If you don't like trains fair enough, but why are you on this forum?
If I can get the ticket for my journey at a price comparable to that of petrol, I'll usually take the train whenever possible. That said, I am fortunate to have a railcard, which means travelling is 1/3rd off the list price. At full price, it's virtually never worth it to take the train, which is frustrating because I would much rather be able to have a few pints and still be able to travel. I'm more than happy to use rail whenever the company is paying for my travel, but even then I've found myself being the target of some ire by a manager after they had to sign off my £300 Cardiff-London Return; I could have driven that journey roundtrip 6 and a half times over, and still have saved money.
No issue with having a different opinion, but I don't get why someone would post on a railway forum if they can't stand trains. It is like someone posting on a football forum about how much they hate football. I am not the only poster that has said this. See below.
In terms of the original question asked, trains and planes generally don't directly compete with each other, in the same way that trains compete with coaches or cars.
It depends upon the context. Flying itself can be fun if you have a window seat, but going through an airport isn't. Travelling at 75 mph behind a steam loco is fun (for me personally, for others not so much) but having to stand on a packed commuter train is not fun at all.
A journey along the West Coast Mainline north of Preston, especially with a window seat, is positively to die for. In summer when the landscape is verdant green, or early autumn when the land takes on a much more notably yellow hue, the views over the Lune Gorge might be some of the most stunning along a main line in the UK. And of course, who could forget the stunning views of the Heart of Wales or Settle to Carlisle lines? It is my dream one day to get either a HST tour or a steam tour over the Settle-Carlisle in the early autumn.
It would be less of an issue if there was at least some sort of constructive engagement when on rail-related topics, rather than what Wikipedia tells me can politely be termed "trashposting" (I had an unprintable term in mind) seen on disruption threads.
Don't forget the Enterprise.
Remembering that the cost of motoring is more than the cost of petrol! HMRC allow reimbursement per mile at much higher rates to reflect the other costs involved, so that will be the cost to an employer of a business journey. However, in some cases this is paid to the driver for use of their own vehicle, in which case the driver sees the money in their pocket but not the extra cost incurred. Though of course it's also a huge approximation because many vehicle costs are fixed and whether the driver profits from the arrangement is down to various factors around useage.
Just wondering if you've been to St Pancras International, for the Eurostar?
Yes, sincere apologies for that. I really should have thought harder, considering that I have used the Enterprise southbound in the not too distant past.
Is there? That's not my experience. I had to take a budget airline to court, and also send high court enforcement officers to their registered office (at an airport) because they didn't sort out their compensation. This is after they put announcements out on the plane about it being an ATC problem, then a weather problem, and it was actually neither.
Sort of. They will take responsibility for putting it onto the plane and getting it back off, even though this is delegated to other companies. But I've certainly never had my luggage go 'missing' on a train, but have had it go 'missing' twice on flights.
I agree with this. Airports do tend to be better climate controlled!
This is highly variable. There's a greater choice of eateries at Birmingham New Street (to use another poster's example) than at Birmingham Airport. Also a lot of railway stations you can walk out and find a pub or restaurant within seconds; this is almost never true of airports which are miles away from city centres.
Christ alive. So stating what most would agree on means I can’t be on these forums? Are you Starmer in disguise? Trains have their uses. But the actual act of flying is far more fun and adrenaline inducing is what I meant. Sorry to have offended you. I truly am.
There isn't. Had a flight when we had literally 6 reasons for delay, including "weather at the departure airport" (when the sky and wind was as clear and you can get it), "weather at the destination airport" (that would have been more believable) and a whole slew of ATC reasons. Most airlines, especially of the low-cost variety, will give you the runround on all issues.
You then have to wait 45min for them to do 500m to the carrousel, with a 20-30min walk from the gate to the carousel at most airports.
At crazy inflated prices. A coffee shop after security at CDG 2D charged us 8€ for a tiny cappucino and barely a cup of tea. You usually don't have prices as inflated at railway stations (though they are inflated).
Agreed
I think that's largely true when on board, though as noted above it doesn't always apply. It may be because flight crews tend to have intrinsically more awareness of what is going on around them than traincrew do, so the latter have to be informed specifically - often by someone who is preoccupied with trying to solve whatever the problem is. It may also be because more passengers are probably afraid of air crashes than of train crashes, and probably less clear about how air transport works, so it's in crews' own interests to give a reassuring explanation to avoid the risk of doubt and panic if someone jumps to the conclusion that it's something hazardous.
These nearby outlets may also be much cheaper than the prices charged within either stations or airports, giving more options for the budget-conscious.
And interestingly, British Airways have recently pulled the plug on Cologne and Stuttgart - Eurowings now has the monopoly on these routes
Also, more competition and far more F2F customer interraction
Once they build an island railway network - yes!
I did a European rail trip last summer, but started with a Ryanair flight from Stansted to Nuremberg. Not as cheap as your flight, but still very good value and a great airport, a short U-Bahn ride from the centre of town.
Think I managed my “arrival record” (so far) at Nuremberg - arrival at the Hbf less than 10 minutes after the scheduled arrival time of my flight. Second best is Bristol - sitting on the A4 bus within 10 mins of scheduled arrival - unfortunately the bus didn’t leave for another 30 minutes.
Have managed plane to train at both LHT T4 and T5 in 10 minutes in the past. But I'll accept this is an exception rather than the norm.
I'm always screwed over by Lufthansa in that respect (like every time I flew with them ever they lost my luggage unless I took carry on only, which back in the early 00s wasn't a huge thing yet) and the only time they didn't lose my luggage they lost my booking instead, so I try my damnedest not to use them. That said, I've already been on one Eurostar trip to Germany and intend to do it again that way, so no real need to use them at all.
We had a VERY bad experience travelling to Germany by train. A chaotic connection, a missed connection, a platform change with no audible announcement and heavy-ish luggage. On arriving, my wife said, "if you value our marriage, you will arrange for us to fly home". Fortunately, I'd accrued some air miles from business travel so I managed to book something for no cash cost
Larger stations such as Birmingham New Street do have some good food options, and there are more options nearby in the Bullring and Chinese Quarter. What's more, the ones that aren't in the "station" area of New Street (aka the ones in Grand Central upstairs, the Bullring, and the nearby Chinese Quarter) charge normal city prices for food instead of the inflated station rate (unlike the Wasabi place/Pret a Gouger etc in the downstairs area).
