[KeaneJohn]

I travel between London and Manchester and London and Newcastle several times this year. Usually I like to fly but prices are becoming prohibitively expensive.

Whilst £114 might seen good value for a domestic having looked for travel to Manchester tomorrow, Thursday and Friday you are looking at most flights in the £100+ £200+ or £300+ price bracket. Very few flights are less than £100 and at times not really conducive for Business Travel. Prices for the train start at £68 return in standard and £102 in 1st class which will include, food, snacks and alcoholic drinks.

In the days of BMI one way flights ex LHR started at £39 and one way flights ex MAN were £29 (lover PFC at LHR?). Of course BMI went under so perhaps they were undercharging but now I can seldom get one way for what I would have paid for a return.

This is where reward flight saver flights become great value with a domestic leg tagged onto a European sector following a “stopover” in London of varying duration but availability of seats at weekends even booking way in advance is become sparse.

A recent visit to Newcastle saw a expensive one way flight up and a £44 Grand Central 1st class ticket from Sunderland back to London.

Door to door times were comparable maybe only 15-20 minutes in it, complementary tea and coffee, juice and snacks was served and whilst the countryside was very beautiful the train journey did seem very long and being a Sunday afternoon became full.

I suppose what I am saying is I would prefer to fly but sometimes you have to go by train which isn’t as bad as it could be.. until problems occur then your rail journey can become your biggest nightmare ever,

[Henkel.Trocken]

I looked at the price of travel from London to Glasgow earlier this morning for some dates in August. The dates are fixed. The cheapest fare on BA was £189 at times that did not suit me, it was £309 for the times I wanted, steep for economy class travel I thought particularly if I had no status benefits.

The train fare was £150 for times that were suitable so less than half the price to travel at times I want to, that is for first class with proper food and drink v.s. a cup of weak coffee and a miniature biscuit, no aggro from the goons in either direction and no restrictions on what I can have in my bag without having to check it in.

Unless you are connecting to another flight I doubt there is any future in domestic air travel with these sort of prices kicking around.

[canucklad]

Totally agree Henkel…..

I suspect that fares to GL are much higher than flights to EDI on the same dates………

Unlike at EDI, BA has a LHR monopoly on that route…..Not sure , but I think Easyjet fly from LGW & LUT…..

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