Alex McWhirter looks at how new services can benefit business traveller. This month: travel options from London to Edinburgh.
If you’re heading to the Scottish capital, should you take the “high road” and go by air, or the “low road” and take the train? If price, frequency, flexibility and downtown convenience are your main concerns then the low road scores every time. Trains operate every 30 minutes throughout the working day, with the fastest service from Edinburgh to London taking exactly four hours. If that were not enough, you will find that flexible rail tickets easily undercut their airline equivalent.
But things are not as simple as they seem. For large numbers of business people, the “high road”, while not necessarily the cheapest option, is the most convenient. The sprawling London and south-east region is covered by five airports, so companies and their staff located away from the city centre can find that boarding a plane is easier than trekking to King’s Cross for a train.
Edinburgh has expanded over the past few decades. New commercial zones are located nearer the airport than city-centre Waverley station. For example, look to the Edinburgh Park complex, or to the mammoth RBS headquarters that host more than 3,000 staff at Gogarburn. Many potential travellers now reside in Fife, north of Edinburgh, and also enjoy good road links to the airport via the Forth Road Bridge.
Air options
Flights to Edinburgh operate from five airports. Out of Heathrow you can pick British Airways or Bmi; from Gatwick BA or Easyjet; from City both BA and Air France’s Cityjet; and from Luton and Stansted you can fly with Easyjet.
It is unclear what will happen to Bmi’s Edinburgh service in the future. Should IAG’s acquisition of Bmi (see Upfront, page 6) be approved by the regulatory authorities then it is likely that some or all of this carrier’s flights would disappear. But end-to-end passengers may not suffer unduly. As we saw in the case of London-Glasgow, BA made up for the capacity shortfall on this route (caused when Bmi axed its services) by adding 4,000 more seats a week using extra flights and larger planes.
The main concern would be with those who are making onward connections with Star Alliance carriers. As we saw with Glasgow, the cost of through-fare tickets beyond Heathrow rose in price because BA would not grant the same favourable add-on rates as Bmi for carriers belonging to a rival alliance.
Return air tickets with traditional carriers start at about £70, which is good value. But if you have to book at short notice or travel at peak time (which many business people have no option but to do) then you could pay £300 or more for a restricted ticket, or £500-plus for a flexible one.
Easyjet’s lead-in fares start at £50 for a return plus ancillary fees. Its flexible fares, which start at about £200 return, include ancillary fees and allow penalty-free changes.
Rail options
Daytime East Coast trains run out of London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, which lies in the shadow of the castle, right in the city centre. Overnight Caledonian Sleepers operate out of Euston.
The cheapest flexible deal is the £121 Super Off-Peak standard class return which, heading north, is valid outside peak hours. Heading south, it is valid on almost all trains, starting with the 0655 from Edinburgh.
The best buy is the £229 Scottish Executive return ticket, which provides flexibility plus first class seating, food and drinks. It is valid on almost all trains in both directions, including the flagship 0540 service out of Edinburgh, which covers the 630km journey to London in four hours.
Readers who can plan ahead (up until 6pm the day before) and commit themselves to specific trains will save even more with an Advance ticket. These are priced one-way according to demand but start at £39 for standard and £63 for first class (including food and drinks).
The sleeper trains are operated by Scotrail. First class passengers get a single berth cabin costing £138 one-way including refreshments and breakfast. Travelling overnight can be practical – because you save a night’s hotel bill – and may be more reliable in winter weather should you have an early appointment. The downside is that some people cannot sleep on a train and the rolling stock itself is several decades old. Forget about hotel standards – washing facilities consist of a hand basin, while the toilets are located down the corridor.
If only we still had Eurostar’s Nightstar stock (these luxury coaches were deemed redundant and were later sold to the Canadians), then passengers would have enjoyed standards more in keeping with today. The good news is that the UK and Scottish authorities have agreed to spend £100 million on upgrading the present sleeper service.
