Capital trip made plane sense to me
JETS BEAT TRAIN PRICES
A TRAVELLER flew from Newcastle to London, via Menorca, for half the price of getting a direct train.
Joe Furness, 21, saved more than £40, despite adding 1,500 miles to his trip.
He was even able to stop off on the Spanish island, rent a car and enjoy a cocktail before flying back to England to meet his friends.
The trainee navigation officer in the Merchant Navy said: “I’m always looking at flight websites and when I saw the price of the train I thought, ‘why not?’
“I flew to Menorca with Thomas Cook, I found a beach, I hired a car, I had a cocktail and I flew to London to meet up with my friends.
“And I slept overnight in the hire car so I didn’t pay for a hotel either.
“There was a big Spanish festival ® on, so it was really fun.” In total, Joe, from Newcastle, paid £15.99 to fly to Menorca from his home city, while the return flight to London Gatwick cost £10.99. It cost £7.50 to rent a Fiat 500 and he bought a £4 cocktail at the festival. This meant he spent £40.02, just over half the cost of a £78.50 East Coast Main Line ticket. Joe previously travelled to Manchester via Switzerland in a cashsaving trip. He said: “It is more to make a point about how expensive train fares are. It was definitely worthwhile.” And he added: “If you are not stuck for time, it is much better to be sat on a beach than in a train carriage.”