It has been three and a half years since I flew on a commercial aircraft anywhere. That's part of my personal response to the climate emergency. I use the bus or train, which are going anyway, rather than using the car. I know it will not make a huge amount of difference to global warming, but I'm telling you. You might tell someone else.
However, at the end of July I had a wedding to go to, of my daughter who now lives in Northern Ireland, so I examined the options afresh. A long drive over the A69 and A75 to Stranraer and the ferry was not an attractive option, and the railway (having been removed in 1965 from Dumfries to Stranraer) now involves a ride via Glasgow or Kilmarnock to Ayr, then a coach to Cairnryan where the ferries now go from. These options take 11 hours, and my wife was running a charity fundraiser the day after my return, so I needed to get back home quickly.
With some reservations I booked the flight with EasyJet, one of the greener airlines (all things are relative!) with new aircraft and high load factors. The booking process was easy, followed by check-in at home with two boarding passes generated for use at the airport. No reduction with my Veteran’s Railcard, but you can’t have everything. £145 return – the days of £19.99 each way are long gone.
On the appointed day I went to the Airport by bus and Metro, totalling £6.20 since the £2 maximum fare does not apply to Metro trains. With hand baggage only I had no need for the self-service bag drop and headed directly to straight to security. Things have not changed, except there are notices saying you must unpack electricals for separate screening. (Did that include my battery-operated alarm clock?) But it’s off with all belts (heaven knows why), and all liquids and gels under the 100ml limit must go into a little bag of prescribed size, and it has to close up with all contents inside.
On the way to the gate, I was peckish and headed to Burger King. They were out of ANY drinks except water to wash my £6.99 burger down, and they wanted to charge me £3.29 for a bottle of water. I remonstrated with the shift supervisor and eventually was given some free tap water.
Then another queue at the gate with no signs (neither printed or electronic) giving the destination. Nice to see Jack who works for Swissport (the ground handling agent) and had his first job at Chester-le-Track until I closed the business in March 2018.
No-one was too concerned at looking at my photo ID, neither in Newcastle nor Belfast.
Perhaps less necessary on a domestic flight. Boarding an aircraft in the open air up steep steps takes far longer than boarding a train with ten or twenty entrances. I found an old lady in my reserved seat next to the emergency exit. Staff had to gently coax her out as she could not have operated the door in an emergency.
On return to Newcastle on Saturday morning, I needed to be home quickly and was charged £47.50 for a taxi home. Do people really forget the value of money when they decide to fly?
Lumo is running five trains a day between Edinburgh to London in four and a half hours, which is equivalent to the end-to-end flight time measured city centre to city centre. They call at Newcastle too where the timings are even more advantageous to rail. Based on my experience in July, Lumo have the upper hand. A shame they can’t run to Stranraer.
alex@nationalrail.com
www.nationalrail.com