Airport

Post by **chameleon** » Thu 26 May, 2011 3:51 pm

tyke bhoy wrote: chameleon wrote: And you can't even fly to our own capital from there anymore!Delusionary attitude of so many businessee finding extra ways to milk the user. Perhaps one day people will stop simply giving in and vote with their feet. I think they have voted with their feet Chameleon which is why you can't fly to the Capital.You can turn up at Leeds Station in central Leeds 10 minutes before your train departs and two hours later be getting off in Kings Cross with Taxis or the underground available to deliver you anywhere in Central London.Alternatively you could pay through the nose (taxi or car parking) to get to an airport 10 miles from Leeds city centre over an hour before take off. After an hour plus at the airport and an hour in flight you touch down at an airport at least 15 miles outside London where you may need to hang around for baggage claim and then have an initially fairly limited choice of transport options into London. Or rather you can't because as you point out the route is no longer covered. The low cost airline that wasn't all that low cost after you add up the two singles and extras couldn't make it pay.PS I'm not just trying to keep CNOSNI in a job, honest Precisley my thoughts when posting.PS Cnosni has to take a pack-up now ya know - no more first class dining car service for hom on East Coast Rail now

Si · Post by Si » Thu 26 May, 2011 7:59 pm

Bramley4woods wrote: "From what I read in the YEP all cars will have to pay to get out as they go through the exit, parking charges being based on automatic number recognition cameras." Perhaps the charge is to pay for the great expense of installing the automatic registration recognition cameras? I wouldn't be surprised...Another quote nick from Bramley4woods:"However, you can I believe go into the long stay car park, and drop the pax off who get the shuttle bus to the terminal."I had a bad experience several years ago at Leeds/Bradford involving the shuttle bus to the car park. My wife, our three small children and I arrived back from holiday. It was late - dark, cold and pouring with rain. We were first out of the terminal, so I stood out in the wet at the bus stop to guarantee our places on the bus. The rest of the family (and all our fellow passengers) stayed dry under the canopy. The bus arrived, and I ran back for the kids and the luggage. By the time I'd got them all in the bus, there were no seats left for my wife and me. Not a single person would give up their seat, averting their eyes (including the driver), and so I had to get the kids out again, and remove the luggage. We waited for the bus to return, and the same thing happened again. This time I had to threaten bodily harm to get our seats.

anthonydna · Post by **anthonydna** » Thu 26 May, 2011 8:04 pm

The new East Coast first class food service is abysmal. First class is half full and less than 20% of the people got hot food, then you are given a choice of a Cheese or Ham sandwich, there are different rules for what you can have depending on the length of the journey. It's pants. 169 quid one way, and your made to feel grateful for your free sandwich. I was asked if mine "hit the spot", in fact it was the best cheese sandwich I've had on a train all week !

liits · Post by **liits** » Thu 26 May, 2011 10:28 pm

anthonydna wrote: It's pants. 169 quid one way........ knowing what you know now, do what I do on the occasions I travel up to Leeds. Book it more than two weeks in advance and get the tickets for £36 return [and buy a sandwich in Tesco before you get on].£169 one way? For that money, you could fly! [Or maybe not]

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 27 May, 2011 1:02 am

liits wrote: anthonydna wrote: It's pants. 169 quid one way........ knowing what you know now, do what I do on the occasions I travel up to Leeds. Book it more than two weeks in advance and get the tickets for £36 return [and buy a sandwich in Tesco before you get on].£169 one way? For that money, you could fly! [Or maybe not] I quite agree liits - admittedly I have senior citizen railcard (a third off) but providing I can be flexible with the actual train times and book a very few days in advance its still often possible to get a second class single for under £10. When you consider that the journey time is only between two and two and a half hours its scarcely feasible to comfortably eat a restaurant car meal anyway !!

Bramley4woods · Post by **Bramley4woods** » Fri 27 May, 2011 4:45 am

BLAKEY wrote: liits wrote: anthonydna wrote: It's pants. 169 quid one way........ knowing what you know now, do what I do on the occasions I travel up to Leeds. Book it more than two weeks in advance and get the tickets for £36 return [and buy a sandwich in Tesco before you get on].£169 one way? For that money, you could fly! [Or maybe not] I quite agree liits - admittedly I have senior citizen railcard (a third off) but providing I can be flexible with the actual train times and book a very few days in advance its still often possible to get a second class single for under £10. When you consider that the journey time is only between two and two and a half hours its scarcely feasible to comfortably eat a restaurant car meal anyway !! What ! 30 - 35 years ago they used to fit 2 breakfast sittings in, in about 15 minutes less.Better still coming home on the last dining car sitting of the evening, foodservice used to finish about Retford but since there was to be no further service passengers were allowed to stay at their tables (in a first class coach) with cheap second class tickets till the train journey terminated at Leeds.An if ye' tell that t' t'kids today they'll not believe ye'.

Patexpat · Post by **Patexpat** » Fri 27 May, 2011 6:53 am

yup Bramley4 .. I did that trick on many an occasion ... mind you I used to love dining on trains - which is why I was involved in the Pullman dining trains on the Worth Valley railway for many a year! Even as a 15 year old me and my mate would go for day trips to London or Edinburgh and have dinner on the train on the way home!

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Fri 27 May, 2011 10:19 am

Oh dear - its seems I'm outclassed - I shall feel quite ashamed in future with my cheap ticket and clandestine cheese and tomato sandwich On a serious note though, my best bargain ever was three years ago when I had to go at short notice to Norwich on a Saturday morning to collect a motorbike I'd just bought on E bay. Checking the booking sites on Thursday night, late, I found that the cheapest single ticket second class was about £20 (reasonable of course) but a first class ticket could be had for about £16 so I got that. Already feeling self conscious in leathers etc I was even more astonished to receive an expensive newspaper and a coffee for nowt !! I think though that bargain arose because hardly anyone travels first class early on a Saturday morning - I was brought down to earth though on the excellent local train from Peterborough to Norwich where I had to mix with the second class rank and file !! Sorry for the deviation from the Airport topic, but it is an interesting comaprison of what's on offer if you know where to look.