"We've been discussing this recently on another thread. Mainline Dash 8s (Austrian, Croatia etc) have their business class at the (noisier) front end - because passengers expect that's where business class should be."
How strange: when I flew recently on a Flybe Dash 8, I actually moved from a seat just ahead of the wing to one behind the wing, because I felt the forward seat was a bit noisy from the prop's. Tho in saying that, I'm in no way decrying the Dash 8-an admirable aircraft in my view.
Rail v plane to London from M/C: nowadays, I always take the train-cheaper and better service and quicker door to door to central London. The only time I fly to/from LHR from M/C is on the odd occasion I have to take a flight out of LHR, when convenience etc (especially if it's BA/T5) outweighs cheaper rail fare.