Review: Airlink Economy E195 Johannesburg-Cape Town
Intro
The next portion of the great African adventure would see me flying on a new airline: Airlink. Following a brutal redeye the night prior on Airlink and a short night's sleep at Town Lodge in Johannesburg, it was time to head off to Cape Town. I have visited Cape Town when I was younger, but this time would be different, it was time to go cage-diving with sharks!
All in all, Airlink might be one of the best regional carriers in the world. For starters, there are no middle seats on any of their aircraft; all routes are pretty much eligible for a meal and free-flowing South African wines. What a lovely flight!
Route-Johannesburg-Cape Town
Seat- 6A
Flight Number- 4Z923
Aircraft- Embraer A195
Date- June 14th 2024
Flight Time: 2 Hours and 22 Minutes
Price Paid: 123$
How I Booked
There are lots and lots of different options to consider when flying between Johannesburg and Cape Town. With over 30 daily flights across five airlines, the competition is high, and the prices are relatively low. I ended up booking my ticket at the last minute (3 days before departure) for 123 USD through the Airlink website.
The best part is that customer service is actually helpful...
Check-In
Arriving at the domestic terminal, thanks to my reasonable airport transfer, I quickly found the Airlink check-in. One of the primary aspects of Airlink that I like is how the check-in lines never seem to take too long, both domestically and internationally.
Airlink check-in counters are near B93-100.
My boarding pass was printed, and it was off through security, which was a heck of a lot busier than the Airlink check-in.
Boarding
The domestic terminal at Johannesburg has plenty to do, with lots of bars, an extreme number of coffee shops, and a couple of souvenir shops; I didn't get bored in the hour I had to wait before boarding.
However, due to a late inbound, boarding ended up being delayed by 10 minutes until 11:55 am, when business class passengers were offered to board first. As there was quite a long line, I ended up being the very last passenger onboard the aircraft this afternoon 😂.
The Seat/Cabin
Stepping onboard the E195, I was surprised to see four rows of business class on the plane. This specific aircraft we were on today featured 11 business class seats laid out in a 1-2 configuration and 96 economy class seats laid out in a 2-2 configuration.
The seats in themselves are spacious. My seat, 6A, offered a decent amount of legroom and a sturdy tray table. Additionally, to not have to worry about getting a middle seat is a blessing in its own way.
Departure
15 minutes after our scheduled departure time of 12:15, the captain came on to welcome us onboard and "enjoy the Airlink Experience." Sure enough, moments later, we pushed back.
We had a very slow and smooth taxi out to the other side of the airport, taxiing past the widebodies waiting their turn to take passengers back to Europe in the evening.
27 minutes later (yes, 27 minutes, congestion at JNB will be the death of me), we took off from 21R due Southeast.
A beautiful but sunny day in Johannesburg. I forgot it was winter before I came here 🤣.
Meal Service
15 minutes after takeoff, the cabin crew closed the curtain to business class and snapped into action to deliver a meal/snack to economy passengers.
Throughout the five flights I took with Airlink, the same meal was offered on all five of them. The choice was either "chicken or beef," where the chicken came with a pesto salad, and the beef came with some other sort of salad. Both options were delicious and came with these protein chips that were to die for.
Additionally, the cabin crew came around with an order of drinks. The choices consisted of a full range of soft drinks, water, white wine, red wine, beer, light beer, and a couple of other bits and bobs.
Interestingly, the guy I was sitting next to was actually the prime retailer of the wine that was offered onboard Airlink. We ended up talking the whole flight about South Africa and his views on how it has changed over the years. In addition, he provided me with plenty of recommendations for restaurants in Cape Town and even offered me a ride if I needed it (I respectfully declined since I was going the other way). People are so nice.
Lavatories
After a couple of glasses of wine, the next stop was the toilet 😅. Lavatories are always difficult to get right on a narrow body; there is never much room to work with them, thus leading to constricted space. On this E195, there is one toilet in the back of the cabin for economy class passengers and one in the front for business class passengers. It's not the best ratio, but it's not the end of the world.
At least it was clean...
Arrival
Soon enough, by 2:15 pm local time, the captain announced our descent into the Cape Town area. Still in intrinsic conversation, I only looked out of the window as we were beginning our final descent down into Cape Town. There were a few bumps along the descent into CPT; not sure if that is common or a one-off.
Needless to say, we touched down 20 minutes behind schedule at 2:45 pm, while the apologies filled the air by the cabin crew.
I understand delays happen; it's when you can tell that the airline goes out of its way to try and be on time that it makes passengers (at least me) feel better.
A very short taxi later, we arrived at our gate, and it was off to the Uber stand to grab a car to go to the city!
Final Thoughts
There is a reason why I rank Airlink as one of the best regional carriers in the world. Considering that there is 0% chance of passengers getting a middle seat, a hearty snack/meal is provided, fantastic red/white wines are provided, and there are friendly cabin crew, what more could you really want from an airline? Now, if only UA credited PQFs from Airlink 😉.
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