Express Jet Review

If you're lucky enough to live in one of the mid-size American cities served by ExpressJet, you can experience a very rare thing among U.S. airlines: a pleasant, hassle-free flying experience. I find a lot to like about ExpressJet: I like their "can do" attitude. I like their modern fleet of very comfortably appointed Embraer regional jets. I like their focus on DIRECT flights between non-major airports. I like their focus on on-time performance. I like that they can give me better airfares than Southwest WITHOUT having to sacrifice a simple snack in coach class or something as fundamental as an assigned seat (and of course, there's no cattle-call of a chaotic boarding process, which you're always guaranteed when you put up with Southwest).

In short, you can SAVE money on ExpressJet and STILL feel like a human being and not a lowly animal.

ExpressJet won't be for everybody. They don't fly big airliners: just regional jets. They also don't serve the big hub airports and they're not a viable option for complicated itineraries, nor for most major markets. They do serve Los Angeles, but not LAX --- they fly into the smaller, saner Ontario airport. Here in Texas, they avoid both Houston and Dallas, but they're great for folks who live in San Antonio or Austin! They're also great for cities like Albuquerque, Sacramento, Raleigh-Durham, Spokane, or Colorado Springs.

I'm a huge proponent of good service, and I give ExpressJet high marks for FAST check-in and fast boarding. Of course, part of this is that they're flying smaller planes to begin with (it takes a lot less time to board a 50-passenger jet than it does a 150-passenger jet). The airline might prefer the numbers to be higher, but I also appreciate that their load factor (average number of passengers per flight) is lower than it is for major airlines. Not only is the plane smaller, it's less crowded too. For the passenger, that means: better service, faster loading, faster check-in, no bumping, flexible seat assignments, etc. --- all of which team up to make the flying experience EXCELLENT.

I just love Embraer regional jets anyway. There's no middle seats on the plane, and every seat is a comfy leather seat (love all the single seats too --- you can get BOTH a window and an aisle seat at the same time!)

And while some CRUMMY U.S. airlines charge you for aisle seats, charge you for even a SINGLE piece of baggage, and charge you for snacks and drinks in the air, it's REFRESHING to fly ExpressJet where nickel and diming is an annoyance of the past. I could just HUG the guy who decided to charge a reasonable $1 for a can of beer in the air. What's with all the HIGH priced nickel and diming of "$5 for beer, wine, or margarita, exact cash is greatly appreciated" that you hear on airlines like American?? You can say "Bye Bye" to that nonsense by simply booking your next flight on ExpressJet. They're an airline that knows how to fly!