European Railroad Discussion > UK: Save on train fare: fly from Sheffield to Stansted via Berlin

Ripped from the headlines of the respected UK Telegram! 

Excerpt: "...Jordon Cox was shocked when his train to Essex from Sheffield cost £50, so he flew home instead. The MoneySavingExpert.com blogger said: "I always go the extra mile to save money, but last week I went the extra 1,017 miles and saved £7.72 by getting back to Essex from Sheffield via Berlin – I even had enough Euros spare for a currywurst sausage by the Brandenburg Gate… Wunderbar !"..."

And, "...This isn't just true for one journey - the blogger was shocked to find other journeys showed similar savings.London to Bristol – Ryanair flights via Dublin: £14. South West train: £41.London to Manchester – Ryanair flights via Milan: £33. Virgin train: £101.Bristol to Newcastle – Ryanair flights via Dublin: £14. Cross Country train: £74..."
Who says you can't find valuable information in this rag?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12125404/Man-saves-money-on-train-fare-by-flying-from-Sheffield-to-Stansted-via-Berlin.html

I find train fares in the U.K. to be way higher than on the continent. Air fares can also be less for more distance traveled as well. Typically, it's cheaper (make that less expensive) to fly Detroit to Kiev than it is Detroit to Amsterdam. So the second 3 hour flight is basically free. You would think it would be the other way around. For those of us in North American, I fiind it almost always cheaper to buy a pass then indivdual train fares if there are more than just one or two segments of travel.

JPB Wrote:
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> Ripped from the headlines of the respected UK
> Telegram! 
>
> Excerpt: "...Jordon Cox was shocked when his train
> to Essex from Sheffield cost £50, so he flew home
> instead. The MoneySavingExpert.com blogger
> said: "I always go the extra mile to save money,
> but last week I went the extra 1,017 miles and
> saved £7.72 by getting back to Essex from
> Sheffield via Berlin – I even had enough Euros
> spare for a currywurst sausage by the Brandenburg
> Gate… Wunderbar !"..."
>
This "MoneySavingExpert" obviously hasn't grasped the simple concept that time is money.

Another sensationalism just by chance event, it took me about 2 minutes to work out that you probably have more chance of winning the lottery than doing this again, if it ever happened in the first place.

A - You can only fly East Midlands to Berlin on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday
B - The cheapest fare in the whole of February and March is the base fare of £19.99 and that is only on 2 dates, from a rough look the average fare is about £35
C - The cheapst fare Berlin to London STN is £14.99 and once again these fares are few and far between, in most cases near double the base fare.

Anybody who flies in Europe knows that getting the cheapest fares on 2 seperate routes on the same day is nearly impossible and a near miracle if you could get them on both routes booked on the day you wish to travel.

So lets compare like for like, this does not include the extra cost of city to airport etc.
Cheapest booked in advance rail fare Sheffield to Shenfield £28 [with a railcard that would be even less] Multiple trains to choose from.
Cheapest Ryanair East Midlands to Berlin ​£19.99 only one flight on a M/W/F
Cheapest Ryanair flight Berlin to London STN £14.99​. 4 flights a day.

Sorry am I missing something or is this newspaper article just a complete load of ...............

The whole problem is people read these reports and how many have ​actually checked to see how accurate they are but are willing to agree with what is printed.

3rdboxcar Wrote:
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> Sorry am I missing something or is this newspaper
> article just a complete load of ...............

As it's from the Daily Telegraph I'm afraid it is :-)

3rdboxcar Wrote:
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> So lets compare like for like, this does not
> include the extra cost of city to airport etc.
> Cheapest booked in advance rail fare Sheffield to
> Shenfield £28 Multiple trains to choose from.

In short, the "MoneySavingExpert" doesn't have a clue about how to get an advance rail ticket.

For a fun day out this trip the guy took would be hard to top. For actual savings though this is mere sensationalism or a a poke at rail fares in the UK. All this guy had to do was check out Megabus from Sheffield to London. Even if booked out for as soon as next Sunday there are 13 trips ranging from £ 3 to £ 9. Four and half to less than four hours. Megabus was actually my answer for my first rip to the UK. After over a year of research I never found cheap fares or even reasonable fares in Scottland. Being a bus fan and having rode Megabus here in the US I wanted to ride a Megabus in the UK as well. My dad and I rode from Glasgow to Inverness, me for £5 and my dad for £1 (I told everybody it was £1 because that's all he was worth!). Being that East Midlands Trains is also part of the Stagecoach Group, same as Megabus though there are some very good fares on East Midlands Trains so yes this article sounds like a load...

Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/16 08:19 by tq-07fan.