| > Let's see, will fly with them tomorrow. Faro->Porto (550km). 9.95 euros. 50 minutes flight > Train-> 6 hours, which is usually 7+ due to delays (last one I did in December was 7.20 making me late for a training) and costs 39 euros (20 if I buy 1 month in advance) Look, I do not strictly disagree with your comparison and I have often taken low cost airlines for the same reasons here and in asia (though airasia is a whole other class above ryanair so i'm not sure it's fair to compare them). But you're missing four important things: 1. those 50 minutes are actually at least 90 in reality, from entering the starting airport to leaving the destination airport, when taking into account check in and baggage, depending on the crowd. 2. the airport they use is off the city by a fair bit, adding at least 20 minutes of car or rail travel + costs, often both side (in and out) 3. if you need to add any kind of baggage + the link to the city, you end up costing the same as train 4. depends on rail link but here in france for such travel it's common to have a tgv or similar, which gives you ample room for your legs and a proper table for your laptop, along with power, so you can work Low cost airlines have their advantages, but it's not that clear cut over train: 2h/2h30 where you can't do anything and unpleasant vs 6h where you are not cramped and can reliably work and / or relax. At least for intra-national travel at eu-scale train should be majorly pushed, and I personally agree with my country's plan to do so. |
I never travel with baggage. Even in not cheap airlines, this add 30+ minutes for checkin and pick up also
I gave examples for Portugal. All these I did a lot. I used to travel Porto->faro and back many times a week (work in one place, my son in another). There is no real option here unless you are a full anti-flight person. I took the train down to faro last week but only because I wanted to do a training and times werent compatible, otherwise I would have flown, there isn't even a comparision here