UK Domestic Filghts - help!

[airhead10]

Need some advice please!
Trying to discover if there is such as thing as a domestic flight between Birmingham and Heathrow. Or even East Midlands Airport and Heathrow.
Been away from the UK for some time and will be vising relatives in August. Wanted to take a day trip to London with my wife. Discovered that a return train journey will cost a minimum of 136 GBP each!!! :uhoh:
Now logic would suggest that if one can fly to Europe for less than 100 GBP, would not a domestic flight be cheaper?
Any advice would be much appreciated :ok:

[bacardi walla]

In a word "no". Why not hire a car with easyjet ??:E

[Mike16]

Hi Airhead


Unfortunatly there are no flights from the East / West Mids to London, i wished there was. The nearest is Manchester to the Capital.
Regarding trains, i know in the Derbyshire area, Midland mainline the local operator are doing a special offer of £15.00 return, the only clause is i think, you have to book 48 hours before travel.
Also like walla man has said you could try Easyjet car rental, i hope this helps

Mike

[WHBM]

No such flights from anywhere in the Midlands to London for many years.

Regarding trains (yes, I know this is a flying forum) the Chiltern Railways service from Birmingham Snow Hill to London Marylebone is normally much cheaper than the "main line" Virgin Trains one from Birmingham New Street to London Euston.

Regarding low fare flights to Europe, would be interesting if someone could find fares, say on Easy from E Mids to Gatwick connecting via Amsterdam, that were cheaper than any UK domestic travel option for the same journey !

[airhead10]

Many thanks for the responses people.

Will actually be hiring a car for the period, but was hoping to avoid the hassle of driving into and around London.

Did see that National Express are running coaches to London from most cities for 1 GBP each way! (Yes, that's ONE pound each way!!). As far as I can see no catches other than booking 48 hours ahead.
:ok:

[DeepC]

Drive down to somewhere like Cockfosters which has a massive car park (£2.50 a day) and get the Picadilly line into Central London. Cockfosters station is easy to get to from the M25. Head on the A1111(?) straight towards Cockfosters and the car park is on the left after the Garage.

DeepC

[Globaliser]

Trains: Go to www.trainline.co.uk or www.qjump.co.uk (both now parts of the same company) for ticket prices. I can't believe that you have to pay £136 each for a day trip. That sounds like a fully flexible business fare to me, possibly even in first class. There must be trains with cheaper prices for standard class.

[Re-Heat]

It might even be cheaper to get a family railcard when buying the tickets, to recoup the cost in the discount given on the tickets, though it is restricted to off-peak travel only?

[Flightmapping]

Airhead, which is your closest station?

there are a few more "tricks" you can play to get cheaper tickets.

For example, from Coventry to London, I get one ticket to Milton Keynes, and then another from Milton Keynes to London, using a Network Railcard (I don't qualify for any others). Providing I'm doing a day trip, I usually save myself about £6 each way, and get the tube thrown in for free. This is all using Virgin Train, providing they stop in Milton Keynes (one each hour does). The same may well be possible on the Midland Mainline. I think Chiltern have a £15 return offer if you are prepared to go when it suits them - plenty of easy parking at Warwick Parkway, just off the A46.

[bacardi walla]

Maybe cheaper (if workable) to fly EMA-AMS-LON then coach/train home :confused:

[Jump Airlines]

This is the kind of problem my new airline is trying to over come. People travelling around the uk.

Jump is to open in 2008 and fly regionally from London City airport with 2 ATR 42-300 aircraft.

Some people beleive that my airline doesnt have the necessary pax to operate these routes. But trains and roads are too unrealiable and expensive now.

Thanks,

David Wilding
CEO - Jump Airlines.


Edit: Normally I would write to you in regard to your posts, some of which I closed yesterday. Please do not use PPRuNe to advertise your 'virtual' airline. It is not welcome. Go find a site where virtual airlines exist - do NOT use PPRuNe again. All your posts below this are now deleted. By the way, ANYTHING that cannot be opertaing until 2008/9 is VIRTUAL!


PPRuNe Pop

[egnxema]

David,

My new airline is going to be called "Boo!" and will be launching with 4 aircraft in 2007, I guarantee we will knock your socks off!

:E

[Cyrano]

David:

I note that the main thread devoted to your virtual airline "Jump" has been locked. Perhaps it would be wise to take the hint rather than to try to hijack other discussions. Meanwhile, consider saving up between now and - oh, mid-2007, say - for a spell checker, which would also be helpful on your website (claiming "expertise" would be more convincing if it is not spelt "expertees", for example). You will find a lot of support on PPRuNe for genuine startups, but precious little for people who claim to be what they obviously are not.

Airhead:

Some other options:
Virgin Trains allow you to register online to get access to "Virgin Value" fares which are significantly cheaper than the regular ones if you can fit around their dates.

National Express coaches are currently in competition with Megabus (www.megabus.com) who also offer low fares from Birmingham to London.

All else being equal, I'd suggest Chiltern Trains rather than Virgin - more reliable, newer trains, and you can get a tube card as part of the fare.

Meanwhile, just awaiting the move of this thread to a non-aviation forum... ;)

[Hotel Mode]

cant work out where 136 came from, just checked the trainline and even a First class open return is 110.20 on virgin, Standard class £64 and £41 on chiltern and these are absolute max possible fares.

[jetstream7]

David

Perhaps you could answer me the question I posed earlier - what expertise do you and your colleagues Leo and Sam have that gives you the qualities to set up and run an airline - in Sam's case what is his aviation expertise that you find so useful?

Thanks

[egnxema]

Dear David,

Please also take this as a polite request/question.

As you will have noticed, a certain amount of scepticism has been expressed about your venture.

This is no doubt irritating to you and your plans to set up your airline. To assist us all in PPRuNe to give due respect to your plans, maybe you could introduce yourself more fully. Your Profile says that you live in Essex and you have a PPL. Maybe you could tell us all other information such as how old you are, what type of expertise you and your friends have, etc.

Out of interest, when was the last time you visited LCY?

Should you not wish to reveal more about yourself please do not be offended if the large majority of PPRuNers poke fun at, or do not give much attention to your plans.

Not many on this site is are deliberately out to throw abuse at start-up carriers. But David, please remember that many of the people behind the nicknames are day to day aviation professionals - it is not too difficult to smell if somethings is a bit "fishy" or does not add up.

All the best mate.

e
:ok: