[Swissdiver]

I am looking at Scottish destinations other than EDI, GLA and ABZ to go on a Saturday. To my surprise, most of the “little” destinations (BEB, SYY, ILY, LSI, WIC, …) are not served on Saturdays (while they are on other days excepted sometimes Wednesdays). Is there a particular reason?

[mkcol74]

Religion!

[AMcWhirter]

What about Loganair ?

I checked one of the above routes, Glasgow-Benbecula, for August 17 and there is a Saturday flight.

[SimonS1]

I think there is a mix up here, there are certainly flights to Islay, Barra, Kirkwall, Benbecula….

[mkcol74]

And I got my Saturdays & Sundays mixed up.

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PeterCoultas

[Swissdiver]

To be complete, I am looking at November. I found two Saturday flights actually: one to SYY that takes off at 10:25 from GLA and one to KOI taking off at 13:00. But that’s it…

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=952979]To be complete, I am looking at November. I found two Saturday flights actually: one to SYY that takes off at 10:25 from GLA and one to KOI taking off at 13:00. But that’s it…[/quote]

Why don’t you just tell us where you want to go and which date and perhaps we can help.

I just tried randomly on Loganair website for Saturday 16th November and can see Stornoway, Islay, Barra, Kirkwall, Benbecula at which point I stopped looking.

[Swissdiver]

[quote quote=952982]

Swissdiver wrote:

To be complete, I am looking at November. I found two Saturday flights actually: one to SYY that takes off at 10:25 from GLA and one to KOI taking off at 13:00. But that’s it…

Why don’t you just tell us where you want to go and which date and perhaps we can help.

I just tried randomly on Loganair website for Saturday 16th November and can see Stornoway, Islay, Barra, Kirkwall, Benbecula at which point I stopped looking.[/quote]

Sorry not to have been clearer. But I am not asking for help. I am only trying to understand why in Scotland it is impossible to go on a Saturday to so many of these islands…

Meanwhile Kirkwall might well be my destination of one evening. Been there any one?

[mkcol74]

[quote quote=952965]I am looking at Scottish destinations other than EDI, GLA and ABZ to go on a Saturday. To my surprise, most of the “little” destinations (BEB, SYY, ILY, LSI, WIC, …) are not served on Saturdays (while they are on other days excepted sometimes Wednesdays). Is there a particular reason?[/quote]

What start point are you using in your search @Swissdiver ?

[SimonS1]

[quote quote=952984]

SimonS1 wrote:

Swissdiver wrote:

To be complete, I am looking at November. I found two Saturday flights actually: one to SYY that takes off at 10:25 from GLA and one to KOI taking off at 13:00. But that’s it…

Why don’t you just tell us where you want to go and which date and perhaps we can help.

I just tried randomly on Loganair website for Saturday 16th November and can see Stornoway, Islay, Barra, Kirkwall, Benbecula at which point I stopped looking.

Sorry not to have been clearer. But I am not asking for help. I am only trying to understand why in Scotland it is impossible to go on a Saturday to so many of these islands…

Meanwhile Kirkwall might well be my destination of one evening. Been there any one?[/quote]

It isn’t impossible. I don’t know where you are looking but if you check the Loganair website you will see there are flights to most places.

[Swissdiver]

@mkcol74: Departure city is not yet confirmed. It will be in continental Europe. So I am looking at flights via LHR. Hence Kirkwall might well be the right choice.

@Simon: I checked ex-London as my trip is somewhat complicated and requires a BA booking. Flights exist indeed even on Saturdays, but take-off time is often before 9am ex-GLA, making a previous connection impossible, let alone two.

[SimonS1]

OK, I will bow out here as I feel like we are just peeling an onion.

What started out as ‘none of these places are served on a Saturday’ (which is not correct) has gradually changed to ‘there are no flights on Saturdays in November’ (which is also not correct0, then there are no flights ex-EU/via LHR etc etc.

The reality is most of the Islands have flights on a Saturday. Of course schedules are limited, and the flights are from Glasgow, so if you are trying to connect at Glasgow it is quite possible that the timings don’t work. I can still see it is possible to get from LHR to Barra, Stornaway and Kirkwall from LHR via Glasgow on a Saturday morning. However if you are then trying to start from somewhere in Europe then even that is probably difficult.

The easiest solution of course would be to fly to Glasgow the night before, then it all becomes easy.

Good luck to the OP, I hope you get where you want to go. Nice part of the country albeit a bit wintry at that time of year.

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mkcol74

[canucklad]

I would imagine the Loganair schedule and flight plans will be quite consistent and not likely to change.
However you probably have to take into account local ideocracies such as the Wee Frees Sunday’s
And far more likely to change is travel to Barra , which is subject to the timing of the tides .

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mkcol74

[Swissdiver]

@Simon: I actually initially looked at it out of LHR… It seems it will be Kirkwall. While the weather might be a bit rough, the place looks nice. Thank you for your help and wishes.

@Canucklad: Barra: Interesting case! I might be tempted one day just for the flight. Incidentally I spent some time over the week-end looking at all these islands. The funny thing is I studied in EDI (part time MBA) and never realised there were so much to see on the other side of the country…

[givemeabreak]

Welcome to my world Swissdiver. I’ve lived on Orkney for over sixty years and have always bemoaned the lack of flights on Saturday’s, particularly during the winter months when the demand is low, I can assure you if the demand was there then Loganair would be delighted to meet the demand.

As you know, there is a flight from Glasgow to Kirkwall on 16th November departing 1:00 pm. There are additional flights from Aberdeen 8:55am and Edinburgh 9:20am.

If you can travel to Orkney a day earlier on the 15th there are three flights each from EDI and ABZ and one each from INV and GLA. All these airports are served by British Airways on code-share through tickets arrangements via Heathrow, Gatwick and London City to Scottish island destinations with Loganair, again with a reduced BA service at weekends. Loganair also offer flights to Kirkwall from Manchester, Bristol, London Southend, Norwich and Newcastle on weekdays like the 15th.

Plenty of options if you can steer away from the Saturday departure. I think you mentioned in an earlier post that you might stay one night in Kirkwall. It seems crazy to take the Glasgow flight at 13:00 and probably only get to your accommodation near 15:00 being so close to darkness by 16:00 at that time of year. However, I’ve just checked the Loganair website and there are two flights to Glasgow on Sunday 17th at 12:30 and 18:45. The later flight will provide many hours of daylight to explore the wonders and delights of Orkney of which there are many.

For a number of years now, Orkney has been the biggest cruise liner destination in the UK with around 160 visiting this summer. Not for the first time, Orkney has again topped the table for visitor satisfaction – with Kirkwall named the top Cruise Destination in Western Europe and the United Kingdom.

I hope you can find a schedule that fits your plans for which ever island you visit but I would encourage you to return in the summer months when it’s breathtaking.

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Swissdiver

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