Jet 2 - Choo Choo !!
 

So, now that the freighters are operating out of Manchester, I hear they are transporting their crew from LBA on good old trains !

" Excuse me, why is the flight late please ? "

" Er, leaves on the line sir, sorry ! "

:E

I'm not surprised - Leeds to Manchester Airport by train is an excellent journey and no less reliable than M62/M60. I know which I would rather do, though 1st class would be nice.........

You must be joking bugbusdriver; last time I did that particular train it was filthy, stopped at every forgotten outpost of the wool industry (that once was) and was full of scumbag football hooligan types. Plus the thing wasn't direct, we had to change trains at Manchester station which at that time of night was full of clubbers and heroin addicts.

At its best, from Leeds station it cuts like a knife straight through the hills and stops only at Piccadilly to change direction.

Now if you started at the nearest station to LBA, I can see why it didn't work.......

...Cough! You must be joking, endless delays and cancellations, worse now that the new timetable is in force, huge overcrowding at peak times (easily worse than the London Underground), and to cap it all off the trains are dirty, staff unhelpful and if by chance you might want to actually travel to or from the airport at night, you have a good chance of finding yourself on a bus for at least part of the journey.

I concur, however, that the alternative (M60/M62) is not much better.

When the trains are on time and working, the journey is actually lovely. It takes in some amazing scenery (incidentally around my house in Saddleworth) It is certainly one of the more scenic inter-city routes that can be travelled by railway. Wave as you pass my house in Saddleworth.

Regards

Alex:ok:

Along time ago in the south the BOH head penny pincher had us using the bus between STN and LHR , it was not long before a number of flights got delayed or canceled due to the crews being late for duty or late off duty.

The cost saving vs public transport to move a compleat crew are small but the penaltys when public transport fails are very large.

I can only assume that a "new" person in BOH is trying to make a name for him/herself , it will only take a few delays to have them re-learn the lessons of the past.

When I have time I will tell you about the £500 roll of fax paper !

Trains????

Must have been a one off surly? The other week I position via good old fashioned hire car from LBA-MAN. Then back again a week later... also via hire car. On the invoice it was £22.40 + VAT (each way). Had 2 crew in my car. Surly the train can't be much different?? Can it??

Seem to remember that Virgin tried something like this after 9/11 when they decided that the 747 Classics would operate soley from MAN, but the crews would still be LHR based. The crews wanted a mileage allowance, but the company issued them all with a Virgin trains railcard instead. The crews were'nt too impressed, so they started to use the trains to get to MAN leaving on the latest train that would get them to report on time.

The result: they got their mileage allowance!