Domestic flight tips

[Slacker]

Looking at the possibility of a short trip to Edinburgh and possibly Dublin at a later date.As someone that hasn't flown in a very long time, any tips on getting the best deal in flights please. Also not a holder of a valid passport but I have eventually got around to getting one of those fancy new drivers licence with a very attractive photo of myself on.I think the drivers licence will be fine for Scotland but not sure about Ireland.Thanks for any advice. 

[phantom]

Worth having a look here

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[Northern Red]

5 hours ago, Slacker said:

Looking at the possibility of a short trip to Edinburgh and possibly Dublin at a later date.As someone that hasn't flown in a very long time, any tips on getting the best deal in flights please. Also not a holder of a valid passport but I have eventually got around to getting one of those fancy new drivers licence with a very attractive photo of myself on.I think the drivers licence will be fine for Scotland but not sure about Ireland.Thanks for any advice. 

Drivers licence always used to be fine for Ireland, I presume it still is.

[italian dave]

Drivers licence is good as ID, and is normally enough.

However, in theory you could be asked to evidence that you’re a UK citizen. And both the UK and Irish government advice is to take a passport in case you’re asked to do this. 

 

[Slippin cider]

Flew to Edinburgh a couple of days ago with EasyJet….started ok and got worse …40 minute delay taking off from Bristol and then sat on the tarmac at Edinburgh Airport for 45 minutes after only a 50 minute flight waiting for ground staff to attend (involved one person doing a lot of pointing) . Not the airlines fault in all fairness but kind of ruined it a bit . 
Add all the time together and cost and you can do it by train . 
No ID was asked for , only had hand luggage as they want over a million pounds for a normal sized case and then you have to wait about 6 months to get it back from the baggage reclaim . 
All a big faff …not the fault of EJ though.

[And Its Smith]

Use sky scanner and, if you are driving to an airport, take a look at 6-7 different airports.  If you live in Bristol you are less than 3 hours from Cardiff, Exeter, Southampton, Birmingham, Heathrow and East Midlands.  This year I am flying to Majorca from Exeter and for four people it was £700 cheaper than flying from Bristol 

[Slacker]

7 hours ago, Slippin cider said:

Flew to Edinburgh a couple of days ago with EasyJet….started ok and got worse …40 minute delay taking off from Bristol and then sat on the tarmac at Edinburgh Airport for 45 minutes after only a 50 minute flight waiting for ground staff to attend (involved one person doing a lot of pointing) . Not the airlines fault in all fairness but kind of ruined it a bit . 
Add all the time together and cost and you can do it by train . 
No ID was asked for , only had hand luggage as they want over a million pounds for a normal sized case and then you have to wait about 6 months to get it back from the baggage reclaim . 
All a big faff …not the fault of EJ though.

I looked at train fares and the cheapest I could find was £220 return which seemed excessive. 

[nebristolred]

8 hours ago, And Its Smith said:

Use sky scanner and, if you are driving to an airport, take a look at 6-7 different airports.  If you live in Bristol you are less than 3 hours from Cardiff, Exeter, Southampton, Birmingham, Heathrow and East Midlands.  This year I am flying to Majorca from Exeter and for four people it was £700 cheaper than flying from Bristol 

Thanks for that, that's a great tip actually. Must admit I only really check Bristol, Cardiff and Heathrow.

[TV Tom]

22 hours ago, Slacker said:

Looking at the possibility of a short trip to Edinburgh and possibly Dublin at a later date.As someone that hasn't flown in a very long time, any tips on getting the best deal in flights please. Also not a holder of a valid passport but I have eventually got around to getting one of those fancy new drivers licence with a very attractive photo of myself on.I think the drivers licence will be fine for Scotland but not sure about Ireland.Thanks for any advice. 

I thought you needed a passport if flying to Dublin ? i should know as i've been there countless times but always used my passport (in saying that you don't need any ID when going to Ireland by boat)

[Selred]

2 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

I thought you needed a passport if flying to Dublin ? i should know as i've been there countless times but always used my passport (in saying that you don't need any ID when going to Ireland by boat)

No, flew there last month. Driving license is fine!

As someone who flies regularly, Sky Scanner is the best. 

[TV Tom]

2 minutes ago, Selred said:

No, flew there last month. Driving license is fine!

As someone who flies regularly, Sky Scanner is the best. 

Do you know which Belfast airport easy jet flies into ?

[Selred]

58 minutes ago, TV Tom said:

Do you know which Belfast airport easy jet flies into ?

Think from Bristol it's the George Best, but I last fly from London so not 110%

[PHILINFRANCE]

Digressing slightly, but I am coming over to Bristol next week - €70 return trip with EasyJet from Paris/Lulsgate.

I shall only be bringing small hand baggage, but, as @Slippin cider mentioned above, had I wanted to bring a suitcase, it would have cost in excess of €300! 

[TV Tom]

8 minutes ago, PHILINFRANCE said:

Digressing slightly, but I am coming over to Bristol next week - €70 return trip with EasyJet from Paris/Lulsgate.

I shall only be bringing small hand baggage, but, as @Slippin cider mentioned above, had I wanted to bring a suitcase, it would have cost in excess of €300! 

That’s nuts, it’s great if you can cram all your luggage in a ruck-sack

[Bristol Rob]

Also, make sure you check with the airline as to what sort of ID they require you to have.

I have a feeling (or I think I read) that one carrier who has a route to the ROI acknowledged that whilst entry to the country wasn't passport specific and that they'd accept other forms of identification, as an airline, their requirement was that you'd need a passport to fly. 

[Midred]

On 09/04/2024 at 22:16, Slippin cider said:

Flew to Edinburgh a couple of days ago with EasyJet….started ok and got worse …40 minute delay taking off from Bristol and then sat on the tarmac at Edinburgh Airport for 45 minutes after only a 50 minute flight waiting for ground staff to attend (involved one person doing a lot of pointing) . Not the airlines fault in all fairness but kind of ruined it a bit . 
Add all the time together and cost and you can do it by train . 
No ID was asked for , only had hand luggage as they want over a million pounds for a normal sized case and then you have to wait about 6 months to get it back from the baggage reclaim . 
All a big faff …not the fault of EJ though.

Was the member of gound staff one of our ex players?

[Slippin cider]

2 minutes ago, Midred said:

Was the member of gound staff one of our ex players?

Yeah Damien Stuart 

[TV Tom]

21 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

Also, make sure you check with the airline as to what sort of ID they require you to have.

I have a feeling (or I think I read) that one carrier who has a route to the ROI acknowledged that whilst entry to the country wasn't passport specific and that they'd accept other forms of identification, as an airline, their requirement was that you'd need a passport to fly. 

Pretty sure you're right when flying to ROI but certainly don't need it when sailing into Rosslare or Dun Laoghaire/Dublin

[Maesknoll Red]

On 09/04/2024 at 22:16, Slippin cider said:

Flew to Edinburgh a couple of days ago with EasyJet….started ok and got worse …40 minute delay taking off from Bristol and then sat on the tarmac at Edinburgh Airport for 45 minutes after only a 50 minute flight waiting for ground staff to attend (involved one person doing a lot of pointing) . Not the airlines fault in all fairness but kind of ruined it a bit . 
Add all the time together and cost and you can do it by train . 
No ID was asked for , only had hand luggage as they want over a million pounds for a normal sized case and then you have to wait about 6 months to get it back from the baggage reclaim . 
All a big faff …not the fault of EJ though.

A few weeks back I flew to Edinburgh for a meeting, had the meeting, had a few beers in Edinburgh and got the last flight back, planes on time, cheaper and so much quicker than the train, I really wouldn’t have fancied the return trip on a train in the same day.

[Slippin cider]

2 hours ago, Maesknoll Red said:

A few weeks back I flew to Edinburgh for a meeting, had the meeting, had a few beers in Edinburgh and got the last flight back, planes on time, cheaper and so much quicker than the train, I really wouldn’t have fancied the return trip on a train in the same day.

That’s the main advantage, flight was 50 minutes compared to over 6 hours on the train . Ok if you have time ,and we did .

[elhombrecito]

The only time I've ever taken a domestic flight was when our flight back from Málaga was cancelled, and the only flight available was to Glasgow. We then had to get across the city from one airport to the other (who even knew they had more than one airport ) for a flight back to Bristol.

Now that was an interesting adventure.

[redkev]

On 10/04/2024 at 12:42, TV Tom said:

I thought you needed a passport if flying to Dublin ? i should know as i've been there countless times but always used my passport (in saying that you don't need any ID when going to Ireland by boat)

I’ve always used my passport for Dublin ( how big an airport is Dublin ffs huge )

[Northern Red]

38 minutes ago, elhombrecito said:

The only time I've ever taken a domestic flight was when our flight back from Málaga was cancelled, and the only flight available was to Glasgow. We then had to get across the city from one airport to the other (who even knew they had more than one airport ) for a flight back to Bristol.

Now that was an interesting adventure.

Prestwick? 

In terms of distance from Glasgow it's the equivalent of building an airport in Swindon and tacking Bristol onto its name.

[elhombrecito]

1 hour ago, Northern Red said:

Prestwick? 

In terms of distance from Glasgow it's the equivalent of building an airport in Swindon and tacking Bristol onto its name.

Yes, that's the one.

Though, for some reason I do not remember them being quite so far apart. Certainly not the 45 minute drive that Google is suggesting!

Memory is a strange thing!

[TV Tom]

11 hours ago, redkev said:

I’ve always used my passport for Dublin ( how big an airport is Dublin ffs huge )

It is ******* massive , if you're going to the West coast then Knock airport is great, in and out in two minutes 

[Slippin cider]

On 09/04/2024 at 23:03, And Its Smith said:

Use sky scanner and, if you are driving to an airport, take a look at 6-7 different airports.  If you live in Bristol you are less than 3 hours from Cardiff, Exeter, Southampton, Birmingham, Heathrow and East Midlands.  This year I am flying to Majorca from Exeter and for four people it was £700 cheaper than flying from Bristol 

We usually use Heathrow and hardly ever use Bristol but I will look into flights from Birmingham in future, roughly the same distance but not as busy .

[italian dave]

42 minutes ago, Slippin cider said:

We usually use Heathrow and hardly ever use Bristol but I will look into flights from Birmingham in future, roughly the same distance but not as busy .

Out of interest, why don’t you use Bristol? 

The reason might be obvious (maybe you live in Hounslow!) or just be about where you fly to. 

[Slippin cider]

5 minutes ago, italian dave said:

Out of interest, why don’t you use Bristol? 

The reason might be obvious (maybe you live in Hounslow!) or just be about where you fly to. 

Yes, it’s destination based . I found Bristol Airport much different and vastly improved compared to the last time we flew from there which was about 7 years ago, plus there’s still work ongoing.

[italian dave]

On 10/04/2024 at 12:42, TV Tom said:

I thought you needed a passport if flying to Dublin ? i should know as i've been there countless times but always used my passport (in saying that you don't need any ID when going to Ireland by boat)

 

On 10/04/2024 at 12:45, Selred said:

No, flew there last month. Driving license is fine!

As someone who flies regularly, Sky Scanner is the best. 

 

13 hours ago, redkev said:

I’ve always used my passport for Dublin ( how big an airport is Dublin ffs huge )

It’s all about risk, isn’t it?

The fact is that, under the terms of the Common Travel Area agreement, Irish and UK citizens can travel freely between the two countries without the need for a passport. That’s the case however you travel and wherever you arrive.

But the point is the “Irish and UK citizens” bit. When you arrive there’s a risk that, at the border, someone might want evidence that you’re a UK citizen and therefore have the right to travel under the CTA.

The risk of that happening is much greater at Dublin airport. Because by the time you get to the border check you’re mixed up with people arriving from places all over the world. When you arrive on a boat everyone is coming from the UK. There’s still a risk you’ll be asked to prove you’re a UK citizen, but for obvious reasons the risk is less.

And for a UK citizen I don’t think we’ve got any way of proving that other than a passport. 

 

[TV Tom]

4 minutes ago, italian dave said:

 

 

It’s all about risk, isn’t it?

The fact is that, under the terms of the Common Travel Area agreement, Irish and UK citizens can travel freely between the two countries without the need for a passport. That’s the case however you travel and wherever you arrive.

But the point is the “Irish and UK citizens” bit. When you arrive there’s a risk that, at the border, someone might want evidence that you’re a UK citizen and therefore have the right to travel under the CTA.

The risk of that happening is much greater at Dublin airport. Because by the time you get to the border check you’re mixed up with people arriving from places all over the world. When you arrive on a boat everyone is coming from the UK. There’s still a risk you’ll be asked to prove you’re a UK citizen, but for obvious reasons the risk is less.

And for a UK citizen I don’t think we’ve got any way of proving that other than a passport. 

 

I don't understand why someone would take their driving licence and not their passport, why take the risk ? (unless in the unlikelihood they don't have a passport) My Mrs has an Irish passport and always flies through customs and a "welcome home greeting" while i'm queueing up with all the other plebs in passport control  Thank you Brexit !!!