Flying into London, the self professed ‘best city in the world’ (I love London, but really?), I’m always glad to escape the clutches of the direct selling personnel until I remember what comes next. Airports aren’t my type of place. Paranoid and expensive, if I’m lucky enough to land on-time and before the last train has left (this happens more often than I care to remember), I’m usually happy to step into the carriage anticipating what awaits. Not at Stansted. Shanghai has the Bullet Train, Toyko the Keisei Skyliner Airport Express so surely London would have something to shock and awe……
The Stansted Express. The train where it’s April 1st every day. Seriously, 1st class passengers pay double for the privilege of a different colour cloth on their seat and maybe a free drink if the staff remember to pass through with the drinks trolley. I only know 1st class exists because the conductor moved me on claiming that my presence in 1st class with a standard ticket was unfair to the passengers who had stumped up the cash for the real deal. The irony was entirely lost on him. I’ve travelled return 1st class London to Liverpool on Virgin for the same price as a standard single on the Stansted Express. Incidentally the only thing remotely express about the Stansted Express is the £2.50 instant coffee which they try flog. Presumably to add insult to injury.
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
1 response so far ↓
1 steph // Mar 20, 2009 at 11:36 am
Same can be said for the Gatwick express. Overpriced and often 3 or 4 minutes slower than the normal Southwest Trains -Brighton to London Victoria -service which passes by Gatwick/along the same line.
The message is clear. When visiting London, if you want to save about £10 each way: get on the normal train and avoid the pointless and expensive “airport express” trains. They are a grotesque tourist trap praying on the vulnerability of new arrivals.
It’s no wonder people immediately go into shock at how expensive London is before they even reach the city.
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