Post automatically merged: Mar 4, 2022

Rosé is my wine of choice and it annoys me that QF have never offered it on any of the domestic J flights ive done, nor in the domestic lounges. So Rex has one upped QF for sure in the catering department.

I love a nice Rose too! To me, having a Rose is the best way to relax on a sunny afternoon, without getting too intoxicated

 

[AIRwin]

Little did I know that I need to pay for the food & drinks in the lounge.

Not clear from the Rex website (Lounge Benefit):
Snacks, tea, coffee and soft drinks are available for members to enjoy throughout the day, together with beer and wine after 3pm. You can choose from a range of newspapers and magazines, or enjoy your favourite programme on our plasma TV in Rex Lounge.

 

[Ade]

Not clear from the Rex website (Lounge Benefit):
Snacks, tea, coffee and soft drinks are available for members to enjoy throughout the day, together with beer and wine after 3pm. You can choose from a range of newspapers and magazines, or enjoy your favourite programme on our plasma TV in Rex Lounge.

Nah, did not get any of those benefits. Had to pay for the coffee & snacks, the telly wasn't working ... published but not available I guess

 

[Mattg]

You had to pay $7 for a long black in the Rex Lounge as a J pax? WTF?

Sounds like you would be better off skipping their lounge - what a joke.

I didn't have to pay for snacks or drinks in the MEL lounge, although the offering was pretty limited anyway.

 

[Melburnian1]

Nice to see someone else posting their experience in this thread @Ade.

Perhaps it's telling though that it's taken a year since I started this thread for another AFF member to report back their Rex business class experience, which was a free upgrade anyway. Clearly AFFers are not jumping to book Rex J.

It seems AFFers (to a fair extent due to employers) are even more likely to fly QFd (and especially QFi) than the general population.

ZL would have a miniscule share of total 'main line' domestic seats in the Oz market (I'm guessing 0.5 per cent if that) but VAd must have about 25-33 per cent yet isn't commented upon nearly as much.

And while OT, the majority of travellers shy away from QFi/JQi in 'usual' times yet AFF has a concentration on QFi.

 

[BrettV]

Wanted to try Rex business and at $299 thought is was decent value. Given the 'lounge' situation, I took QF to BN then BN-ML with Rex in late March. Have to say it was a relatively positive experience all around.

1. As soon as I'd stepped off the QF flight at BN, I got a call from the Rex check-in desk to make sure I got my $15 voucher. Paid for one glass of wine (probably good that's all I had time for...) and the staff both at the desk and gate were apologetic for no lounge offering.
2. At the gate, the staff came over and asked if I'd like to board before the boarding call was made (not that it was a busy flight, maybe 50ish people in economy and 3 in business) but a nice touch
3. Pre-departure juice or water
4. Probably the best domestic business meal I've had in a long time - lamb cutlet. And a small but very good wine selection. Tried the falafels too, also very good
5. Limited entertainment offering through the free wifi - hard to go past Best in Show!
6. Service was excellent at the start of the flight but dropped away about half way through (suspect it was a little boring given the small load). Had to go for the call button once but after that the glass was constantly topped up.

Overall, not a bad offering, good value and certainly worth considering if you've got flexibility in your schedule.

 

[Ade]

Wanted to try Rex business and at $299 thought is was decent value. Given the 'lounge' situation, I took QF to BN then BN-ML with Rex in late March. Have to say it was a relatively positive experience all around.

1. As soon as I'd stepped off the QF flight at BN, I got a call from the Rex check-in desk to make sure I got my $15 voucher. Paid for one glass of wine (probably good that's all I had time for...) and the staff both at the desk and gate were apologetic for no lounge offering.
2. At the gate, the staff came over and asked if I'd like to board before the boarding call was made (not that it was a busy flight, maybe 50ish people in economy and 3 in business) but a nice touch
3. Pre-departure juice or water
4. Probably the best domestic business meal I've had in a long time - lamb cutlet. And a small but very good wine selection. Tried the falafels too, also very good
5. Limited entertainment offering through the free wifi - hard to go past Best in Show!
6. Service was excellent at the start of the flight but dropped away about half way through (suspect it was a little boring given the small load). Had to go for the call button once but after that the glass was constantly topped up.

Overall, not a bad offering, good value and certainly worth considering if you've got flexibility in your schedule.

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I can say that my experience with ZL business is was not as great as yours, but, for the lack of a better word, "acceptable"

I think the falafels look great. Would like to try them sometime ... however, my recent (past & future) flights are going to be QF/VA

As soon as I'd stepped off the QF flight at BN, I got a call from the Rex check-in desk to make sure I got my $15 voucher. Paid for one glass of wine (probably good that's all I had time for...) and the staff both at the desk and gate were apologetic for no lounge offering.

This didn't happen to me, because CBR had a "pay for everything" lounge. I'd have appreciated the $15 voucher to use in their own lounge, as I had to pay for a cuppa & kit-kat

At the gate, the staff came over and asked if I'd like to board before the boarding call was made (not that it was a busy flight, maybe 50ish people in economy and 3 in business) but a nice touch

PB done well in my case too

Service was excellent at the start of the flight but dropped away about half way through (suspect it was a little boring given the small load). Had to go for the call button once but after that the glass was constantly topped up.

The service for the entire duration of the flight was good in my case. Constant top ups and the crew were present, so to speak, the whole time

 

[bam71]

Didn’t realize we had a thread on this. Done a couple of Rex J between MEL and OOL. Some pics of the lounge in MEL and breakfasts.
Found the staff to be excellent, pity there’s no FF program at the moment though. I’l use them if their price is cheaper than VA.

 

[dylarr]

Little did I know that I need to pay for the food & drinks in the lounge.

I knew Rex's lounge arrangement at CBR was only temporary but didn't realise this meant everything needed to be paid for?!

I was in the Rex SYD lounge last week and everything was free. I wonder why this is different at CBR?

 

[Ade]

I knew Rex's lounge arrangement at CBR was only temporary but didn't realise this meant everything needed to be paid for?!

I had to pay for everything back in Mar, but not sure in recent times ...