Taking the train instead

[Xeque]

Hi all,

Thanks for responses.

My rationale:

Take the trip from London to Cornwall. To make it easy I am going to count 'London' as a departure point from any mainline station. I am also going to take Truro as my destination.

By plane from Stansted

Liverpool Street station to Stansted (Stansted Express) - 45 minutes
Check-in, security clearance, boarding - 60 minutes
Flight time to Newquay (block to block) - 80 minutes
Baggage claim at Newquay - 20 minutes
Taxi to Truro (cost £35 the last time I did it) - 40 minutes
TOTAL TIME: - 4 hours 5 minutes

The time is about the same for Air Southwest out of Gatwick. I know they land at Plymouth but Gatwick is closer to the West Country so the additional time gets canceled out.

By train from Paddington

The train from Paddington to Truro takes 4 hours 25 minutes. (You can easily loose that extra 20 minutes in a delayed pushback or take-off queue at Stansted). Here I will also amend my original statement that it is 'much quicker' - it isn't but not by a big margin.

I'm not really worried about the fares. With a bit of forward planning you can get to within £5-£10 or even better than the best fare that MOL can come up with. Anyway, I am more interested in the comfort and lack of hassle.

You might like to do some comparisons with a journey from London to (say) Glasgow.

With regard to my trips from Bangkok to London (now much reduced since I retired); I would love to continue going through Heathrow but the way the airport is operated now makes the experience so awful that I am very happy to use Schiphol instead where the basics of politeness, real passenger service and operating efficiency come naturally.

The flight time difference between BKK/LHR and BKK/AMS is 30 minutes. The Thales train from Schiphol to Brussels and the Eurosatar from there to London St Pancras is 4 ½ hours. Ok, so that looks like 4 hours added but Schiphol immigration and baggage pickup is streets ahead of Heathrow in terms of speed and efficiency. The cross-over time between trains at Brussels is a couple of minutes and the Eurostar takes me right into London. I do not have to spend an additional 60 minutes in a train, bus or taxi to get there from the airport.

Again, very competitive train fares can be found if you book in advance so the difference in cost is marginal.

What I really love about the train from Schiphol is that I can really relax and unwind after the flight. I can stretch my legs, walk around, get a really good meal at a proper table and enjoy the view through the windows.