Back safe

[ciphergoth]

Four hour delay there.

Three hour delay back.

By way of compensation for the four hour delay, they gave us free drinks on the flight. Woohoo. They didn't give them to us on the way back, though; I assume that giving every three-hour-delayed-flight free drinks would be very expensive for them.

Do not fly EasyJet.

Take the fucking train.

Comments

[djm4]

Oh my god - and things were looking so promising when I left you at Luton.

See you both with lolliepopp in the New Year sometime - we'll be driving... ;-)

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

Ah, low-cost airlines...

Easyjet will always be two hours late, minimum.
BMI will lose your luggage.
Ryanair I'm not sure, but I believe they have a significant chance of dropping out of the air.

Or, of course, you could travel Virgin Trains... See Easyjet for drawbacks there.

Sympathy.

[alienspacebat.livejournal.com]

BMI were 4 hours late on the way down to london last time and 5 minutes early on the way back up. On the way down they gave us champagne, on the way back I had two double bloody marys. For £50 return I cant complain too much. I should never have texted figg on the way down to say 'race you' when he got the train at the same time as I headed for the airport!

I always wonder which I prefer though. Both flying and the train take about the same time, it's a case of whether you start straight away on your journey or sit around in check in and a departure lounge, put up with delays and wait for your luggage at the other end. The cost is usually quite similar but planes have the advantage of free drinks and that rollercoaster ride like feeling when you take off. Then again, trains actually feel like you are getting somewhere instead of sitting in a mind numbing airport, have less security and are probably more comfortable as you can get up and wander around.

Other plus point for trains is you can get on any one with your ticket and not have to make specific times. Hmmmm, still undecided

Easyjet

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Easyjet are fine for me -- but you need to know the rules. The second-to-last flight of the evening out of Luton on a weekday is always horribly late, for example, but the first flight in a morning is always on time and the last flight at night is usually okay. And IIRC if you are delayed more than three hours on any leg you are entitled to a refund. You might want to yell about that -- you might get some free tickets out of it.

(I've flown Easyjet about twelve times in the past year. We've had one, or at
most two, flights delayed by more than half an hour. But then, we had fun while we were learning the rules a couple of years ago ...)

[(Anonymous)]

Does anyone know any *good* airlines? You always hear horror stories. I have a stock too, most recently from Buzz and Scandinavian Airlines. But who would people *recommend* flying with?

The only airlines I can recommend from personal experience are Canada 3000 and AB Varmlandsflyg. Alas, Canada 3000 has gone bust, and AB Varmlandsflyg is a rather small outfit that'll only be of use to you if you want to fly from Stockholm or Copenhagen to obscure parts of Sweden and find the idea of flying in a tiny, noisy plane exciting.

I do recommend trains though - far more reliable (yes, really, including Virgin), far less likely to lose your luggage, and much more helpful about getting you to your destination with no added cost to you if your connections go pear-shaped. I've never had to resort to super-credit-card-power to escape from train-related problems, but it seems such a regular occurence with flights that I price in an allowance for that when I'm comparing costs. Besides, trains are far more environmentally friendly.

-Doug.
(Eurostar fan)