Internal flights in Europe

[Duffa]

My husband and I travelled quite extensively by train on our last European trip and we quite like the trains - comfy seats in first class ( better than being crammed in economy class on a plane anyway) with the added bonus of seeing the countryside as we travel through it. We are planning quite a few stops (8 I think) which would mean a lot of time spent hanging around in airports if we did them all by air. With the Eurail pass it works out quite affordable. But, as they say, different stroke for different folks.

Each to their own, indeed! I hear what you are saying re crammed in economy and airport security. I did love the Eurostar from Paris to London.
Enjoy!!

 

[drewbles]

Just don't mention the war...:!:

I did once, but I think I got away with it!

 

[drewbles]

Each to their own, indeed! I hear what you are saying re crammed in economy and airport security. I did love the Eurostar from Paris to London.
Enjoy!!

I have to say I was quite disappointed with the Eurostar (was very excited to be going on it). I did the premium economy version (middle class) and it wasn't bad but wasn't great. The DB ICE trains in F were much nicer, but I guess there was far nicer countryside to see on those trips too

Give me 5 hours on a train over a 90 minute flight with the hassle of airports, luggage, security etc. The ability to walk up, put bag above you, and say 'ein bier bitte' as soon as you're seated is priceless

 

[Flashback]

I have to say I was quite disappointed with the Eurostar (was very excited to be going on it). I did the premium economy version (middle class) and it wasn't bad but wasn't great. The DB ICE trains in F were much nicer, but I guess there was far nicer countryside to see on those trips too

Give me 5 hours on a train over a 90 minute flight with the hassle of airports, luggage, security etc. The ability to walk up, put bag above you, and say 'ein bier bitte' as soon as you're seated is priceless

Eurostar is rubbish. I travel in Business Premier for work and it's a terrible out-dated product!

 

[flyingfan]

Sky scanner is best in my opinion. On that route, try Germanwings or Air Berlin for cheap flights.

I wish I'd known about Skyscanner when planning my European odyssey some time ago. Back then I was using Expedia and Zuji to find most flights, but somehow (probably by looking at the Wikipedia articles of airports to find servicing airlines) came across Vueling, which didn't as I recall show up on those sites but is on Skyscanner, for ORY-FCO at a nice price. I like rail but decided that due to limited time it was better to fly.

 

[Flashback]

I wish I'd known about Skyscanner when planning my European odyssey some time ago. Back then I was using Expedia and Zuji to find most flights, but somehow (probably by looking at the Wikipedia articles of airports to find servicing airlines) came across Vueling, which didn't as I recall show up on those sites but is on Skyscanner, for ORY-FCO at a nice price. I like rail but decided that due to limited time it was better to fly.

anat0l and I did that exact same flight, but in the reverse direction. They used to codeshare with IB however that may have changed since the IAG buyout.

 

[Bundy Bear]

I have flown Air Berlin and I found the service good. The magazine has both English and German interest.

From the 3 June Berlin Brandenbrug will open, it is on the old site of Schonefeld (SXF) which is around 18kms south east of Berlin, there will be an easy train connection into the city.

All of the cabin crew spoke English some just did it better than others.

 

[seanpodge]

OK, so I think we will be booking Berlin Air - good reports etc - not worried about points. Not sure it matters which airport we fly into...is this something I should think about in terms of where the airports are in relation to the city?

To add to what Bundy Bear wrote above, from the 3rd of June, Berlin will only have one airport, Berlin Brandenburg (BER). This is being built on an area that overlaps one of Berlin's current airports Berlin Schönefeld airport (SXF). On the 2nd of June, Schönefeld and Berlin's other major airport, Tegel (TXL) will both be closed down and all flights moved to Brandenburg (BER).

Brandenburg is located just under 20 kms south east of the city centre of Berlin. It has freeway connections, bus services and connections to two lines of the Berlin S-Bahn, along with DB regional trains and international trains to places such as Prague and Amsterdam, should that take your fancy, all located under the airport itself. Should be a fantastic facility (take note, people planing Sydney's second airport!).

 

[drewbles]

Should be a fantastic facility (take note, people planing Sydney's second airport!).

Berlin is a tad bigger/busier than SYD, it was also in the situation where it had an effectively disused air terminal in a good location. One would argue that none of the alternate sites for SYD MKII are particularly convenient to a lot of people

 

[Jude Starr]

Ah, OK...I wasn't aware of the changes with the new airport in Berlin - looking forward to checking it out - it sounds great! Thanx for the info!

 

[marksmiles]

Sky scanner is best in my opinion. On that route, try Germanwings or Air Berlin for cheap flights.

Air Berlin is on a huge expansion push, they do offer good prices for flights in Europe, but as for all low cost carriers, be careful about the extras.

 

[Balwyn3103]

Berlin is a tad bigger/busier than SYD, it was also in the situation where it had an effectively disused air terminal in a good location. One would argue that none of the alternate sites for SYD MKII are particularly convenient to a lot of people

Not sure I understand what you mean by "effectively disused terminal". I've flown in and out of Berlin Schoenefeld about 30 times in the last 5 years (it serves Ryanair from Stansted) and it didn't appear effectively disused. The new airport will use one of Schoenefeld's runways. I had thought Brandenburg was getting its extra land from open country nearby as Schoenefeld is on the edge of town (easy getaway from it to the border with Poland). But are you saying the extra land is coming form ANOTHER disused airport nearby???

 

[Wainza 1]

I'm flying to London in August for a wedding in Belfast , I booked return airfare with Lufthansa ( operated by BMI ) with Expedia, the process was painless and easy to use, I also use them for accommodation

 

[Flashback]

I'm flying to London in August for a wedding in Belfast , I booked return airfare with Lufthansa ( operated by BMI ) with Expedia, the process was painless and easy to use, I also use them for accommodation

Is the flight an LH code? Given they no longer own BMI it will be interested to see how it is operated. Is it LHR-BHD or LHR-BFS?

 

[Wainza 1]

It is a LH code and the flight is to BHD

 

[Oneworldplus2]

Fire safety problems delay new Berlin airport yet again

Fire safety problems delay new Berlin airport yet again | Reuters

 

[nowmedia]

agree with buying return tickets and ditching the return leg. try Lufthansa. they often have specials within Europe on their Australian site which arent available to locals. when I was based in Berlin I used them a lot and yes they are a joy of German efficiency. Not sure how the flights will run out of the new Brandenberg airport - you used to hub most of the time out of Tegel via other cities such as Frankfurt and Munich.

 

[nowmedia]

agreed that trains are a much more pleasant experience. did 2 weeks by train last month from Berlin to Paris then London, Paris, Venice and Munich before flying out of Frankfurt. Only issue was with the Italians who were on strike. Of course they were...

 

[lovetravellingoz]

p.s. Skycanner is the best flight searcher.

Yes it is one of my favourites.

However Www.hipmunk.com is pretty good too and I love it's functionally for comparing complex connections for long multi-leg flights as you can see all the flights and layover times at a multitude of airports all in one glance.

 

[Chicken]

Seems like I am one of the few who is not into trains in Europe.

I agree that trains for short intercity trips are very good (saves the hassle of going thru airports). But I would not use trains for any trip hitting 4 hours.

Sitting on Eurostar feels like sitting on a Westbus / Skybus.

Sitting in Thalys feels like sitting on a Skybus seat with CityRail carriage & hygiene standard. (read: disguesting). Even in first class.

So I always end up flying.

And I think it's more important to pick the right airport then the airline. Airfare are so cheap in Europe it's a non issue. Just don't end up in some low cost airport in the middle of nowhere.