Trains and Planes

Allnamestaken · 19 May 2011 at 12:45

You ever wondered how it could be £30 to fly from London Stanstead to Glasgow.

Then you go and look at trains and it costs £108 on a good day?

Or it costs £16 from London to Birmingham but when i try to get a 70mile trip from Ipswich to London which is what 40 minutes it costs £35

Why are train prices so borked?

Its crazy!

Wyrdo · 19 May 2011 at 12:51

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18276655

[TW]Fox · 19 May 2011 at 12:52

Allnamestaken said:
You ever wondered how it could be £30 to fly from London Stanstead to Glasgow.

Then you go and look at trains and it costs £108 on a good day?

Or it costs £16 from London to Birmingham but when i try to get a 70mile trip from Ipswich to London which is what 40 minutes it costs £35

Why are train prices so borked?

Its crazy!

Whats crazy is comparing apples with oranges.

Walk into Stanstead now and buy a ticket for the next available flight to Glasgow. It'll be a lot more than £30.

Book a ticket to Glasgow in advance on the train and its a lot less than £108.

yer_averagejoe · 19 May 2011 at 12:59

[TW]Fox;19174291 said:
Whats crazy is comparing apples with oranges.

Walk into Stanstead now and buy a ticket for the next available flight to Glasgow. It'll be a lot more than £30.

Book a ticket to Glasgow in advance on the train and its a lot less than £108.

While your argument is absolutely correct, I can't help but feel that trains should match buses in their convenience. The amount of time you need to plan a train journey is ridiculous.

Bassmansam · 19 May 2011 at 13:01

Someone needs to pay to take care of the tracks ect.

antijoke · 19 May 2011 at 13:01

yer_averagejoe said:
The amount of time you need to plan a train journey is ridiculous.

No it's not...... :confused:

Amp34 · 19 May 2011 at 13:23

[TW]Fox;19174291 said:
Whats crazy is comparing apples with oranges.

Walk into Stanstead now and buy a ticket for the next available flight to Glasgow. It'll be a lot more than £30.

Book a ticket to Glasgow in advance on the train and its a lot less than £108.

Actually I just checked and an advanced return ticket does indeed come out to be over £100, was pretty shocked tbh. It may just be me picking an anomolous date though.

Either way I'd still rather take the train as I won't need to spend hours waiting around and paying for a bus/train/taxi both ends to get to and from an airport...

Efour · 19 May 2011 at 13:39

Id guess a train and a short flight use about the same in fuel anyway ?

Anyone ?

Allnamestaken · 19 May 2011 at 13:45

Advanced tickets do still come out to as much which is why i said it! i booked advanced tick to scotland n it cost that vs £60 which was a flight booked night before.

[TW]Fox · 19 May 2011 at 13:54

Amp34 said:
Actually I just checked and an advanced return ticket does indeed come out to be over £100

The fares quoted in the OP - plane included - are single tickets and not returns.

Cheapest fare I could find in advance to Glasgow is £47 one way, though it does only take 4 hours 30 minutes to get from Central London to Central Glasgow.

Starting and finishing at the same point I doubt the plane is any quicker in reality.

feedtheram · 19 May 2011 at 13:55

Efour2 said:
Id guess a train and a short flight use about the same in fuel anyway ?

Anyone ?

I believe rail is by far the most fuel efficient mode of transport...even more so depending on the type of train. I think its one of the reasons the government is still investing so heavily in the industry.

gambitt · 19 May 2011 at 14:50

I just picked a random date to compare 2 journeys from London to Glasgow. I chose a date over 3 weeks away which seems a reasonable enough time not to be considered "short notice".

Obviously with the flight you have to get to Stanstead, whereas the train leaves from Paddington - it's reasonable to suggest that Paddington is more likely to be a convenient location for most people.

Here are my findings:

http://imageshack.us/m/29/7979/airz.jpg
http://imageshack.us/m/839/3869/trainw.jpg

£16 return for the flight (plus admin fee of £6 I believe) compared with £120 for the train. Even with the added inconvenience of flying, given a choice between those prices I know which mode of transport I would opt for...

Ahleckz · 19 May 2011 at 14:54

That is awfully cheap, but Prestwick airport is about 30 miles out of Glasgow and takes 45 minutes to get to Glasgow. However, for those prices it's probably worth it...

[TW]Fox · 19 May 2011 at 14:57

I'm sorry but thats a ridiculous comparison, you've managed to find an abnormally low fare there for the plane. How come there are no taxes? They usually make up the bulk of the price! I tried for over a week to try and find a non-con ticket on one of the low fare airlines before giving up and just paying full whack with a proper airline. That £16 doesnt include baggage, the stupid card fee, it doesnt include 20 quid to get to Stanstead, it doesnt include the price of getting from 30 miles outside of Glasgow into Glasgow.

You cannot travel from central London to central Glasgow for £16 all in.

Amp34 · 19 May 2011 at 15:01

And the card fee on that... How much is Ryanair charging now, about £20 isn't it?
And then the cost to get to standsted, lets say £20 as well most people would probably need to get a taxi, then the cost of getting to Glasgow from the airport, lets say £20 again...

But yeah that train fair is a little steep, however that air fair isn't remotely covering it's costs... That'll be at least partly why the airfair will be cheaper...

Allnamestaken · 19 May 2011 at 15:01

[TW]Fox;19174871 said:
The fares quoted in the OP - plane included - are single tickets and not returns.

Cheapest fare I could find in advance to Glasgow is £47 one way, though it does only take 4 hours 30 minutes to get from Central London to Central Glasgow.

Starting and finishing at the same point I doubt the plane is any quicker in reality.

No the Fares are Return tickets.

Also fox it costs about £7 to get form the airport into town.

Prestwick is about that and Glasgow GLA is the same.

Nitefly · 19 May 2011 at 15:01

I made a thread on this issue earlier today:

Wyrdo said:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18276655

Trains are disgustingly expensive, it almost makes me feel ill travelling on them.

Ahleckz · 19 May 2011 at 15:02

Amp34 said:
And the card fee on that... How much is Ryanair charging now, about £20 isn't it?
And then the cost to get to standsted, lets say £20 as well most people would probably need to get a taxi, then the cost of getting to Glasgow from the airport, lets say £20 again...

But yeah that train fair is a little steep, however that air fair isn't remotely covering it's costs... That'll be at least partly why the airfair will be cheaper...

The train from the airport to central Glasgow is only £6.70 return as you get half price fares if travelling to/from Prestwick airport if you have a flight.

GravyMonster · 19 May 2011 at 15:02

[TW]Fox;19175371 said:
I'm sorry but thats a ridiculous comparison, you've managed to find an abnormally low fare there for the plane. How come there are no taxes? They usually make up the bulk of the price! I tried for over a week to try and find a non-con ticket on one of the low fare airlines before giving up and just paying full whack with a proper airline. That £16 doesnt include baggage, the stupid card fee, it doesnt include 20 quid to get to Stanstead, it doesnt include the price of getting from 30 miles outside of Glasgow into Glasgow.

Even including that I doubt it'd run to more than £104 to take it above the cost of the train.

Plus I'd gladly pay extra for the plane as it takes over 4 hours less to get there.

Amp34 · 19 May 2011 at 15:03

Meh, not disgustingly expensive really... £3 return to the nearest town, £15 for a return ticket and all day travel card to london, £60 for an open return from North of London to Plymouth... Petty good prices IMO, definately cheaper than a car when you include parking...