The old adage about "if you don't expect much, you'll be pleasantly surprised" is very true about Air Southwest. True, it is a low cost, no-frills carrier, operating the standard buy-on-board service which means you buy your own food, and you can't reserve a seat in advance. However, the friendliness and quirkiness of Air Southwest also means you'll get service above what you expect, even if it is a trifle rough around the edges. As a result of which, Air Southwest reviews are generally positive.

Above all Air Southwest is an airline that does what it says on the tin, and there's no real way of tarting up a basic bus service for those who live in one of the remoter parts of the United Kingdom - although, for the brief six weeks or so of summer, when the old Dash 8s are packed with a totally different type of customer, the service becomes decidedly fruitier, and you don't half wish the Grockles would go back home, and leave the airline to those who know the staff by name.

Checkin Desk London Gatwick

Your Air Southwest experience starts with checkin - which is a pleasant 20 minutes in the main hubs of Plymouth and Newquay, if you're carrying your own bag. The Air Southwest minimum check in time can reduce even more on occasions if you're in a real hurry.

However you'll get a different experience at, say, Gatwick, compared to Newquay. At Gatwick (route currently suspended) Air Southwest have taken over a BA operation, and it shows, from the checkin at a rebadged BA counter, to BA boarding cards, to even using the BA Executive Club lounge (which, incidentally, is the cheapest way of accessing it by a long long way).

Down in Newquay or Plymouth, and you'll see a totally different operation, where not only boarding cards, but the passenger manifest is written out by hand. If you have access to the lounge, a number is written out - sometimes on the back of an old envelope - and you'll be asked to punch it in yourself.

Checkin Desk Newquay

Another quirk of Air Southwest is that on triangular routes, you need to sit on a certain side of the cabin depending on your destination. This is to ensure that everyone who should get off does, and is a unique work around to the problem Air Southwest have with totally incompatible computer systems in London, Devon and Cornwall.

Air Southwest boarding the small Dash 8 cabin

At larger airports such as Gatwick or Manchester, there are often free newspapers on stands at the gates: at Newquay and Plymouth there is nothing, although the crew sometimes pass around The Falmouth Packet or the Cornish Guardian if you're desperate, before the usual run in the rain to the aircraft: Air Southwest aircraft do not call at airbridges.

Once the noisy Air Southwest Dash-8 has lumbered into the air, and every part of the cabin sounds as if it has some permanent rattle, service begins, with just one trolley, from front to back. The in-flight menu - such as it is - is in the seatback. Make sure you have plenty of change (anything over a ten quid note is a bad idea) and several backup plans in case your food of choice has been eaten: there are very few sandwiches on board, so you'll normally be stuck with the cheese plate towards the end of the days rotation. The five quid Deli Deals with a cup of tea, bun and a KitKat go very quickly.

Air Southwest inflight menu

Air Southwest operate a premium service called Advantage, which is in effect Business Class lite. If you're flying in this class, make sure your boarding card is to hand: there is a little sticker in the top right saying Advantage, which gives you a free muffin and a drink (alcohol, but not Sparkling Wine, included).

Inflight Magazine

The Air Southwest inflight magazine is called Enjoy SouthWest, and a pretty thin rag it is too. But then Enjoy SouthWest is actually a magazine designed to be handed out at Tourist Information Centres, Cafés, Bars, and the odd B&B. It's not really an inflight magazine, but Air Southwest carry it anyway, due to the lack of their own publication.

Air Southwestk inflight magazine

If you're a tourist flying down to Cornwall, there are some interesting features, and the pictures are very good indeed, but the constant advertorial and the lack of any real, dare I say it, content for those who live in the region, does mean it feels pretty scrappy, and once it's been kicking around the plane for a couple of months, boy does it start to feel tired, with foxed corners, and scrawl down the margins. It's produced in Worcester, and with a circulation of 20,000 it is actually bigger than you'd imagine.

Luggage allowance

The checked baggage allowance on Air Southwest Flights is actually pretty good compared to most low-cost airlines. You get two bags free! Each passenger may take up to two pieces of normally sized baggage with a combined weight of up to 15kg (33lbs). Total dimensions of each piece of baggage (length + height + width) must not exceed 158cm (62 inches).

If you are travelling in Business Class - called Advantage - the limit is a generous 30kg.

Anything over this is charged, but the cost is not too bad: just 6GBP per kg, or 8 euro from European airports.

Air Southwest hand-baggage allowance is a pretty normal 7kg, and only one piece is permitted, which must be no bigger than 53cm x 34cm x 22cm. A laptop may be carried, but must be contained within the single item of hand-baggage, unless you are flying FROM Plymouth or Manchester, in which case In addition a laptop, in its case, may be carried. As has been noted, there is nothing like Air Southwest for slightly weird rules and exceptions.