5am Sunday T2 Heathrow. Having arrived 2 hours before flight, spent the next
hour and a half waiting to check departing friends in until the airline
group (Star Alliance) pushed the panic button. Definitely a life-shortening
experience and not to be recomended more than once a year.

Why do they do this and why do we keep accepting it? We hear a lot of BS
about extra security and vigilance but the plain truth is the "Check in at
any desk" strategy is a disaster. It seemed to work a lot better when
flights were assigned to specific desks. BAA can't remain blamless either,
it's their premises and they do nothing to keep the queues ordered.

It's very difficult to understand the mentality of those in the air
business. Surely they realise that if passengers are offered a civilised
alternative, they'll take it? Personally I think next time I'm going
anywhere in Europe I'll do it by train or even by bus.

Getting to and from the airport has to be a significant factor too, many
locations are poorly served by transport links and a cab each way can cost
more than the flight, making the enthusiasm for cheap flights a moot point.

The fiasco with British Airways a couple of weeks ago ought to have
sharpened their wits a little, but I doubt it

Jeff Mowatt

"Jeff Mowatt" wrote in message
...
Fortunately I wasn't one of those stranded at Heathrow after the walk-out
but all the same I believe it happened even though I was elsewhere at the
time.

Having now had the opportunity to speak to my friends on their arrival
home,
here's how long it took:

Left home at 4am for 4:30 check-in. Checked in at 6:05 and departed 45
minutes late 7:20 to arrive with no further delays in Vienna airport at
10:30 (9:30 BST)

Now I make that 5 and a half hours without reaching the final destination
which falls within your estimate of the train/coach time, it could have
been
a lot worse.

Out of intrest, I've just checked the fastest weekday train journey from
London to Vienna, it takes 16 hours 52 minutes and involves 5 trains.
IE...
06:53 E*9110 to Waterloo to Brussels, arr. 10:37
12:16 ICE15 Brussels to Frankfurt, arr. 16:01
16:19 IC2027 Frankfurt to Passau, arr. 20:36
20:42 E1829 Passau to Linz, arr. 22:23
22:27 OEC661 Linz to Vienna, arr. 00:45

There is a trip that only involves 2 trains, but that takes 19 hours 37
minutes
IE...
11:53 E*9024 to Paris, arr. 15:59
17:49 EN263 to Vienna, arr. 08:30

I don't know about you, but for the time being I'll take my chances at the
airport:-)
--
Cheers, Steve.
If The Good Lord had meant for us to be fiscally prudent, He would not have
given us the platinum credit card...
Change colour to PC Plod's lights to reply.

Steve,

Care to let me in on the location of this information? I was thinking of
taking a trip to Bratislava soon and I know there are direct flights but it
means geting to Stansted and back. I was thinking either a 24 hour bus trip,
with a lot of sleeping or maybe taking Eurostar to Brussels and transferring
to a bus there. Don't relish the idea of multiple changes though.

Jeff

"Steve Dulieu" wrote in message
...

Out of intrest, I've just checked the fastest weekday train journey from
London to Vienna, it takes 16 hours 52 minutes and involves 5 trains.
IE...
06:53 E*9110 to Waterloo to Brussels, arr. 10:37
12:16 ICE15 Brussels to Frankfurt, arr. 16:01
16:19 IC2027 Frankfurt to Passau, arr. 20:36
20:42 E1829 Passau to Linz, arr. 22:23
22:27 OEC661 Linz to Vienna, arr. 00:45

There is a trip that only involves 2 trains, but that takes 19 hours 37
minutes
IE...
11:53 E*9024 to Paris, arr. 15:59
17:49 EN263 to Vienna, arr. 08:30

I don't know about you, but for the time being I'll take my chances at the
airport:-)
--
Cheers, Steve.
If The Good Lord had meant for us to be fiscally prudent, He would not
have
given us the platinum credit card...
Change colour to PC Plod's lights to reply.

"Peter Smyth" wrote in message
...

"Jeff Mowatt" wrote in message
...
Steve,

Care to let me in on the location of this information? I was thinking of
taking a trip to Bratislava soon and I know there are direct flights but it
means geting to Stansted and back. I was thinking either a 24 hour bus
trip,
with a lot of sleeping or maybe taking Eurostar to Brussels and
transferring
to a bus there. Don't relish the idea of multiple changes though.

Jeff

European train times are available here
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/el
but I don't know where you could find out details of buses.

http://www.eurolines.com/

specifically London to Brataslavia he

http://www.eurolines.sk/102801_en.htm

about 100 quid return (which IMHO doesn't compare well with
the alternatives)

Tim




Peter Smyth

On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 20:51:00 GMT Steve Dulieu wrote:
}
} I got the info from the DB (German Railways) web site which appears to know
} about every train that runs in europe! http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en
} is the url for the English language version, you can even use it for purely
} UK train times.

That's rather good. It found me 4 means of getting from Paris to Siena
which SNCF seemed to think impossible.

Matthew
--
Il est important d'être un homme ou une femme en colère; le jour où nous
quitte la colère, ou le désir, c'est cuit. - Barbara

http://www.calmeilles.co.uk/

"Jeff Mowatt" wrote in message
...
Thanks Tim and Steve,

I found the Bratislava bus via the National Express site. Btw this
is a
good thing to register on because they send all the promotions. A
couple of
weeks back they were doing anywhere in the UK for a fiver. If you
needed to
cross the Severn Bridge for instance it would be a bargain compared
to
taking the car.

except that you then wouldn't have a car once you'd got over the
bridge, and of course there's no advantage coming back as the bridge
is free Eastbound

"Jeff Mowatt" wrote in message
...
Thanks Tim and Steve,

I found the Bratislava bus via the National Express site. Btw this is a
good thing to register on because they send all the promotions. A couple of
weeks back they were doing anywhere in the UK for a fiver. If you needed to
cross the Severn Bridge for instance it would be a bargain compared to
taking the car.

I thought it did compare well when the overall costs are compared. From here
in South London for instance, a taxi to Stansted would cost 70 quid each
way, parking about a tenner a day if you drove there. I think via National
express there is a discount if you book 15 days in advance.

It kind of negates all the advantages of a cheap flight and it might be just
as economical to get a flight to Vienna from Heathrow and a taxi for the
40km between the two cities.

There is public transport to Stansted of course, but only viable if you've
got a lot of time to get there

Sorry, but how can you think that an hour on the train is not viable
against the alternative of spending 24 hours on a *bus*. Geeze
you must really like buses

Tim
and not too much to carry.

Jeff

specifically London to Brataslavia he

http://www.eurolines.sk/102801_en.htm

about 100 quid return (which IMHO doesn't compare well with
the alternatives)

Tim

Jeff Mowatt wrote:
Steve,

Care to let me in on the location of this information? I was thinking of
taking a trip to Bratislava soon and I know there are direct flights but it
means geting to Stansted and back. I was thinking either a 24 hour bus trip,
with a lot of sleeping or maybe taking Eurostar to Brussels and transferring
to a bus there. Don't relish the idea of multiple changes though.

Jeff

When I go to Slovakia I fly with CSA from Heathrow to Bratislava via Prague.

Matthew

Jeff Mowatt writes
Sorry, but how can you think that an hour on the train is not viable
against the alternative of spending 24 hours on a *bus*. Geeze
you must really like buses

You've lost me! An hour on what train? Perhaps you meant plane which a
few posts ago was estimated at around 5 hours to Vienna assuming no
delays.

I think he meant an hour on the train to the airport.

In an earlier post, you appeared to be suggesting that a 24-hour coach
journey was an easier option that travelling to Stansted and a 5-hour
flight. Your options for travelling to Stansted were coach or taxi - he
reminded you that there's a fast train.

--
Dave

Jeff Mowatt wrote:
You've lost me! An hour on what train?

I assume: the one to the airport, that you didn't want to catch because
you wanted to sit on a bus for an extra (24-5=) 19 hours, instead of a
plane for 5.

....
Anyway this is how I see it. Getting dragged out of bed at 3.30 isn't
pleasant, but in this case the only flight which could make the connection
to Ukraine, the final destination.

Where in Ukraine are you going that you want to break in Bratislava??

There are direct flights to Kiev from Gatwick, and even if those don't
catch onward connections overnighting in Kiev isn't that expensive, and
it saves at least one change extra change of currency...

I did use the German on-line timetable to work out London-Kiev by rail a
couple of years ago; IIRC it takes about 12 hours to get to the Berlin
Zoo (or Vienna, then Bratislava(!) depending on route), after which you
sat on a train for two nights and 36 hours for Kiev.

I was warned though that the odds of getting through the wilder parts of
Byelorussia in one piece were lower than I might wish.

I wimped out in the end though: 48 hours on a train is a *long* time,
yay even compared with some of GNER's efforts...

Henry