London to Edinburgh flights - where's cheapest deals?
- Thread starter chico enrico
- Start date
geminisnake
a complex mass of conflicting ideas
Monkeygrinder's Organ said:
I used to use GNER some yrs ago(I do still use them if I have to). I have spent more time than I want to recall standing in Waverley in the cold/damp waiting for trains that became up to 3hrs late.
I have missed connections because the trains have been late and been told 'well there's another one in an hr'
I have nearly barfed with the stench of waste and smoke on a NON smoking train because off duty riggers can't wait for a fag, and some of them are just generally disgusting.
The toilets are generally disgusting, it is a nice surprise to find one that actually has tissue, water and soap.
I could go on but I won't. I find train travel stressful and avoid it as much as possible.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
editor said:
Because I'd rather have dinner and sleep with my wife the night before. This is a business trip and I've no intention of making it any longer than neccesary.
It's selfish, but as Wookey says, whilst it's possible to fly to Edinburgh for £100 people will do so. I'm fucked if I'm going to spend £80 more for a slower service when the plane's flying anyway. Of course, whilst people like me continue to use the air services, the airlines will continue to fly the planes.
However, whilst the train companies continue to charge rip-off prices for poor services the airlines will flourish.
I'd prefer to travel greener, but I won't pay £80 quid or massively inconvenience myself for the priviledge. As I said, a selfish attitude, but one which I reckon the vast majority of people hold if they're honest about it.
Wookey
Muppet is not a slur
Roadkill said:
I'm not sure how full the inter-city trains actually are - they never seem to be full to the brim when I use them.
That said, I agree that the trains would have to be invested in if they were to take up the excess from a more expensive flying route.
I think this is where the power of capital comes in - the vast majority of domestic flyers are business people, rather than tourists. The demands of business are what have created the low-price domestic flights market, and I reckon the same pressure would be brough to bear on the train companies, and government, if businesses were forced to rely on trains to transport their staff. In other words, it wouldn't take many executives standing on train platforms because of ful trains before their employers started agitating for better services on the rails.
Those same employers also have to be convinced that having staff living in Manchester, who commute to London everyday is not the way to run a business. Whether they use relocation, web-commerce initiatives, whatever, to avoid this scandalous waste of fuel, they'll have to be forced into that position - and I think the only way to do that is to make the cost of flying their staff all over the county prohibitively expensive first of all. Then the solutions on the trains would have to come, otherwise UK commerce and business would grind to a halt - and let's face it, UK commerce and business will never grind to a halt if there's a way round it.
geminisnake
a complex mass of conflicting ideas
editor said:
Really?? I was certainly never told that, offered SFA of a refund/compensation and you are the first person to mention this to me, three yrs later.
Basically all it did for me was totally put me off using the train. I'm not looking forward to the journey down to Hathersage at all tbh, but from what many have written here the service has improved considerably(couldn't really get any flaming worse
)I always have cigarettes with me when I travel by train and I don't smoke, that's how much I enjoy it
Wookey - I'm not sure how full the inter-city trains actually are - they never seem to be full to the brim when I use them
The late afternoon trains out of Edinburgh heading north are always packed like sardine cans. The few times I have had to use them it was scary. I didn't even realise there was a toilet on one of them til Leuchars(look it up on the map) And don't bother booking a seat coz you won't be able to get to it anyway.
Guineveretoo
Mostly bewildered
Spymaster said:
But it's not 80 pounds more, is it? It's a few pounds - about 12 more, I think! I have already proven this!
Guineveretoo
Mostly bewildered
Wookey said:
What about businesswomen?
I have been to Leuchars loads of times. It's not particularly nice, and neither do intercity trains go there.
geminisnake
a complex mass of conflicting ideas
Wookey said:
I wouldn't but it's actually the Edinburgh-Aberdeen train, so some might fly. Not being an exec I dunno if it's doable
Only time I'm ever at Leuchars is passing through tbh. Many of the residents there are noisy gits
Worse than boy racers they are Guinevere, are you saying you have to change at Dundee and go back then?? I thought all the Edinburgh/Glasgow - Aberdeen trains stop at Leuchars. Afaik they have some arrangement with the airbase AND St. Andrews.
Guineveretoo
Mostly bewildered
Wookey said:They're far too intelligent to be flying under the current climate.
Good point, well made!
Guineveretoo
Mostly bewildered
My advice to you would be to keep passing through!geminisnake said:I wouldn't but it's actually the Edinburgh-Aberdeen train, so some might fly. Not being an exec I dunno if it's doable
Only time I'm ever at Leuchars is passing through tbh. Many of the residents there are noisy gits
It really is not nice, even though it has a nice name.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Guineveretoo said:
The cheapest return fare that we were able to find yesterday was £188.20 (although checking now I see there's a £133 fare that would be suitable). If there's a cheaper fare, fair enough, but they should have made it easier to find. You know, I put in my required dates and arrival times and up pops the cheapest fare? ......... like the airlines do!
I wasn't clear in my previous post, apologies. I wouldn't pay any more for a less convenient service Guinevere. I'd pay more to fly on this trip to be honest (quick check in at LCY and only 45 min pre boarding). Especially since my not flying next week will have precisely fuck all effect on emissions.
When the train companies can deliver a service as safe, pleasant, convenient, reliable and cost efficient as the airlines, I'll use them. Until then the greedy, chiselling bastards can F.R.O.
editor said:
Fares on Great Western are rubbish now aren’t they?
Since the introduction of the airline style ticket bollocks I can’t get back to Swansea for less than £60 these days. Before the new fare structure I could get back for about £30 and £60 would get me a fancy 1st class seat as a splurge once in a while. The fucking bastards. I’m already looking at tickets to go home for Xmas and it makes me wanna weep.
editor said:
Billions. That £5bn subsidy has to be going somewhere, plus the massive fare increases that still cover only about 40% of costs as opposed to about 75% under BR...
It's a shambles. Yup, renationalise it. BR might have looked crap because it never had much money to spend, but what money it did have it spent a lot more wisely than the current shower do.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
jæd said:
Maybe because it is the shorter flights that are the most environmentally damaging. As well as often having no practical alternative (try checking-out the costs of cabins on cargo boats these days!
) aircraft in the air for more than a couple of hours start to balance-out better pollution wise.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
Roadkill said:When was the last time you used a Virgin Voyager?
Just over a month ago - Oh god! At one point, I was standing in the bog & that, frankly was the best bit of the trip.
And yes, often by the time they get beyond Edinburhg, GNER trains can be rather ripe, never mind the other passengers. Haudding-on from say, Newcastle all the way to Aberdeen because the bogs are unusable has always been a problem, right back to the days of BR.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
geminisnake said:I have missed connections because the trains have been late and been told 'well there's another one in an hr'
We have a connection for one peak-time train to Inverness here where the GNER from London, if it is in on time, arrives 2 minutes after its official connection to Inverness has left. Despite a fair bit of protest, none of the rail authorities seem able to find slots on the line to correct this.
Roadkill said:
my understanding is that they they are working on reopening lines over the next few years.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
Don't hold your breath tho. Even the most ambitious proposals - eg the Borders line reinstatement, are going to take decades to complete & are more than likley to be abandoned when only half done. eg when the line reaches Galashiels & the edge of the Edinburgh commuter zone. Only a few of the potentially useful suburban station reopenings have ever happened too
but you will pay 80 quid to sleep with your wife or to make sure you get home at exactly the time you want
as has been said if you were a bit more flexible you could get a ticket for 30 odd quid
are you really unable to use a bog thats a bit smelly, despairs at the human race
the only comfort is that when it does all go tits up folk like you will last about 5 minutes, whilst those of us with basic human life skills might still be able to make a go of things
i think its called natural selection
geminisnake
a complex mass of conflicting ideas
smokedout said:are you really unable to use a bog thats a bit smelly, despairs at the human race
Sorry mate but a BIT smelly is a gross understatement. They are generally F***ing disgusting. Blocked, sometimes to the rim, stink to the point of stomach churning and that's before you open the door!!
Sorry but I for one have higher standards than that!!
bollocks, ive been travelling gner from london to leeds/scotland for years, you get the odd one like that occasionally, then you just have to walk (god forbid) to the next one
not saying they couldnt be better, but its not worth destroying the planet for
apologies, ive got a vested interest, im a parent
not saying they couldnt be better, but its not worth destroying the planet for
apologies, ive got a vested interest, im a parent
editor
hiraethified
Oh, I don't know: Wales got royally shafted too, with no connection left between the south and the north of the country and a ton of country lines closed.Roadkill said:
Monmouth became the only county town without a railway and great chunks of mid Wales were left stranded miles from a station.
