I stumbled across this article about a married couple who travelled from Cornwall to Manchester via Spain because the flights and one night in a hotel were cheaper than the train fairs...
They were en-route to pick up a new car and needed both of them for the long drive back, I'm not sure this would have been economic with a hotel stay if it was just for one of them.
This whole affair has been used to highlight how expensive trains are compared to planes, but this is an EXTREME case, given that it's one of those rare occasions where you need a journey to be one way, so it's not fair comparing flights with trains. Flights are often priced one way and then nearly double for the return, especially with short-haul, train journeys often charge you 10 pence more for a return.
Then again maybe that highlights a weakness in the train's pricing structure...?
The folly of long distance day travel....
At a deeper level it reminds me of the simply folly of long distance day travel....
I did a hypothetical look for flights from London to Edinburgh...
Sure enough cheaper than the train, which was quoting me double that, with Trainline failing to find me ANY deals for ANY TIME, the site not behaving, another stress. I couldn't actually tell whether there were better deals or not!
and then this old chestnut with Easy Jet...
Yes this means you have to spend another 10 minutes reading their baggage policy unless yer happy to just take a tiny rucksack for the weekend.
I was only digging around to to a hypothetical comparison and just the stress in my shoulders this caused and that's when I'm NOT going anywhere!
I'm either driving or staying put or....
Journey for the sake of the journey, as in, pile in a mobile home and drift, then the journey is the point, but if it's not either a round trip or a very long one-way trip and then a flight back after MONTHS or YEARS, then I'm not getting on a train or plane every again if I can help it.
Just the stress of booking is too much, I'll drive any day of the week thankyou very much!
Oh, and they should have just paid someone else to drive the car back....
I mean it'd be a long day's work plus a train fair for someone, why not just pay them to do it and have the time back for two people?
Now that would have been sensible~!
This is an interesting topic and we often compare different options to keep the costs sensible and in budget. I remember the days when I could get to Paris for a £70 return flight or how we got to Brussels via Eurostar and stayed in the Hilton for a whole weekend, just £200. How two decades changes the cost of things, inflation on one hand and corporate greed on the other.
Just getting to London from Reading is now around £60 but I was quite chuffed with a Trainline saving I made the other day, I cut it down to £44. The catch is I’d spend an hour on the train rather than 20 minutes or so.
My colleague who lives north of Edinburgh flies to London for our monthly meetings because it’s way cheaper than the train.
Thing is if you take a train between smaller towns, it is cheaper.
It was only fairly recently that we got a Two Together railcard. That gives us a third off on a lot of trips. Mind you, it's not too long until I can have a senior one!
The prices of some flights are ridiculously cheap, but they will sting you if you need to take luggage that would be free on a train.
Yep swings and roundabouts with these travel companies. We took a flight not so long ago with just carry on luggage. It was a challenge. We took some travel wash and recycled clothes a little bit.
We often consider the two for one but end to driving everywhere.
We go into London several times a year and only need a few trips to cover the cost of the railcard.
Hmm tempting but we don’t go as often. We’d like to go and maybe getting one will ease the cost and encourage us to visit the myriad of places we’ve been yearning to visit for so long.
That reminds me 9 years ago, when I was young and restless, I got a flight Malta-Oslo-London, to save £500. With a night in a hostel no less, and 8 hours before and 8 after sleep, to visit Norway's capital. Interesting experience.
T.H.E.Y. have made plane and train such a pain, that i never want to get on such.
And their pricing seems just stupid. They try to say, take community transport to save on gasoline/oil, but then they make it soooo much harder, and longer that you will do anything but.
And, what T.H.E.Y. really want is for you to feel frustrated, and to jump through their hoops. If you jump, then they know they've got you.
I feel it, just trying to find a reasonably priced ticket feels like a nerve-wracking test. 😤
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STOPWhat kind of train is it that is more expensive than flight? A fast train like in Japan? :)
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Train travel can be ridiculous. I've heard of someone buying a cheap car and saving money just on one trip. Flying should be more expensive, but it is effectively subsidised by not paying for the damage it does. That said, I do some flying, but will prefer to use the train where possible. I've never done an internal UK flight.
Have flown to Scotland before and Leeds, the latter being on a Vickers Viscount back in the late 80s.