London to Edinburgh flights - where's cheapest deals?
- Thread starter chico enrico
- Start date
chico enrico
No hair shows you care.
beeboo said:Maybe it's just because I love trains, but I can never get the whole attitude that travelling by train is a sacrafice.
All other factors being equal, I'd choose train over plane or car every time.
yes, i'll bear that in mind next time i go to tokyo
geminisnake
a complex mass of conflicting ideas
beeboo said:Maybe it's just because I love trains, but I'd choose train over plane or car every time.
Methinks you have not had the 'pleasure' of having to use GNER on a regular basis.
I haven't been anywhere south for aaaages because they are sooooooo shite
GeorgeEliotFan
Im sorry
I went up a few weeks back £29 up on the sleeper (you can sometimes get it for £19), and about £20 back, which I thought was alright.
the service on the sleeper is exceptional for the amount of money you pay * obviously if you dont manage to get a bargain ticket its prety steep.
the service on the sleeper is exceptional for the amount of money you pay * obviously if you dont manage to get a bargain ticket its prety steep.
chico enrico
No hair shows you care.
just out of interest...why have i been called a 'bastard' twice for enquiring about london-edinburgh air fares? 
Get the train.
The GNER service (London-Edinburgh, up the East Coast Main Line) is only four hours if you get the fastest service and the trains are very comfortable, especially the ones that have had a refurb recently. Cheap too, if you book well ahead.
Already, better long-distance train services are taking custom from the airlines on London-Manchester and London-Scotland services, and if they could be speeded up further (sadly unlikely, in the near future) then internal flights really would contract. After all, once you've got to the airport, gone through security, flown, got through the airport on the other end and managed to get from a field in the middle of nowhere to where you actually want to go, you might as well have taken the train anyway.
The GNER service (London-Edinburgh, up the East Coast Main Line) is only four hours if you get the fastest service and the trains are very comfortable, especially the ones that have had a refurb recently. Cheap too, if you book well ahead.
Already, better long-distance train services are taking custom from the airlines on London-Manchester and London-Scotland services, and if they could be speeded up further (sadly unlikely, in the near future) then internal flights really would contract. After all, once you've got to the airport, gone through security, flown, got through the airport on the other end and managed to get from a field in the middle of nowhere to where you actually want to go, you might as well have taken the train anyway.
Guineveretoo
Mostly bewildered
I used to lived in Cambridge and was at a conference in Glasgow once,which I went to by train. On that train, my daughter and I played cards and other games, read books and magazines, drank and ate, and generally had a relaxing and fun journey home. A colleague who insisted on flying and left the hotel at exactly the same time as I did, got home several hours later, after being stuck at some crappy little airport for ages, because the plane was grounded by fog. Then she got stuck at Stansted airport, because the plane was so late back etc. etc. I felt dead smug.
I honestly think people should be discouraged from flying except when really necessary.
I honestly think people should be discouraged from flying except when really necessary.
Monkeygrinder's Organ
Dodgy geezer swilling vapid lager
geminisnake said:Methinks you have not had the 'pleasure' of having to use GNER on a regular basis.
I haven't been anywhere south for aaaages because they are sooooooo shite
I've used GNER dozens of times over the last few years and they've never been significantly late. Can't speak for your area but generally the ones into or out of London are spot on.
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
Because air travel is. passenger mile for mile, the most damaging form of travel when it comes to the greenhouse effect. By a long way. Whereas rail is one of the least damaging.chico enrico said:just out of interest...why have i been called a 'bastard' twice for enquiring about london-edinburgh air fares?
EDIT : Just looked it up, and driving on your own is nearly as bad, depending on your efficiency. Bear in mind though, that planes dump their CO2 and water vapour straight into the upper atmosphere, rather than at ground level where it can be absorbed by nearby plants etc.
geminisnake said:Methinks you have not had the 'pleasure' of having to use GNER on a regular basis.
I haven't been anywhere south for aaaages because they are sooooooo shite
I use them quite a bit and IME they're not bad, although a bit on the expensive side. They're usually on time, the trains are good and comfortable (especially the refurbished stock) and they're quick.
They're in financial problems at the moment, though. Or rather, their parent company is.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6054090.stm
chico enrico said:just out of interest...why have i been called a 'bastard' twice for enquiring about london-edinburgh air fares?
Because the greener-than-thou brigade think you have all the time in the world to get to and from Scotland. How about pulling them up on their completely unnecceassry trips to New York , Ibifa and the Far East...?
Monkeygrinder's Organ
Dodgy geezer swilling vapid lager
jæd said:
Who here has suggested flying is a bad thing and also flies to places like that?
Guineveretoo
Mostly bewildered
Spymaster said:
Really? That's more than a week away, so you should be able to get the saver single, which is a lot cheaper than that! I have just looked on national rail enquiries, and it says that the single is 30.50 there and 36.00 for the return. That's cheaper than flying.
Guineveretoo
Mostly bewildered
Monkeygrinder's Organ said:
I think flying is a bad thing and I have never been to any of those places.
Glad to help!
Spymaster said:
And therein lies the problem. Although there are some very cheap deals out there on the railways, basic fares have rocketed in the last few years so unless you can book ages in advance they often offer pretty poor value.
Tbh the railways should be a much hotter political issue than they are, and even than they were a few years ago after Hatfield and the subsequent collapse of Railtrack. Ok, so there's a facade of stability in the industry atm but the costs are completely unsustainable. The railways receive five times the subsidy (in real terms) that BR did 20 years ago and fares have risen at well above the rate of inflation. The whole system is chronically inefficient. Even GNER's outgoing manager, Chris Garnett, has said as much. Something's got to change.
Tbh it's only when you travel by train in mainland Europe you realise how bad the British rail system is. There are companies - even in Britain - that are adopting a policy of not flying employees places where there's a half-decent train service, and by and large it seems to work. The big barrier to it, however, is the cost and crapness of the British railways...
Guineveretoo
Mostly bewildered
jæd said:
I haven't called anyone a bastard, but I am bewildered by why anyone would fly to Scotland from London, when the trains are so efficient, speedy and pleasant. It really doesn't take much longer at all, once you take into account the need to get to the airport, the check in and security time, and the travel from the airport at the other end.
Actually, I do know lots of people who fly to Scotland for work purposes, and it still bewilders me. In fact, I told my bosses that I would not be flying if they wanted me to go to either Scotland or Ireland so, strangely, they have never given me those areas to cover
Wookey
Muppet is not a slur
I think selfish people (which is most people, let's face it) will always take the cheapest, 'easiest' route, even if you told them that doing this killed baby pandas and made Jeebus cry.
The only way forward imo is to tax fuck out of these local flights, so that the temptation isn't put in front of these people. Shouting at them won't work; Christ, if the destruction of the planet we depend upon isn't enough to convince them they're being anti-social cumwads, then raised voices and judgmentalism won't either.
I'm not saying raised voices and judgmentalism won't make us feel a bit better about the frustration these people cause us, because it will! But stopping them will take a bigger stick. They just shouldn't be able to fly to Scotland for £100. Tax it at 1000%, watch the trains suddenly fill up.
Does anyone know where their local MP stands on the issue of domestic airplane fuel taxes (without looking). I know I don't. Those of us who are against destroying the planet in order to save ourselves (or more likely our companies) a few man-hours and/or pounds, should really be a lot cleverer in pushing for disincentives which are a little more sophisticated than shouting at people.
Wookey said:I'm not saying raised voices and judgmentalism won't make us feel a bit better about the frustration these people cause us, because it will! But stopping them will take a bigger stick. They just shouldn't be able to fly to Scotland for £100. Tax it at 1000%, watch the trains suddenly fill up.
The problem is, the railways couldn't cope with the traffic growth. They're virtually at capacity already.
Time to start thinking about that high-speed line that's been in the wind for a few years...
geminisnake said:Methinks you have not had the 'pleasure' of having to use GNER on a regular basis.
I haven't been anywhere south for aaaages because they are sooooooo shite
I guess I do about 1 intercity train journey a month on average, usually Virgin or GNER.
I've had a couple of nightmare journeys but most of the time I actively enjoy the trip - if I'm travelling with work I can usually get some work done, and the trains have nearly always been bang on time.
Normally when I'm coming back to London the trains arrive quite a long way ahead of schedule
editor
hiraethified
Any plane taxing scheme would have to be matched by huge investment in the railway infrastructure and, preferably, renationalise them and get rid of the endlessly shifting fat cat franchises and introduce properly integrated ticketing.Roadkill said:
I shudder to think how much money has drained out of the railways with each shiny new franchise/director's pay-offs etc.
Monkeygrinder's Organ
Dodgy geezer swilling vapid lager
beeboo said:Normally when I'm coming back to London the trains arrive quite a long way ahead of schedule
Actually I've had that too but I don't know if it's such a good thing. They allow over an hour from Stevenage, presumably so they can make their statistics look good, but if people look at the timetable and see it taking longer than it actually does (and don't know this) it hardly encourage them to get the train.
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
jæd said:
The last flight I took was to Rome, and believe me I tried hard to get the train, but rather than being £40 more expensive, it was 100's more, so we bit the bullet. I'm flying to America before xmas for a wedding, and I wish I didn't have to. After that, I hope never to fly again unless I really have to. If those 'carbon neutral' schemes were anything but whitewash (or greenwash haha) I'd make up for it. And besides, flying to scotland is like driving down the road to the corner shop - wasteful and unnecessary. So please, kindly lube your middle finger and insert your generalisations up your arse to the second knuckle.
Yours,
Crispy, greener-than-thou and fucking proud of it.
Guineveretoo
Mostly bewildered
Spymaster said:
You are quite right - they charge more if you travel before 9:30 am. So it will cost you 80quid single to get there, and 36 to get back. That's 116 quid. I think. So you save a few quid if you fly.
ETA I really have no idea why I am wasting my time on this one. I am off to a meeting now. Have fun, all, and be nice!
