On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:38:44 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

Ah, that's a common one of the "chattering criticisms". But does it
actually happen any more? The closest is probably "You need to catch the
next available flight, which is tomorrow" (or possibly later, but that's
just a timetable thing)

And an air travel thing in general. Except in very extreme cases, the
next available train is the *next* train, as there is more flexibility
as standing is allowed.

As well as that, if you get stuck because of a cancelled last train, a
taxi is usually provided. This is practical for a typically short-ish
railway journey, but not for a typically far longer air one.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
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On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:27:56 +0100, "MC" wrote:

There seems to be no
incentive to volunteer being bumped on a budget airline though.

Budget airlines don't overbook to the same extent, because you don't
have the issue of fully-flexible tickets where you might not know a
particular passenger has decided to take the next flight until they
don't turn up.

Indeed, I only ever heard of anyone being bumped on EZY once, and it
was due to a faulty seat on a completely full flight. In that case,
speedy boarding or an A-group boarding card was the way to avoid it,
apparently.

In the case of KLM, the way to avoid it (e.g. on the Friday 3pm-ish
flight to Brum which was *always* overbooked) always used to be online
checkin. Never got bumped once, though I did volunteer on one
occasion (but got on the flight as there were too many volunteers on
that occasion). I recall a member of check-in staff pretty much
confirming this on one occasion.

Neil

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Neil Williams
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On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:30:26 +0100, "
wrote:

There was a service a few years ago, that was running trains out of
Waterloo to Southampton for about £1. The problem, however, was that
passengers who paid that fare were confined to one car on the train. I'm
under the impression that it was not the most pleasant journey.

The problem wasn't that they were confined to that coach, but that
other passengers weren't prevented from using it. So if it was full,
tough.

Neil

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On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:46:36 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

Why's that? Many advance purchase train tickets today are issued with
compulsory reservations. What's the unpleasantness if they turn out to
be all in one carriage?

Megatrain don't do seat reservations.

Neil

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On Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:27:47 +0100, rail
wrote:

As far as ATOC (and the taxman) is concerned, it is a seperate company.
Presumably Megatrain could do similar deals with non Stagecoach-owned
companies if the latter were willing.

It was (may still be) offered on VT at one point, which of course is
only 49% Stagecoach.

Neil

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On Mon, 12 Oct 2009 11:41:16 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

They've owned it (80% rather than just 30%) for a year now, so FSVO
"early". But there are rumours it might be sold to FlyBE.

Oh, dear. Another OKish airline sold to a dire one.

easyJet not interested?

Neil

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On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:12:58 +0100, "
wrote:

That's not to say that I would fly any budget airline, however.

Have you ever done? You might well find that it's not half as bad as
you think.

Neil

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On 15 Oct, 19:11, (Neil Williams)
wrote:
On Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:27:56 +0100, "MC" wrote:
There seems to be no
incentive to volunteer being bumped on a budget airline though.

Budget airlines don't overbook to the same extent, because you don't
have the issue of fully-flexible tickets where you might not know a
particular passenger has decided to take the next flight until they
don't turn up.

They don't need to bump you. They'll just claim that your passport is
bent or contrive to delay you in a way that they'll claim is your
fault, and you'll miss the flight without compensation plus pay the
full fare for the next one.

In message
, at
11:18:57 on Thu, 15 Oct 2009, MIG
remarked:
There seems to be no
incentive to volunteer being bumped on a budget airline though.

Budget airlines don't overbook to the same extent, because you don't
have the issue of fully-flexible tickets where you might not know a
particular passenger has decided to take the next flight until they
don't turn up.

They don't need to bump you. They'll just claim that your passport is
bent or contrive to delay you in a way that they'll claim is your
fault, and you'll miss the flight without compensation plus pay the
full fare for the next one.

Chatter, chatter.

Anyone ever seen that happen?
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 18:13:44 on Thu,
15 Oct 2009, Neil Williams remarked:
Why's that? Many advance purchase train tickets today are issued with
compulsory reservations. What's the unpleasantness if they turn out to
be all in one carriage?

Megatrain don't do seat reservations.

They used to do "carriage reservations" though.

--
Roland Perry