So I'm going to RHUL in Sept and have to get there from Bolton. Has anyone ever flown domestically? The train would be about 5 hours including a tow from Euston to Waterloo on the Tube which will be a pain in the arse. (Although IIRC Euston to Waterloo on the northern line wouldn't be too much effort). Flying however, easy train in to Manchester Airport and land six miles from my new house (Which would presumably be £30/£40 for a taxi?). How much effort are domestic flights? Do you have to do the whole enormous wait in the airport? If it's swift enough I could probably do the whole journey in two hours as opposed to the five for train. That said, The train (with first class from Manchester to London) would be about £30 as opposed to the £80 it'd cost me to be on a cramped BA seat and airport hassle/taxi. Hmm, what to do?
Domestic flights are similar to International but quicker. There is less waiting time for security/boarding, and it is quicker getting bags on the other side. Which airport will you fly into if you don't mind me asking?
We flew from East Midlands to Edinburgh a few years ago and as Tibby says, everything seemed to be a little quicker and easier. We flew rather than take the train (as much as I would have liked to make that trip by train) as it was far cheaper.
You planning to catch a Northern train to London then? To get a train from Bolton to Euston is about 2 and 1/2 hours if you go to Wigan and get a direct train from there. Including Waterloo it should take around 3 and 1/2 hours most. I had to do a similar journey from Darwen and it worked out cheaper and not too much longer to go on the train. This was a same day return though.
I fly domestic on at least a yearly basis - my advice? If the train takes less than 2x the time of the flight, get the train.
I fly between london and glasgow/ edinburgh on a regular basis, it all depends on the airport to be honest. I can normally make it through security and to the plane in 30 minutes, but I never put bags in the hold only ever take carry on. Airport security is much the same as international flights if you prepare while waiting in the queue (take belt off, get laptop out, remove all coins etc, loosen shoes) then you can wizz through!
Sounds reasonable. Still a fair bit of faffing about (You're still recommended to be at the airport a fair bit before check in), but not as much as international flights. I've taken quite a few flights over the past few years from Glasgow - Heathrow/Gatwick.
Thanks for the advice folks. Yeah I've done Manc/London a bajillion times. End to end it will work out about five hours but that will be a relaxed five hours with a nice stay in First Class. The plane does seem cool but it's probably not much less effort, I'm in no rush. I'll get the train!
I just looked up Bolton to Waterloo on East Coast's website (they don't run the service but their ticket website is very east to use). Bolton to Waterloo via Manchester Picadilly, 3 hrs 20-30 mins. £36.50 for 1st class single, £12 for standard, if you book far enough in advance and get the cheap trains.
Yeah that's the same journey as I've already arranged. It's the same train to Euston and then the tube to Waterloo. Cheers for the effort though!
I fly domestic pretty regularly (~twice a year) from London to Aberdeen. As a general rule leave an hour each end although you can probably cu that by 15 mins if you're not bringing any luggage. Note: Take your passport! Even if it's a domestic flight plenty of other things are done from your passport like collecting tickets. Also, £30 for Manc to London first class? Costs me that much for coach up to Durham with a 16-25 railcard.
Booked well in advance and Young Persons (Well, Student, I'm 27) rail card. It's £10 without first class. Isn't that nice?
Edinburgh to London can be as low as £7.50 (or used to be) with a 16-25 rail card if booked the day the tickets were released!
Airlines tend to recommend arriving 1 hour before the flight for domestics, 2 hours for Europe and 3 for the States and long haul. if your going via a Heathrow I've yet to land on time or take off on time if leaving from there. If you've got hold luggage that's another half hour wait. So if the train takes less than two hours longer than the flight, take the train, you can stand up and walk about more easily, you don't have to turn off your laptop when the train pulls out of the station.
Also depending on your domestic departure airport, you may end up on a prop plane. They're noisy as hell and nowhere near as relaxing or comfortable as first class on a train.
Another vote for the train, personally it has to be much cheaper or much quicker to fly to negate all the extra hassle. On top of that Manchester is a probably the worst run airport in the UK.
Manchester's OK if you have lounge access, Birmingham airport is the one I dread, its like a zombie invasion has taken hold.
I fly quite a bit between Edinburgh and Heathrow, and a bit to Birmingham. So long as you do online check in, print boarding pass (or use the airline app), and only have carry on luggage you should be ok turning up about 45 to 60 minutes before the flight. Security queues can be a problem for early morning flights though.
That's the thing, even if the journey takes longer, not having to go outside of the city to the airport, not having to put up with all the utter nonsense one does at the airport, the inevitable stupid lemming like behaviour of ones fellow passengers, not to mention of the the aircrew and the crippling mental retardation of the security people - it all just makes it so much more worthwhile to rock up 10 minutes before your train leaves, jump on, sit there for a few extra hours chilling out, and then just hop off actually in the city you want to be in.
One deciding factor for me is the fact that you get more room for a laptop on a train if you get a table seat (and as you've pre-booked that should be so), so you can just chill with a film.
