National Express East Coast

[mira666]

As you may or may not be aware NXEC have taken over the running of the GNER lines between London, The North East and Scotland. As a frequent user of GNER I am trying them out for the first time at the end of this month when i travel between Peterborough and Stirling

will let you all know how I get on

[Dave]

Thanks, but there are enough of us that are savvy enough to know that.

Looking forward to seeing waht you find though.

[JamieLei]

Which will mean you'll be travelling on a HST, possibly one painted up in nice pretty National Express colours. (Personally I still think they look crap). Nonetheless - give your opinions of the change, especially what's different compared to GNER.

PS Dave being in Preston and possibly unaware, National Express West Midlands have started rebranding, resulting in stuff like this: http://west-midlands-buses.fpic.co.uk/p48202832.html - I like it much more than the trains to be honest. It'll also be interesting to see how much they can get away with regarding the red London buses. Last I heard was that TfL wanted Stagecoach to remove the tri-colour stripe on the back end of their (still very red) buses, so it'll be a miracle if they can sneak on a few diagonal lines while Ken's not looking...

[mira666]

yeah, am also going first class this time compared to my last journey at the end of november so will be able to see if that makes life any easier

** edit **

that bus looks horrid

[JamieLei]

I think I slightly prefer it to the last design - but only marginally
How much extra would it cost to go first class?

[mira666]

worked out at £22 extra because I've booked like 4 weeks in advance, I travelled between Glasgow Central and Peterborough last year and the 1st class fare was cheaper than standard lol

[JamieLei]

That normally happens only when the standard advance is fully sold out, but the first advance isn't.

Thenagain, I'm the kind of person who, if can't get the the cheapest advance fare, will not travel at all.

[mira666]

That normally happens only when the standard advance is fully sold out, but the first advance isn't.

Thenagain, I'm the kind of person who, if can't get the the cheapest advance fare, will not travel at all.

boo-hiss

I much prefer going by train to flying these days

[JamieLei]

I wouldn't dream of flying to Scotland... - even from Birmingham.
Those airlines should be shut down - through excessive fuel taxes

[Dave]

I was told by my mother about that. They look quite, good, personally. National Express West Midlands. Woot.

[EXTspotter]

I think that some domestic flights are justified if for instance the Trains are too expensive or take too long. I last flew domestic on Flybe (BE/BEE) from Exeter (EXT/EGTE) to Manchester (MAN/EGCC) before an onward connection to Punta Cana (PUJ/MDPC) for a holiday in the Domincan Republic on First Choice Airways (DP/FCA). For the 5 of us, flying was 1/2 of the price of taking th train, plus it was faster and meant we could leave Newton Abbot on the same morning, rather than night before. As you can tell from the Airport and Airline ICAO and IATA codes, I am Aviation Nut. Here are a couple of photos from the trip:



My Flybe Dash 8 Q400 from Exeter, G-JECU, in the background with Luftansa Cityline CRJ100LR "Little Europe" D-ACJH infront, strangely parked at a domestic gate at Terminal 3 in Manchester.



Our ride to Punta Cana at T2 in Manchester, Boeing 767-300ER G-PJLO.



That was a quick fortnight! Luckiest photo ever! An XL France A330 F-GRSQ going back to Paris with American Airlines 757 rotating back to Miami off Runway 09



And our plane home, a different 763ER this time, G-OOBL.

Alex @ EXT!

[JamieLei]

Newton Abbot Station to Manchester Airport Station: £16 (£10.70 with railcard), 5h03


Exeter Airport to Manchester Airport: £28, 1h05
+ Travelling time to Exeter: £4.50 petrol (Source: Google Maps, 19.6 mi, 30mpg, £3.70/gallon), 29 mins (Source: Google Maps)
+ Check in time: 1h00
= 2h34

It depends really as to how much you want to spend, and how much you care about the environment
Also interesting to see that Flybe charge £0 for the flight itself, but £27.99 in "taxes".

[Dave]

And how far you book in advance, JamieLei.

I pay £10.60 to get from Stourbridge Junction to Lichfield Trent Valley, mate, so I know I'd be paying more than that for Newton Abbot to Manky Airport.

[mira666]

ok, first moan about NXEC, when booking in advance with GNER I used to get proper card tickets that were massive and had to be shown at the barriers, booked with NXEC and all I got was standard tickets and an extra one for my seat reservation

grrrr

[Dave]

I don't have a problem with that though. If I bought my tickets 'on-the-day' it would be the same.

Those big airline things were never any good.

Didn't give very good information at all.

NXEC's online booking system (which was, I believe, developed under GNER) is a recent discovery of mine which I have found to be absolutely brilliant.

[mira666]

yeah, the mixer desk style booking system was bought in during november and is really good to use

[andel]

NXEA have also re-branded one set and a 90 - have seen them and it looks ok... Photos below.

[mira666]

i saw one of their re-branded HST's at Kings Cross just before xmas, it looked ok

[Badger]

I saw one at Leeds last week, they get very dirty very quickly!

[mira666]

i can imagine, something to do with all the light colours in their livery