What’s the best way to get to the airport?
Welcome to my blog, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I’m attending a travel bloggers summit in Berlin next month. I’m flying with Easyjet from Glasgow for £53 return. However I live in Berwick upon Tweed in north eastern corner of England. Flights with other airlines from Edinburgh or Newcastle airport, my 2 closest airports, cost a lot more and/or involve a stopover.
My flight departs at 12:45 so I’m aiming to be at the airport by 11.30. I’m only taking hand luggage and have already checked in online but I don’t want to like to cut it too fine. My two options are driving or taking public transport.
It’s over 100 miles to Glasgow airport from Berwick, the airport lies to the west of Glasgow. The drive is a minimum of 2 hours if every goes smoothly but the route encompasses the Edinburgh bypass and the M8 motorway through central Glasgow which can both be very congested. I’d probably have to allow 3 hours plus another half hour to go to the secure carpark and be taken to the airport by minibus. So that’s a 08.00 departure from home. It would cost about £15 to park for 5 days, if you book in advance. It’s always a good idea to use a airport parking price comparison site plus around 230 miles return trip at say 40 pence a mile, so a cost of £107 plus the hassle of the drive.
If I bought an open return rail ticket it cost £69 return but involved 2 changes and all going smoothly i.e. no missed connections the journey from Berwick to Glasgow. I’d have to take the train from Berwick at 07.15 due to arrive at Glasgow airport at 10.25 and the next train departing Berwick at 08.29 arriving at the airport at 11.25 was too tight. I’d still have to get to Berwick station from our home which is a 20 minute walk with no public transport options so the would mean leaving home at 06.50. My husband will give me a lift if it’s raining but the alternative would be a taxi costing around £4. That brings the total cost to £77. I discovered I could reduce the cost by purchasing an cheap advance ticket for the train journey from Berwick to Glasgow Central which only costs £8.90, if you purchase online and then pay £5 for the bus to the airport. I can’t buy the cheap ticket for my return journey as it’s only valid for a specific train so it would be £35 for the return trip, so that my total down to £52, £44 if I manage the walk to and from the station. You do also win some Brownie points for being green by using public transport but that rather pales into insignificance when you consider the environmental impact of your flight.
So which is best? Looks like the car wins on the time front as I can leave home an hour later and on my return I can pick up the car at the car park and drive straight home. With the train I could have to wait for an hour for the next train as the flight is due in at 14.00 and I could just make the 14.57 train but if I don’t the next is at 15.43. However public transport is a lot cheaper and you don’t have a potentially stressful drive lasting up to 3 hours each way. The other big advantage of public transport is that with most travel insurance policies you are covered for missed departure if public transport lets you down, whereas if you travel in your own car you are only covered for accident or breakdown of the vehicle in which you are travelling.
So how am I travelling? I’m taking public transport to Glasgow airport and my husband is picking me up for the return trip, as one of our sons is a student in Glasgow so it’s an opportunity for us to visit him. That would avoid any hanging around waiting for connections. My decision is also influenced by the fact that we are a one car household and I thought my husband might want to use the car when I’m away. Also I’m happier with the travel insurance cover for my outward journey, as I believe the cover is better. In my travel insurance the wording is I’m covered for missed departure if “public transport does not run to timetable” but there is the caveat off “allowing time for delays which are to be expected”.
Overall I think it’s overly complicated to work out which is the best option. The main problem is lack of direct rail link to Glasgow airport. You either have to take the train from Glasgow Central to Paisley and then bus to the airport or the express bus from central Glasgow, which may be delayed on the motorway journey out to the airport. The confusion of all the different tickets available by rail doesn’t help as the cheap advance ticket option didn’t appear when I searched for through journeys and if you bought the suggested £69 open return ticket then some of the cost advantage of public tranport is lost as you are paying £20 for the sane rail journey from Berwick to Glasgow Central. The only difference is that with the open return it’s train to Paisley and the the bus and with the cheap ticket you take the airport express bus.
How do you usually travel to the airport? I suspect a lot depends on where you live and the availability of transport options to your nearest airport(s).
February 8th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Normally I take the taxi for the 10-mile trip to Newcastle airport. It is pricey at about £30 each way, so it can make staying in the pricey long-term stay seems like a bargain.
I only take the taxi because my flights often leave around 6am to catch my morning connection flight in London to Tripoli.
However, I’m hoping to get a lift from relatives as I no longer work in Libya, but Cambodia instead, so hopefully more sensible times!
Over longer distances, such as Luton Airport, I’d take the train but I’d leave much earlier to compensate for delays.
February 8th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
There’s not a lot of choice for getting to the airport, here in Melbourne; it’s pretty much either car/taxi or by a commercial Skybus route from the inner city, due to the Victorian government’s constant refusal to build a rail link out to it.
There is a local public bus service at the airport, but unfortunately, it’s a fairly haphazard timetable, runs infrequently on weekends and not at all after 6pm, and then drops passengers only at the nearest railway station, which is still some distance away.
The Skybus service, on the other hand, costs an incredible $15 (more expensive than either Sydney or Brisbane’s airport rail service), doesn’t guarantee a seat and subjects passengers to annoying television advertising for the entire trip.
It’s long been an annoyance of mine that governments view transport to airports as a commercial opportunity rather than a place for regular public transport. We need more sensible solutions, like Heathrow’s tube service and Amsterdam’s rail link to Schiphol: regular public transport, with the same tickets that commuters use every day, not inflated “airport prices”.
Cheers,
Paul.
February 9th, 2008 at 12:28 am
It seems that getting to and from the airport is as problematic for other some travellers too. You’re right Paul, that is can be done if the the authorities are behind it, as I remember that from Madrid airport into the city centre cost around one euro on the Metro. I have endured the journey from Heathrow into London on the Tube as the faster rail link cost a lot more.
February 10th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
[...] Karen, Europe a la carte What’s the best way to get to the airport? [...]
February 13th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
[...] subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!I wrote recently about the complexity of judging the best way for me to travel to Glasgow Airport from my home in Berwick upon Tweed in Northumberland to catch my Easyjet flight to Berlin. During [...]