[Travel] I Was About To Take A Flyer

[el punal]

Literally! For some reason I got all enthusiastic about watching the boys play Citeh tonight. So I checked for flights from Southampton (where I live) to Manchester. All good so far - a flight at 17.00 arriving at Manchester at 18.10. Return flight tomorrow at 10.40 arriving back home at 11.50. Hotel stay from £42. All good so far . . . . . until I saw the fare for the air. £420 return!!

How times have changed. In our first season in the PL I bagged a flight up for £33 and returned on the train for £18. So sorry lads, I won’t be cheering you on tonight at the Etihad acres. It’ll have to be on Sunday at the Stadio Amex. Please forgive me and I hope you understand.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

You'll never get a bargain on the day unless you maybe try your luck at the airport to see if they have any empty seats and will take an offer.

I think I was on some of those flights for trips to Man U and Burnley - £29 each way booked in advance. After FlyBe hit financial trouble the prices shot up and the latest airline to take this route has not offered any cheap deals. Shame as it was often cheaper than the train and much quicker.

 

[golddene]

Mate of mine is going to Liverpool for a stag weekend ! Checked flights from Gatwick and they all took longer than the train, one stop each way either Dublin or Jersey ?

 

[Official Old Man]

Bored so looked up Gatwick Leeds. Could buy a car for that!

 

[Bakero]

Domestic flights in England should be banned.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Domestic flights in England should be banned.

Train fares seem to fair no better - they've been advertising special rail discounts to get people back on the trains - says off-peak only but anti-social hours would be more accurate ....

 

[father_and_son]

You'll never get a bargain on the day unless you maybe try your luck at the airport to see if they have any empty seats and will take an offer.

I think I was on some of those flights for trips to Man U and Burnley - £29 each way booked in advance. After FlyBe hit financial trouble the prices shot up and the latest airline to take this route has not offered any cheap deals. Shame as it was often cheaper than the train and much quicker.

Pretty sure they stopped people doing that after 9/11 and still consider it too much of a security risk to allow someone on a plane without doing all their checks against lists beforehand. Back in the late 80s a friend of mine blagged his way onto a military transport going to the South Atlantic with little more than a passport, 10p and a phonecall from his dad vouching for him (his dad was ex-military but still).