London to Edinburgh flights - where's cheapest deals?

[Spymaster]

Of course it's incorrect to suggest that only students or those engaged in "trivial" work can operate efficiently on trains.
I'm sure there are a few people who need a high grade network connection for part of their work, but probably not all of it so they could probably do something else on the train.

Personally I don't do any work on trains or planes (maybe some reading or note making) and rarely get the computer out whilst travelling, preferring to read a book or have a meal.

It's obvious that those of us who fly extensively for a living will need to make some sacrifices somewhere. I'm prepared to do so to cut down on my flying but the gulf between "reasonable proposition" and "fucking ludicrous waste of time and money" is just too great at the moment. Right now rail journeys at short notice fall squarely into the latter category.

 

[Roadkill]

Gosh this is tedious....! I've never said no-one works on trains. What I have said is that I myself have found it very hard to work on trains. I would imagine that anyone else who needs lots of bandwidth (or even just a continuous network connection) would find it hard to work for a long period on a train....

Too damn right it's tedious, but it was you who made the suggestion that a lot of people (and I'm being generous here since, whatever you say now, your comment did effectively limit it to students) can't work on trains and now you're just refusing to accept you may not have been right. Let's just leave it...

It's obvious that those of us who fly extensively for a living will need to make some sacrifices somewhere. I'm prepared to do so to cut down on my flying but the gulf between "reasonable proposition" and "fucking ludicrous waste of time and money" is just too great at the moment. Right now rail journeys at short notice fall squarely into the latter category.

I've just looked at tickets from London to Hull two weeks hence. Not for a business journey, although I will be working - well, reading a little and maybe making notes if I feel conscientious . I know I can get a ticket for about £40, but the options on thetrainline ran all the way up to £200. Now that falls into the 'ludicrous waster of money' category, as do all too many train journeys made at short notice. If those were the only options I were presented with I'd be looking at flying too. Until we can get the railways sorted out and the prices to some sort of reasonable level this argument is going to go round and round...

 

[Spymaster]

I know I can get a ticket for about £40, but the options on thetrainline ran all the way up to £200.

Crazy isn't it?

I'm not (particularly) stupid and by the time I'd spent 20 minutes being fucked to death by the websites and bewildering array of fares on offer I chose to fly almost in protest!

The cheapest fare that I found last week was over £180 return, just one day later Guineveretoo informed me (on this thread) that she found one for £116. I checked the same site and managed to find one for £132.

I booked my Scottair flights (£104) in about 2 minutes on Expedia.

Madness.

 

[guinnessdrinker]

also, who in their right mind would want to carry on a confidential conversation in a carriage full of strangers?

as if you're going to be alone on a plane...

at least, in a train, you can move to a relatively empty carriage to phone for your secret deals.

 

[Cobbles]

as if you're going to be alone on a plane...

at least, in a train, you can move to a relatively empty carriage to phone for your secret deals.

Thankfully phones aren't allowed to be in operational mode whilst airborne so that's one blessing.

As for moving to a relatively empty carriage - clearly you've never tried to travel on a Virgin Voyager between England and Scotland mid-afternoon - a haven for fare dodgers as the ticket inspector/train manager hides in their cubby hole to avoid the barrage of complaints.

 

[chico enrico]

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

I too 'despair at the human race' when i read sanctimonious postings like this.

 

[chico enrico]

ok, i am up to page five and i really haven'ty the will to read the other pages of postings. such attitudes genuinely depress me. I really wish, like so many posters who seem to be likening me to ian brady because i want to save a few pounds, and hours of holiday time after suffering 25 years of grossly inflated train tickets, shitty dervice and delays that i didn't have to worry about money. but unfortunately for the self-proclaimed 'greener-than thou and proud of it' brigade some of us still live in the real world.
Attitudes like yours, rather than make me want to embrace the ecological ethos you espouse simply make me want to buy a decommissioned jumbo jet to fly down the pub, dropping fridges, microwaves and drums of crude oil out the back en route.

 

[guinnessdrinker]

Attitudes like yours, rather than make me want to embrace the ecological ethos you espouse simply make me want to buy a decommissioned jumbo jet to fly down the pub, dropping fridges, microwaves and drums of crude oil out the back en route.

drunk in charge of a plane

 

[baldrick]

ok, i am up to page five and i really haven'ty the will to read the other pages of postings. such attitudes genuinely depress me.

'cos people haven't said what you wanted to hear, you're depressed? lordy.

no-one on this thread would agree that flying is good for this environment, including you. i won't say more, in case you decide to kill yourself

 

[Spymaster]

ok, i am up to page five and i really haven'ty the will to read the other pages of postings. such attitudes genuinely depress me. I really wish, like so many posters who seem to be likening me to ian brady because i want to save a few pounds, and hours of holiday time after suffering 25 years of grossly inflated train tickets, shitty dervice and delays that i didn't have to worry about money. but unfortunately for the self-proclaimed 'greener-than thou and proud of it' brigade some of us still live in the real world.
Attitudes like yours, rather than make me want to embrace the ecological ethos you espouse simply make me want to buy a decommissioned jumbo jet to fly down the pub, dropping fridges, microwaves and drums of crude oil out the back en route.

Chico,

Check out BMI out of Heathrow. I'm going again on Thursday 9th Nov and just got a same day return for £74

 

[chico enrico]

At last a voice of reason!! Cheers for that mate

 

[Spymaster]

No worries.

http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/index.aspx

 

[Guineveretoo]

At last a voice of reason!! Cheers for that mate

Hey! You suggesting that I am not being reasonable, simply because I think you should go by train?

 

[editor]

GNER now has Wi-Fi on *all* its trains.

Nice one!
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=7467

 

[Cobbles]

GNER now has Wi-Fi on *all* its trains.

Nice one!
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=7467

It's part of the rail nostalgia gig - it offers all the bandwidth that you used to enjoy from a 300Bd acoustic coupler.

Not so much dogs bollocks as gnats' cojones.

 

[beeboo]

It's part of the rail nostalgia gig - it offers all the bandwidth that you used to enjoy from a 300Bd acoustic coupler.

Not so much dogs bollocks as gnats' cojones.

T'is quite sufficient to post on urban, and hence adequate for my needs

http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=164262

(seriously tho' it wasn't that reliable and quite expensive, but it was actually incredibly useful and I managed to download some moderately sized documents without any difficulty).

 

[editor]

It's part of the rail nostalgia gig - it offers all the bandwidth that you used to enjoy from a 300Bd acoustic coupler.

Not so much dogs bollocks as gnats' cojones.

What on earth are you on about?

The technology for GNER's Wi-Fi service is supplied by Icomera and consists of an antenna fitted to each train that provides a 2Mbps satellite downlink and links to Orange and Vodafone's 3G and GPRS networks along the route. The signal is then passed on to a wireless access point fitted on each carriage.

The combination of satellite and 3G coverage ensures 100 percent connectivity for passengers, even through tunnels, and GNER said it is confident the Wi-Fi service on each train can support 40 customers simultaneously at the moment.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39279979,00.htm

I wouldn't expect white-knuckle download speeds on a train, but I know that it would be extremely useful to be able to have a connection available on my journey.

 

[Cobbles]

What on earth are you on about? I wouldn't expect white-knuckle download speeds on a train, but I know that it would be extremely useful to be able to have a connection available on my journey.

Don't forget that's 2Mbps (under absolutely ideal conditions) shared across all the users. It's just about adequate for text only email and files up to 50k.

 

[editor]

Don't forget that's 2Mbps (under absolutely ideal conditions) shared across all the users. It's just about adequate for text only email and files up to 50k.

I can download 50k files on my feeble GPRS mobile easily enough, so I'd have no problem working with a faster on-train network, even going along with your improbable notion that all users will all be downloading stuff at exactly the same time.

 

[grosun]

Don't forget that's 2Mbps (under absolutely ideal conditions) shared across all the users. It's just about adequate for text only email and files up to 50k.

Strange that i managed to upload this image (1.1MB in full sized version) from the train on my way up to Scotland last christmas then...

(taken from the train window, just to prove a point really)

Admittedly, it was a tad slower than I'd expect at home/work, but it wasn't too bad at all. Yeah, you wouldn't want to do 'proper' computer work where you're remotely logged into servers & ting while you're on the train, but imo it's pretty cool being able to send emails etc (& as far as I recall, I managed to listen to streaming radio fine too). If you organise it properly, most pple should be able to find something productive they can do with the connectivity that's available.

A top tip, if the cheapo first class tickets on GNER aren't much more expensive than the normal ones, go for it.. not only do you get a bigger seat, free coffee/tea etc, but you also get freebie internet (from whence that pic was uploaded)

 

[jæd]

...2Mbps satellite downlink...

Ouch...! Just think of the ping times...!

Yeah, you wouldn't want to do 'proper' computer work where you're remotely logged into servers & ting while you're on the train

Kind of what I said last week... Around and around we go... Bit surprised people are banging on about this...

 

[grosun]

Originally Posted by grosun
Yeah, you wouldn't want to do 'proper' computer work where you're remotely logged into servers & ting while you're on the train

Kind of what I said last week... Around and around we go...

indeed.. I only came across this thread today... sorry if i'm digging up old nonsense!

I assume a lot of your work involves remotely accessing servers then. I'm in a similar boat (or train, hoho) a lot of the time, but if I planned ahead a little, I could easily do some local dev work on the laptop for the duration of any train journey in Britain.

Obviously, if you're a systems dude, then you're kinda stuck, but given that anyone techy will be in a minority on a train anyway, & then systems peeps would be a minority of a minority, I think it's safe to say most pple would find the web connection quite adequate for their needs.

 

[editor]

Obviously, if you're a systems dude, then you're kinda stuck, but given that anyone techy will be in a minority on a train anyway, & then systems peeps would be a minority of a minority, I think it's safe to say most pple would find the web connection quite adequate for their needs.

Absolutely!
The train connection would be more than adequate for the vast, vast majority of users.

 

[laptop]

What I used to find hard to fathom was the vehemence of anti-train arguments. Not every one of them demands that we overturn everything we know about climate, logic and arithmetic in order to agree with their transport preference - but some do.

(And we haven't even had the argument yet about people who bang on about trains being late, in favour of a mode that is the definition of late. Why is a train being an hour late - the worst I've had in five years - so much more bloody-curdlingly awful for them than planes that can routinely be five or seven hours late or land in the wrong city entirely?)

But then I got involved in a blindingly time-wasting argument with a trade unionist who insisted on his right to fly from Glasgow to London at full fare despite it taking longer and him still staying overnight.

It became clear that it was a sign of respeck. Flying made him feel valued and important. The train was for n00bs and plebs (yes, he was a pretty crap trade unionist). The train was beneath him.

Now I'm only left with the puzzle of how people can have such massive cognitive dissonance.

It's as if...

Flying isn't like that any more!

 

[Guineveretoo]

Has flying ever been like that?

I bet I know the trade unionist to whom you refer. If not, there is mor than one

 

[laptop]

Has flying ever been like that?

It's possible that the whole thing was mocked up at Elstree studios...

I bet I know the trade unionist to whom you refer. If not, there is mor than one

The one I'm thinking of was run over by a car and killed a couple of years ago. So there has been more than one

 

[Guineveretoo]

It's possible that the whole thing was mocked up at Elstree studios...



The one I'm thinking of was run over by a car and killed a couple of years ago. So there has been more than one

That's bad.

Arrogant trade unionists who think they have the right to posh travel and posh hotels and whatnot, are a disgrace to the profession, imho.

Mind you, I am thinking of full time officials, rather than lay ones. I just remembered that one of the lay officials from UNISON was killed in the Ladbroke Grove rail accident. He wouldn't have been if he hadn't been travelling first class which, in those days anyway, UNISON allowed for all its national lay activists

 

[Spymaster]

I made the trip yesterday.

I left home in NW London at 9am and was dropped outside T1 at Heathrow just before 10am. I had already checked-in online so only needed to enter my credit card details into a machine in the terminal, get the ticket and go through security. It was as simple as buying a tube ticket. I was through security and sitting at the gate with a coffee by 10.30am.

We departed on time at 11am. The aircraft, a BMI Airbus A320 was spotless, replete with big, comfortable (leg room fine, I'm 6ft tall), leather seats throughout but was unfortunately only half full .

I've made this flight a few times but yesterday was fabulous. When I've done this route before it's either been cloudy or I've had an aisle seat. Yesterday was beautifully clear and cloudless and I had a window seat. Of course the entire flight is overland so there's something to look at all the time. Most interesting was how quickly the Pennines start and finish and being able to see England from coast to coast from 36000ft (from the Solway Firth and Carlisle on the port side, to the North Sea at Newcastle/South Shields out to starboard). Seconds after that you're over Scotland and the change of scenery is dramatic and immediate.

England's pretty flat ....... and Scotland's all lumpy! Constant rolling mountainous stuff, with the occasional loch nestling down there atwixt glen and ........ something!, it's a puffed, silk quilt.

A lovely flight, just too short.

We landed at Edinburgh just before midday and I was in a taxi at 12.10. There are no formalities on domestic flights and unless you have hold luggage (which I didn't) you simply walk off the plane and straight out of the terminal.

My first meeting was at 1pm on Earl Grey Street and I was 25 minutes early so I took a walk around the roads below the castle.

My second was over lunch at a nice restaurant called Amber which ocupies a higher wing of the Scottish Whisky Heritage Centre on Castle Hill adjacent to the castle itself. I had "Scottish tapas" and "haggis 'n neeps" in a whisky sauce. Outstanding.

I had a wander around Edinburgh from 4pm to 5pm before getting a taxi back to the airport for my 6.30pm flight home.

This time there was a scary looking queue at security, as unlike Heathrow, at Edinburgh you go through the same security control for domestic flights as for international flights. I was, however, through it and at the gate in about 15 mins.

The flight left more or less on time (6.38pm), and I was in a window seat again but unfortunately surrounded by a hen party from Dundee . Actually, whilst pissed up, they weren't too bad and I spent the flight answering questions and advising on things to do in London.

We landed at 7.35pm and I was picked up outside and home by 8.30pm.

A highly productive and most enjoyable day that would have been impossible had I not flown.

The air travel cost was £74 return