By the time I was 15, I'd flown all around Europe (and to Ankara) as an Unaccompanied Minor, so turning 16 didn't make a lot of difference. In those days (the 70s) there were flight announcements so it was less easy to miss your flight, and of course aeroports were a lot less congested.

A lot of people not much older than me used to 'overland' from Australia to the UK and back, stopping off in Afghanistan for the cheap kif and Kathmandu for the vibe. As Australia is an island, this meant cheap airfares on small regional airliners from Darwin to the nearest point of mainland Asia. My father as Consul at the British High Commission in Delhi used to have to deal with those who had been robbed, arrested, raped, picked up malaria or polio, been involved in road accidents, etc., enroute, but most people made it through relatively undamaged. Many were in their teens. I don't think many parents waved their kids off on the journey without some qualms, but wave them off they did.

Anther route for informal travellers was London to Cape Town. Neither of these routes have been possible for decades now.

Justapax1
Like you a very long haul commuter when young and have been flying since 1962, if you discount my inbound flight after birth in September 1960. I knew the route and refuelling stops really well, and when a little older used to advise business travellers on various watering holes that I had heard of via CC if I was spoken to. I have yet to get on the wrong plane, however trains are a different matter ☹️

Cheers
Mr Mac

I've done similar PAs ! They are generally followed by a concerned or amused Number 1 or Purser calling or coming into the flight deck and telling me. "Oh, did I really say that ? OK, I'll do another PA".

Easy to do when you are on a 4 or 6 sector day - but you sound like an idiot because the passengers assume you don't know where you are going, rather than just the wrong destination popping into your mouth.


I am still very concerned how an airport gate checked this lad onto the wrong flight. Did they not check his ticket, or did they check it but not notice it was wrong ? Either is very worrying.

Drifting between threads but I'd like your input on PPRuNe Bashes re Heathrow, Reading, Oxford and other Western venues for the next Bash as you're coming from the furthest West. Don't be shy now, have your say.

It costs me very little more in money or time to get to Reading or Heathrow, I still have to go through King's Cross, than it does to get to Richmond. I'm the only PPruNer coming from the East Midlands.

Don't feel you're being left out just because you're further away from the epicentre of Bashers.

Just checked in for my flights on Monday with Aer Lingus/Emerald. There is a distinct lack of direct internal flights in the UK, frankly it is ridiculous that there are so few direct internal flights, ruddy annoying really.

I have to be in Southampton on Monday to sign the contracts on my new property. Should be simple given the number of airports close by the Hull area. Not on your Auntie Nelly is it simple, (it also has to be said that using coach or train is equally naff too)

Tomorrow I take the train (and rail replacement buses) from Hull to MAN, stay at Claytons overnight for my flight after breakfast aboard Emerald ATR to BHD, then at BHD board another Emerald ATR to SOU, landing at around 1240. After staying at the new property's guest room overnight, back to SOU early Tuesday morning for my Emerald ATR flight to BHD, then board another Emerald ATR from BHD to MAN, then it is trains from MAN to Hull (no rail replacement buses).

The day that I finally move out of the current property I have to catch the trains (plus Metro) to NCL for an early evening direct flight back to SOU with Loganair aboard an ERJ145. Loganair do not do suitable direct flights from NCL to SOU that would have allowed me to get there on Monday at the right timeframe, hence the Emerald zigzag BHD excursion.

I did check my very local airport, HUY, and that only managed a 24 hour average excursion from HUY to SOU via ruddy AMS!

What is wrong with this country that you cannot get internal flights without going on a grand tour of the UK (and NI or The Netherlands) in order to get from point A to point B?

Internal flights across the numerous airports in the UK....nah....no ruddy way....needs sorting out methinks.

I guess there's simply not enough demand between HUY and SOU to make the flight commercially viable.

Someone could make a killing operating a fleet of King Air or similar aircraft tween the regional airports. If the availability was there, people would use it, even if only as an air taxi type service.

The lack of direct flights has the brain cells whirring....

My trips to/from/to SOU.....

Trains to/from MAN and one way to NCL, flights - MAN-BHD-SOU-SOU-BHD-MAN and NCL-SOU, 2 nights hotel - MAN and SOU, food/drink and taxis over the entire set of trips..... £1300 give or take a few quid

What would it cost for a C172 from HUY to SOU, stay for 2 hours inc bacon sarnie etc for pilot (plus landing/parking fees for two hours) whilst I have my meeting, then from SOU to HUY. Two weeks later a one way HUY to SOU with empty aircraft return to HUY after dropping me off?

Air taxis seem to be a thing of the past....unless you can afford a swanky biz jet, of course.

How about train, via Sheffield & Birmingham New Street - 6 hours 11 minutes.

Most people baulk at "prop shock". Props belong to WW2 aircraft. Harsh but fair. It depends on what KingAir you operate. The Be200 is CS-23, whereas the Be350 is CS-25. What does that mean? the CS-23 is not certified to the same performance criteria as CS-25. Essentially, there's "no man's land" between VR and V2. So if you have an engine failure just on take off, it's "luck" if you fly. (See the recent Southend accident), whereas , CS-25 aircraft, the performance is assured with an engine failure at V1.
Airlines are expensive to run. Look at how many have failed. The margins are unbelievably thin. If point to point regional flying was profitable, someone would be doing it. In most cases, regional routes need govt subsidies.

I live very close to VRN, although to get there I have to take a a bus into town and another bus out again, they only cost €1.50 and € 1.80. From VRN I can get to just about anywhere. And if I can't there by plane, I can get there by train.

Now let's try EMA. You have to take a bus from Nottingham, there isn't a train connection, the bus is slow and expensive. Why would people want to take it? The contrast between the two ends of the journey is expressive. British aeroports just aren't that well connected. Even most regional airports require you to take a taxi to get anywhere. And in these days of cheap airfares, the taxi can cost as much as the flight.

Now let's say you want to fly intra-uk rather than driving or taking the train. Trains cost much more than flying and are unreliable, bus replacement services are the norm rather than the exception. But your choices for flying are limited. Want to fly from Plymouth? Plymouth aeroport is closed. Want to fly from Exeter? your choice of destinations is limited.

You are pretty much forced to drive.

If you want to fly from a regional to the continent, you will be charged a lot more than if you fly from LHR. So you'll fly from LHR, even though it would make much more sense to fly from a regional. This why LHR is full, and SOU isn't - crazy fares favour LHR.

Trains are useless and expensive.....one wrong leaf or the incorrect type of snowflake on the line and the entire network is paralysed in fear....not to mention being forced to cross London either by taxi, bus or tube which has become increasingly dodgy in Khan's city.

If the regional airports are not going to have regional flights that criss cross the UK on a regular basis, then what is the point of having regional airports?

With the trains being so unreliable and expensive, the coach services being a nightmare and roads snarled up...we need, absolutely need, a decent regional airline that operates across all regional airports in the UK. The UK needs it as a viable and affordable alternative to the existing unreliable public transport network.

My meeting on Monday at SOU will take no more than 2 hours, yet it is taking from lunchtime today til Tuesday evening to accomplish due to the lack of suitable public transport which is locally based. If a regional airline or airtaxi service existed at HUY, I could be in SOU mid morning and back at HUY before teatime on the same day.

Same issue when going on holiday and you need to have a regional connection to a main hub in the UK...forget that, not possible to do without involving trains and buses to an airport on the other side of the country to catch the "regional" flight when there is a perfectly serviceable, internationally equipped regional airport on the doorstep at HUY that is not connected to anywhere apart from AMS.

It is just infuriating that people cannot use the regional airports to travel around the UK. It needs to be sorted out. The infrastructure is in place, it just needs a brave person to actually put something together and make it work. Doesn't even need to be aircraft like ATR's, something smaller would do fine such as the King Air types or similar, it isn't rocket science.

Bonnie Lass
I think that model has been tried, as I do remember my wife flying from Leeds Bradford to Southampton quite a bit on a Jetstream and taking the train from the airport to the office using Eastern but the service is now discontinued. The one I find glaring is the lack of a flight from Manchester to Gatwick as currently you would have to fly with Easy Jet to Belfast or Scotland and then fly back to Gatwick. There used to be a shuttle of maybe 3 flights a day operated by BA but that all stopped with the BA with drawl from Manchester apart from shuttle to Heathrow.
I don't find the trains too bad in UK and do use the ECML a fair bit to go into London, and also used Cross Country service while looking at a project in Birmingham with very few issues. As for London its busy and a bit dirty but I have never felt it being very threatening, but it is not a favorite city, and less so during heat waves, but compared to some other places I go it does not feel very threatening to be honest.

Cheers
Mr Mac

If it was viable I'm sure somebody would be doing it. British aviation is littered with the wrecks of small start ups that were going to corner the market for Y to Z travel and spun in fairly quickly.

If you want to avoid tube or taxi between Kings Cross and Waterloo, you could get the Thames Link from next door St Pancras to London Bridge and then hop a Charing Cross train to Waterloo East. Bit of walking at both ends...

The trains from Birmingham New Street / Manchester Piccadilly are direct to Southampton. There is more than one a day, and even aircraft have been known to suffer disruption from time to time! As for cost, a lot less than the £1300 you mentioned!

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....b495085fb5.jpg



https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9aa88e0159.jpg

Erm...I am leaving from Hull....not Birmingham or Sheffield.

I have spent close on £1300 for 5 x flights, 3 x hotel stays, 6 x trains, 2 x buses and a taxi.

My routes are :

Hull train station to MAN, overnight stay.
MAN - BHD - SOU - Aer Lingus Emerald
Meeting in SOU, overnight stay
SOU - BHD - MAN - Aer Lingus Emerald
MAN to Hull train station

Then two weeks after :

Hull train station to NCL
NCL - SOU - Loganair
SOU overnight stay
Move into new place.

In relation to the MAN - SOU return...I cannot physically sit on trains for 6+ hours each way and fight my way through Khan City, the body will not allow that to happen without extreme quantities of pain medication, I would not be able to get from Hull to my meeting in SOU by 1pm and back in the same day.

An airtaxi could have got me to SOU from HUY and back in a matter of hours in one day....and on moving day I could have been down there quicker too....and significantly less knackered and with less expense.

I looked up trains from Humberside.

Hull to Barnetby is apparently a 30 minute ride.

And, as I pointed out you don't have to go via "Khan City".

Still time (& money) to spare, go by air!

It is called convenience.

Trains in the UK (since you live in Hungary) are absolutely dreadful. They are unreliable, often packed to the gunnells worse than sardines and they are expensive (and frequently filthy inside). On a personal level when having the issue of an arthritic spine, sitting on a train and chopping/changing stations, hunting down the next platform etc is not exactly conducive to being a stress free journey.

So yes, I chose to fly...reliable, comfortable and quicker and with minimal train journeys to the aircraft.

However that still does not give a reasonable excuse as to why regional airports across the UK do not have a reasonable coverage of regional flights tween them. There is no point having regional airports like HUY and SOU if they are not connected to each other by air without going to AMS first. I am a 30 minute taxi ride from HUY, a proper regional flight to SOU would take an hour or so, meeting done, back to SOU, hop back on the regional flight to HUY and be home in time for tea. But no, the only way to SOU from HUY is with KLM with a 21 hour layover in AMS which is utterly bonkers.

And yet you're catching a train to Manchester!

And?


The train to MAN is significantly quicker than catching one to SOU (Parkway station - my meeting is 5 mins away from Parkway / airport station) from Hull and they go into the airport terminal building at MAN, so extremely easy and convenient (even with rail replacement due to track upgrades as in the journey this afternoon the journey time is under 3 hours)

Hull to SOU Parkway by train is 6 hours average each way, will not get me to my meeting at a reasonable or even close to reasonable time and would still entail nights away from home

Your argument for using the train is moot. I am NOT sitting on a train, changing trains 3+ times each way for journey times of 6 hours each way....you can if you like, but I am not doing that. Flying is only marginally more expensive but it is way more convenient, far more comfortable and much more reliable....and I can work the travel with my meeting time considerably easier too.

It is just disappointing that the UK has such poor reginional flight availability, which is the point that I am trying to make that you seem determined to miss/ignore.