Commuting to London

steve9859

I have a job offer in London which is too good to turn down, but have obligations here that I cant leave behind (not going to go into them so just take it on faith that I cant move permanently, so dont want anyone suggesting I move!!). So if took this job I will be doing a Monday to Thursday commute, probably 3 weeks in 4.

I know London very well, and am familiar with the journey (so I know what I am getting into from a logistical perspective). My salary will be enough to cover rental of studio flat in the city, and travel cost, so no issues there.

My question is around the flights. Back in the old days Aer Lingus ran 'Gold Circle' schemes for frequent fliers - that has obviously disappeared with the change to a 'low-cost' Ryanair type model. Does anyone have any experience around booking flights this regularly, and can give some advice? I am assuming there is no other way now than to book each seperately on the internet, but was just wondering if anyone had an agent through which they could get more flexibility, or used any other methods of booking.

Many thanks

antoinolachtnai

It would probably be worth finding a decent travel agent, paying them a few hundred euros and getting them to go through the options for you. Back in The Day I could have suggested a name, but I don't know who you would talk to now.

There are usually a few 'tricks' you can try that might be able save you, like getting a better fare by booking from London instead of Dublin, by overlapping the journeys, and probably a few other tricks too. The problem is that these tricks sort of wax and wane - they work for a while then stop working for one or other reason. Obviously if you want the best deal you need to give yourself options across the airlines, but if you've done the routine before you know all that.

LXFlyer

Aer Lingus still have a frequent flier scheme - Gold Circle, while bmi has Diamond Club (the most generous frequent flyer scheme of the lot) and Cityjet/Air France have Flying Blue.

http://www.aerlingus.com/goldcircle/
http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-ie/loyalty-programmes/diamond-club/diamond-club.aspx
http://www.airfrance.ie/X01/en/local/voyageurfrequent/flyingblue/fblue_welcome.htm

Things to be aware of - look at the cost of getting to/from the airport. Cityjet tends to be more expensive, but it is very cheap to get to/from London City (remember to use Oyster Card fares).

To be honest the best bet is (if you have the time) to try all of the options on the internet
- Ryanair (Stansted/Luton/Gatwick),
- Aer Lingus (Gatwick/Heathrow),
- bmi (Heathrow), and
- Cityjet (London City).

That is all a travel agent will do for you. Try split legs (booking one way with one airline and back with another if the cost of a return journey is prohibitive with one airline). Each leg is now priced individually - the days of return tickets are gone.

Check out all of the transport options to/from each airport - for example the normal train to/from Gatwick is far cheaper than the Gatwick Express and takes more or less the same time.

mgmt

Have you checked out skyscanner:

http://www.skyscanner.ie/flights/dub/lond/february-2011/february-2011/cheapest-flights-per-day-from-dublin-to-london-in-february-2011.html

Rather than going through a travel agent. Just do it yourself. Filter out the times you want to fly and to which airport.

runway16

Best bet is to book your flights well in advance, and avoid Friday evening and Sunday evenings if at all possible. If you book even 3 weeks ahead, you will get great fares on Aerlingus to Heathrow and Gatwick, and with all the others too.

dowlingm

If your career is depending on it I'd be slow to say depend on Aer Lingus right now :mad:

Terrontress

If you'll have an access to a UK bank account then Quidco might be more cop than Gold Circle. www.quidco.com/ . You'll get a small cash rebate on Aer Lingus, BMI and Air France. Also on car hire, Expedia etc. I fly occasionally with work a bit and always get Quidco on my flight and hotel. In six trips I've got about £100 sterling in cash.

Any other schemes such as Fly Blue or Gold Circle are not affected by using Quidco so you'll get both.

KevR

If flying regularly with Ryanair then you should look into getting your hands on a Mastercard Prepay as you will be able to avoid the €10 credit card charge on every(!) return flight you book.

I'm not sure how you can avoid the CC charge with Aer Lingus now - it used to be with a Visa Electron (Ryanair were the same but they changed to Mastercard Prepay a while back). I had a virtual Visa Electron card with Entro Pay and saved a lot on CC charger. Not sure if Visa Electron is still the free method with Aer Lingus or not.

Fratton Fred

OP, I do this every week and have done on and off for the last two years.

Things to factor in are flight times and train fares as well as flight costs.

If you will be taking luggage, BMI are usually the best bet and if you use a debit card, there is no booking fee. However, sometime Ryanair do mad offers, for example, I fly first thing Monday morning into gatwick and have picked up a load of flights for a tenner all in.

Please feel free to pm me with any questions, I have done pretty much every conceivable route so know all the options.

By the way, renting a room in a house three or four nights a week might work out a lot cheaper because you will be a model lodger, out all day and never there at weekends

Capt'n Midnight

If you have lots of time you could get the ferry/train from Dublin / Dun Laoghaire to any mainline UK station for £29 each way

it's long but less hassle than airports

www.seat61.com for links but you can buy the ticket on the day in any UK train station , not too sure if you can do at ferry port too

high heels

It all depends where you live really.. As your commuting you don't want long transfers.

I live 20 mins by bus from heathrow, So I try use that airport the most. If I book the flights in time it is usually £50 return If I wanted to use Gatwick its £10 each way on the train + 1.30 hours to get there as I have to take 2 trains. Its just not worth saving £25 flying with ryanair when you have to spend £20 on trains + 3 hours traveling there and back!!

So remember that, Maybe you should try live beside the train line that goes to Gatwick or Stanstead.
Use skyscanner.net to find the best fares you can put in London (any) and Dublin and it will find all the flights for that day if your flexible you can find cheap flights.

And dont take the 15 hour train you only have 3 days off!! I also work shifts and you need every hour you can get.