London to Dublin - two Sail Rail hacks!

SailRail tickets combine your rail journey to a port, and your foot passenger journey on a ferry.  Despite the rise in cheap flights across the Irish Sea, they are still popular on the Holyhead to Dublin route - especially at peak times or last minute, when air fares are extortionate!

The advantage of SailRail tickets are they are fixed price.  So for example London to Dublin costs either £53.40 for an "Advance" ticket, or once they sell out it's £60.10 for the misnamed "Standby" fare.  Tickets from elsewhere in both GB and Ireland are on a sliding scale, as per this old map - all ferries now serve Dublin port!

Most days there's a 9am train from London Euston which gives you 80 minutes to see the sights of Holyhead, before the huge Irish Ferries ship Ulysses pulls out of port and delivers you into Dublin around 5.30pm - where you stroll across the gangway back onto dry land.

If the journey that you want is showing as Sold Out / Unavailable - try booking Bangor (Gwynedd) to Dublin departing at 12:23 - the last stop before Holyhead.  If this shows as available, you know that it's the train that's causing the problem rather than the ferry that's sold out.

Since the pandemic, Avanti require seat reservations for SailRail tickets - even though they always have a couple of carriages that don't have any seat reservations!

When I've encountered this problem I've tried multiple rail reservation websites, and none could overcome the Avanti block.

Avanti Hack

However, if you go to a mainline station with a ticket office, they should be able to sell you a ticket for the date you want, without a specific train.  Since most stations only sell a handful of SailRail tickets it may take some time for them to work it out. And make sure they select correctly between Irish Ferries (Dublin Ferryport - DFP) or Stena (Dublin Port Stena - DPS).

Then it's just a case of getting past the Avanti staff at the gateline and onto the train with your open ticket!

Sunday Hack

The 9am direct train to Holyhead unfortunately doesn't operate on a Sunday (or if Avanti amend the timetable) - so you'll need to find a connecting route.  If you want to get the 2.10pm Irish Ferries ship, rail reservation websites say you need to depart London Euston just after 8am.

However if you select Dublin Port Stena (for the later ferry) you can book connecting trains which should get you into Holyhead a tantalising half hour before the 2.10pm Irish Ferries departure.

With the last transfer bus to the ferry departing the terminal 20 minutes before the ferry leaves, if the trains are on time you can make the 2.10pm ferry - even though you can't actually book it.

Once you arrive at Holyhead station you need to go to the rail ticket desk (not the Irish Ferries or Stena ticket desk) and ask them to swap your ticket from Stena to Irish Ferries.  As you enter the station/terminal from the platforms, the rail ticket window is on your right facing the ferry ticket desks.

When I did this recently the rail ticket staff member was rather confused and actually issued me a new ticket the same as the old ticket. But thankfully the Irish Ferries checkin staff let it go, and issued me a Ulysses boarding pass anyway.  I guess they appreciated my effort!

So if you value an extra 40 minutes in bed and are willing to take the risk that you may end up on the Stena ferry if your train is late into Holyhead - then give this Sunday Hack a bash!

Dublin to Zagreb for Christmas 2024

Travelling from Dublin to Zagreb isn't the easiest with neither Aer Lingus or Croatian Airlines flying the route.  And it's made more challenging as Ryanair reduce their service to just three days a week in November and December.

Ryanair have evening flights on 20th and 23rd December and a morning flight on 22nd - with a cabin wheely costing an extra 18 euro or a 20kg hold bag an extra 30.49 euro

Of course there are connecting options - with KLM having a decent choice as they code share with Aer Lingus on the DUB-AMS sector and with Croatia Airlines on the AMS-ZAG sector.

Some of the connections only allow 1 hour in Amsterdam Schiphol - so you'd need to consider a possible delay to your luggage arriving (at the very least).

A wheely is included in the KLM pricing, and a 23kg hold bag costs 40 euro or 38/41 euro if you choose the "Standard" bundled pricing!

Zagreb's location means that it's within driving distance of a number of different airports.

Trieste airport is about 2:45 drive from Zagreb - which would cost about 60 euro each way in a SUV

There's a civilised morning flight from Dublin on 21st December, and an uncivilised early departure on 23rd December

Budapest is about 4 hours drive from Zagreb with Ryanair offering morning flights on 20th, 21st & 24th December and afternoon/evening flights on 21st, 22nd & 23rd December.

Aer Lingus also fly DUB-BUD departing at 16:50 five days a week

Aer Lingus allow a 10kg wheelie to be checked in for free or charge 10 euro to carry it on board.  At this time of year a 20kg hold bag costs 40 euro on this route.  Upgrading to "Plus" pricing for 49 euro includes both a carryon and a 20kg hold bag - a whole 1 euro saving (plus free seat selection).

Zagreb's location means that it's within train distance of further airports!

Aer Lingus offer morning flights to Vienna

and Ryanair offer evening flights on 20th, 21st, 22nd & 23rd December and morning flights on 23rd and 24th December

and from Wien Hauptbahnhof (a short 15 minute train connection from the airport) there are various connections to get to Zagreb.  The quickest is the daily 15:58 departure (with a change in Graz) which arrives into Zagreb at 22:20

Prices start at an incredible 29 euro if booked far enough in advance.  And first class (on the Austrian train) costs just 10 euro extra.

Another Fly-Rail option is via Zurich Hauptbahnhof - an easy 10 minute connection from the airport.

Aer Lingus have morning flights on 20th, 21st, 23rd & 24th December and afternoon flights on 20th, 22nd & 23rd December (too late for the train connection).

Swiss have morning or lunchtime flights on 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd & 24th - as well as evening flights each day that are too late for the rail connection.

Swiss include an 8kg wheelie, and charge 30 euro for a checked bag (presumably 20kg).

The overnight sleeper departs Zurich at 20:40 each evening - arriving into Zagreb at 10:39 with sunrise at about 07:44 in this region around Christmas.

However there are expected to be engineering works on this route between Schwarzach-St.Veit and Villach from 18th November 2024 until 13th July 2025 - so maybe not the best time to take the sleeper (or not so sleeper) train!

On the Swiss Railway website a 3 person cabin purchased for single occupancy booked far in advance costs around 250 chf (267 euro) or 125 chf for twin occupancy or 100 chf for triple occupancy.  The SBB website appears a bit flaky with pricing on this route.

On the Austrian Railway website a 3 person cabin purchased for single occupancy costs 250 euro or 210 euro total for twin or triple occupancy.  The Deutsche Bahn website shows the full range of options with more sensible prices

And the NightJet website also shows the full range of Seating / Couchette / Sleeper options for EN40465

There is another daily sleeper train from Stuttgart via Munich Ost to Zagreb - but it also runs over the same track that is subject to engineering works, so isn't a reliable option until Summer 2025.

This EN40237 sleeper service doesn't seem to have couchettes - just seats or cabins

Conclusion

Whilst the sleeper train sounds lovely - Christmas 2024 is not the time to try it out - and you'd get to see more in Summer anyway!

But there are plenty of other options available - with Trieste on Saturday 21st December looking like the best value option.

Dublin to Shanghai - part deux

I wrote previously about looking for flights to Shanghai that were cancellable for a reasonable fee, as the Chinese visa had not been obtained.

Now that the Chinese visa has been obtained, life is simpler ... and we're just looking for the usual price / timing / routing matrix!

Starting off with the basic Skyscanner query - departing at the start of February, and returning at the end of March ...

Luckily the prices have barely increase in the six weeks since we last looked

British Airways has the eight cheapest combinations - and the departure and connection timings of the BA flights look pretty good.

One aspect which complicates the comparison is that some airlines include a hold bag in their basic fee (mostly Middle East airlines) whilst most of the European airlines do not.  And then you need to work out whether it's better to add a bag separately, or accept the airline's "standard" fare.  Thankfully BA make it pretty simple - 35 euro for a bag on the way out and 34 euro for a bag on the way back, and no bundling / unbundling calculations to work out.

This gives a grand total of 577 euro for the return flights including one hold bag.

577 euro is actually cheaper than any other airline on the original Skyscanner list - so we don't have to go and see what their baggage fees are!

Looking at departures within a few days of the original dates - all the best options are still British Airways, which makes the analysis straightforward.

On the outbound journey the last few days in January are priced the same as the 1st February

On the inbound journey there are options either side of 31st March with the same price

On the BA website they offer both Aer Lingus and British Airways flights for the Dublin to Heathrow legs - but since Aer Lingus use a different terminal, it's definitely worth selecting the BA flights so that the connection between the two flights is within the same terminal.

And in the unlikely event of missing the outbound connection - China Eastern have both a mid afternoon and an evening departure from Heathrow, so I would expect BA to use one of them.  Or a night in a Heathrow hotel isn't the worst thing that could happen!

Conclusion:  all the way with BA ... now just book your flights!

Dublin to Shanghai

I'm looking for a return flight from Dublin to Shanghai departing around Thursday 1st February and returning around Sunday 31st March.  Usually I'm not interested in the T&Cs - but on this occasion I may want some amount of flexibility.

First over to Skyscanner ... and British Airways has the cheapest fares for the exact dates - starting from 497 euro (travel agent) ... and 504 euro directly from BA without hold luggage ... or 573 euro with one hold bag

Excluding BA the next cheapest prices are KLM and Air France

And excluding BA, KLM and Air France - the next options are with Virgin Atlantic

Looking one day either side of the original dates on Skyscanner doesn't result in any cheaper flights

Now moving to Kayak - their date matrix shows that by chance, the original dates are actually the cheapest

Looking at these flights on the British Airways website and the fare conditions ... it appears there is no penalty to change the ticket (but of course the fare difference can be significant) especially close to departure.  No refunds are permitted on this fare - which is not ideal.

Taking the "Economy Flexible" option on the BA website - the price becomes a jaw dropping 4,436 euro

Looking at these flights in BA Premium Economy - they are still non refundable

Even in BA business class - the tickets are non refundable

So what about the KLM flights - the cheapest including hold luggage is 756 euro - considerably more expensive than British Airways.  This ticket can be changed (subject to fare difference) but is not refundable

There is a refundable option on these flights (cancel before first flight) - which costs a total of 906 euro including baggage fees.

With the refundable option being so much more expensive - it's then worth checking other airlines / online travel agents

Looking at Expedia - the original British Airways flights are available for a "no cancel fee" price of 745 euro (including baggage).  But if you go through to the booking T&Cs - it says there's a 204 euro cancellation fee - which doesn't give me great confidence in Expedia.

Usually we could try BA Holidays or Virgin Holidays to see what sort of flexible package was available - but sadly neither of them offer "holidays" to Shanghai

Looking at other airlines as well:

British Airways - cheapest including luggage 573 euro; refundable 4,436 euro

Virgin Atlantic - cheapest including luggage 592 euro; refundable fare 1,720 euro

KLM/AF - cheapest including luggage 756 euro; refundable 906 euro

SAS - cheapest including luggage 787 euro; refundable fare 987 euro

Etihad - cheapest including luggage 846 euro; mostly refundable fare 1,243 euro

Qatar - cheapest including luggage 863 euro; refundable 1,843 euro

Lufthansa - cheapest including luggage 894 euro; mostly refundable fare 1,143 euro

Turkish - cheapest including luggage 999 euro; mostly refundable fare 1,129 euro

Emirates - cheapest including luggage 1,129 euro - but this is actually mostly refundable

So the current best price for a refundable ticket is KLM/AirFrance for 906 euro

The next step is to phone up travel agents such as Trailfinders to see what sort of flexible fare types they have available.  And whether they are able to hold flights until after a visa application result is received.

Another option is to book a reward flight and cancel it for a 42 euro fee once the result of the visa application has been received - and book a cheap cash fare.

Avios.com vs British Airways Executive Club

I've written before about the ever changing taxes/surcharges charged on Aer Lingus reward flights - and the difference between booking through British Airways Executive club telephone line, and using the Avios.com website.

I was just looking at a simple Heathrow to Dublin one way flight and phoned up BA to compare prices.  What's really weird is the structure of the Avios/price combination - BA's work in the opposite direction that Avios.com use.

For simplicity let's value each Avios at 1p

On Avios.com the Avios/price combinations are:

4,000 avios + £27.82

3,676 avios + £32.82

3,136 avios + £37.82

2,055 avios + £47.82

1,600 avios + £62.82

1,276 avios + £72.82

Using 1p per Avios value, the 4,000 avios option is the best, with the 2,054 avios option close behind.  The 1,276 avios option is by far the worst.

Assuming the British Airways telephone operator gave me the correct prices - their Avios/price combinations are:

4,000 avios + £40.33

3,676 avios + £43.08

3,136 avios + £47.08

2,055 avios + £55.33

1,600 avios + £60.33

1,276 avios + £65.33

Again using 1p per Avios value, the 2,054 avios option is the best, with the 1,600 avios option close behind.  The 4,000 avios option is the worst.

The best option on Avios.com is significantly cheaper than the best option that the British Airways call agent offered.

But if you only have 1,600 avios to use, then the best option is to book using a British Airways phone operator.

Whilst the Aer Lingus reward flights are still more expensive than the flat Reward Flight Saver option on BA reward flights - at least the Aer Lingus taxes/fees are cheaper than the £39 they were charging a few years ago!

Ryanair Boeing 737 Max 8200 - first revenue flight

Over two years ago I wrote about seating on Ryanair's Boeing 737 Max, as it was due to operate various routes later that Summer

After the tragic accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia, the first Ryanair plane finally arrived last month - seen here poking out of a hangar at Dublin Airport

Today the second aircraft operates its first revenue flights - a round trip from London Stansted to Dublin

Surprisingly the plane isn't showing as operating the same flights in the coming week - so Ryanair may just substitute it in at the last moment.  With the Max having an extra 8 seats over the standard Ryanair Boeing 737-800 it should be easy enough to swap it in with minimal passenger seating changes.

Whilst Ryanair's boss Michael O'Leary said recently that passengers can avoid the Max and take the next flight (at least for the first 4 to 6 months of operation), that promise isn't the same as before the pandemic.  If you turned up at Stansted for this morning's 6.30am flight and decided not to fly on the Max, you will be waiting until 10.15pm this evening for the airline's next flight to Dublin.

If you do find yourself on a Ryanair Max aeroplane, it's worth looking at my full post on the seat plan, as you could get yourself a (slightly) better seat for the same price as a standard seat.

Dublin Port - Irish Ferries bus transfer

I've written before that when I'm arriving into Dublin port from Holyhead, even though the Irish Ferries ship departs 10 minutes after the Stena ship ... I prefer to take the Irish Ferries, as it offers the best chance of being able to walk straight off the ship - instead of having to wait until all the cars have gone, and a bus comes on board, and they finally offload the foot passengers ... as Stena often do !

Usually I'm lucky enough that somebody collects me from the ferry terminal - so I rush off the ship (hand luggage only), and we're often exiting the port as the first cars roll off the ship ...

Today I used the Mortons Coaches transfer bus for the first time in ages - Irish Ferries underwrite the service so their foot passengers are guaranteed an easy link from the Port into the city centre and train stations.

I was one of the first foot passengers off the ship so was through security, and with no bags to collect was outside the terminal building just after 5.30pm

The next Dublin Bus route 53 departure was at 6pm, so it was obvious that I should pay the 3.50 euro Adult Single fare and take the express transfer into the city.

What I hadn't reckoned on was just how slow my fellow foot passengers would be ... and obviously the shuttle bus needs to wait until the last of them have emerged from the terminal building.  By 5.50pm the Dublin Bus had arrived - but I was still hopeful that we would get away first ...

I don't know whether it was the hold luggage that was slow coming off, or whether it was just people taking their time ... but we didn't finally depart until 6.05pm - a full five minutes after the public bus had left !

Google Maps reckons I would have got to the train station at about 6.26pm using Dublin Bus ... whereas I ended up arriving at 6.21pm using Mortons ... so the express ended up being five minutes faster than the public bus.  Dublin Bus would have cost me 2.50 euro - so I ended up paying a euro to save me 5 minutes.  ymmv.

Dublin to St Anton

going to St Anton for some Easter skiing ... a couple of different options:

on Friday 30th March 2018 - Ryanair to Munich

dep DUB 06:10
arr MUC 09:40
67 eur - excluding baggage fees

the 13:00 train cost 60 euro
the 15:00 train cost 45 euro
the 17:00 and 19:00 trains cost 30 euro

alternatively could flight to Zurich

with Eurowings
dep DUB 12:10
arr ZRH 18:20 (via DUS)
100 eur - excluding baggage fees

with Aer Lingus
dep DUB 07:10
arr ZRH 10:40
132 eur - excluding baggage fees

the 12:18 train (under 3 hours) costs 52 eur
the 20:18 train (3.5 hours) costs 61 eur


on Monday 2nd April 2018 - the same routes are available

dep ZRH 21:40
arr DUB  23:00
195 eur - excluding baggage fees

the 16:57 train (arriving 19:42) costs 53 euro

alternatively from Munich there's a Ryanair flight

dep MUC 21:10
arr DUB 22:40
134 eur - excluding baggage fees

or an Aer Lingus flight

dep MUC 20:25
arr DUB 21:55
165 eur - excluding baggage fees

the train timings aren't as helpful for this route, it's a longer journey and there's only a train every two hours - so it would be the 15:03 departure (arriving 18:55) for 69 eur

Redeeming Avios in Club

As long as you fly once a year with your British Airways Executive Club number tagged to a flight, you gain the benefit of much lower taxes/fees on shorthaul redemption flights - BA call in Reward Flight Saver (RFS).  This means that instead of being Lufthansa redemption levels of taxes/fees - where the points price can be the same as the cash price - the flight will cost 17.50 gbp per sector in Economy, and 25.00 gbp per sector in Business class.

There's a well know trick to reduce the taxes/fees on the ex-EU sector by booking two singles.  For example an Economy seat from DUB to LHR currently costs 12.59 gbp (instead of 17.50) and a Business seat also costs 12.59 gbp (instead of 25 gbp).  So if you're booking a return ex-UK it always worth checking if it's cheaper to book as two singles, especially if travelling Business class (although there may be other reasons you don't want to).

I was recently looking up ex-DUB flights to Rome (connecting in LHR) on the Avios website, and it was charging the expected 41,000 avios, but requesting 100 gbp in taxes in fees.
I tried booking DUB-LHR-FCO as a one way ticket and FCO-LHR-DUB as another - but it still kept trying to charge me 50 gbp for each ticket.

This seemed strange, so I scooted over to the BA website, and for exactly the same flights they wanted 41,000 avios and 79.10 gbp
Booking it as two separate tickets (DUB-LHR-FCO and FCO-LHR-DUB) they wanted 31.26 gbp and 47.84 gbp - so no additional saving to be had !

Booking through the BA website, you also get a lot more choice on which connecting flights to take - with the Avios website, they just give a single connecting option for each initial flight.  This may not be an issue, but worth remembering if you don't like what's offered.

What I don't know is whether you would be charged the lower amount if you weren't eligible for RFS - that would be perverse ... but possible !

LYR trip - finally

i've written a few times (actually four) about planning a trip to Svalbard ... so i thought i should explain how i actually finally executed it !

after using the "book activities" section on the Visit Svalbard website to check out potential excursions ... i reckoned that we could see the main sights in just a few days ... and the way the flights worked, that's what we ended up doing.

incidentally, the tourist office in LongYeaRbyen has a couple of computers for tourists to book their trips - and then you can use the booking number generated on the website and make a payment in the tourist office (including by Amex), rather than making payment through the website.  the lady was very helpful, explaining the trips, and calling up a couple of companies to check details.

but back to the journey ...

i used Avios to book a British Airways flight to Norway ... and had a few days in the south doing non Svalbard stuff ... including an incredibly good value ferry journey with Fjordline from Stavanger to Bergen - where the 20 minute bus from Stavanger city centre cost half the price of the 5 hour ferry journey.  just make sure you book it in the correct direction - the website isn't the best designed !

from OSLo to LYR i managed to get a 66 gbp flights on Norwegian (plus 15 gbp for 20kg bag and seat choice).  check in at OSL with Norwegian is completely automated - included printing your luggage label, putting it on the belt, and scanning the label - once a bloke came along to click ok on the screen - which only have norwegian language text !  and the machine accepted my 20.9kg bag without complaint/charge.

transfer from the airport to accommodation is available with a "Flybussen" service - which was 120 NOK for a return.

we stayed in Gjestehuset 102 - which was fine.  i suspect Coal Miners Cabin would have been better - but it was full by the time i booked (less than a week before arrival).

the flight prices for the return journey were getting expensive, but i managed to use 15,000 united airlines points, and book seats on LYR-OSL-LHR and LYR-OSL-LHR-DUB (15k for each seat).  initially the United website wouldn't complete the DUB ticket (i actually ended up with two incomplete DUB bookings).  the first time I called United they claimed that they could no longer book AerLingus flights - and their website was incorrect (despite it showing loads of different EI flights).  the next time i called United, they were able to ticket the incomplete booking, without too much trouble !

United have a "late booking fee" which was applied to the LYR-OSL-LHR booking that went through without human intervention.  apparently they apply it to bookings made within 21 days of departure.  which i didn't know.

there was only availability on the 2.30am departure from LYR, which i wasn't keen on - but it turned out that with window seats, we both managed to get some sleep.  the seats on SAS short haul do not have the useful headrest "wings" that keep you head in place.  those blow up head pillows would have been particularly useful - if i'd known.

despite a few hour gap between flights at OSL, one of our bags went missing.  if i'd thought about it, i would have asked the very nice and speedy check-in lady at LYR to short check the bags to OSL and we would have collected them.  lesson for next time !

we were very lucky with the weather in LYR - we had one amazing full day of sunshine and hardly any wind, and the following day wasn't bad either (just not very sunny).  i think a few days is enough to get a feel for Svalbard - without completely bankrupting yourself.  we spent about 200 NOK/GBP per person per day on each of our two days of trips (you can't leave town without a gun), and we used the first day to make our bookings, and have a look around the settlement.

it's worth noting that despite the photos of polar bears in all the Svalbard tourism / arctic trip adverts - you really can't get anywhere near them.  we got to see from a boat, and it was small even through binoculars.  if you're used to african safari walks, it will be a bit of a shock just how far away they are.

despite that, i would still like to go back in March to see it covered in snow (and maybe Northern Lights) !

Avios redemptions on EI / BE

I wrote previously about the extortionate taxes/fees charged by Avios redemptions on Aer Lingus flights ... which included 41 gbp from Dublin to London Heathrow.

Since then, some prices have come down:

LHR - DUB  39 gbp  on EI

DUB - LHR  16 gbp  on EI

some have stayed more or less the same:

LGW - DUB  53 gbp  on EI

DUB - LGW  44 gbp  on EI

and some have gone up:

LGW - NOC  63 gbp  on EI

NOC - LGW  40 gbp  on EI  (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

Avios redemptions on Flybe mostly seem more reasonable - and the same price is available on both the BA website and Avios.com

SOU - DUB  25 gbp  on BE
DUB - SOU 12 gbp  on BE

EXE - DUB  35 gbp  on BE
DUB - EXE  12 gbp  on BE

CWL - DUB  34 gbp  on BE
DUB - CWL  12 gbp  on BE

DSA - DUB  27 gbp  on BE
DUB - DSA  12 gbp  on BE



BHX - NOC  26 gbp  on BE
NOC - BHX  15 gbp  on BE  (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

MAN - NOC  31 gbp  on BE
NOC - MAN  15 gbp  on BE  (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

EDI - NOC  30 gbp  on BE
NOC - EDI  15 gbp  on BE  (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

Holyhead and Dublin ferry offloading

When flight prices between London and Dublin and nearby airports (and not so nearby airports) become unreasonably expensive, I quite often revert to the old fashioned Sail Rail connection - since the standardised fares mean that (as long as they don't sell out) your fare is capped at a regulated price, even over holiday weekends.

So London to Dublin Port (you need to get a bus into Dublin city centre) fares start from 41 gbp with most tickets selling for 46 gbp.  When last minute flight prices can easily reach 300 gbp for a single during busy periods - if you have the time, taking the ferry and the train becomes an appealing option.

The Seat61.com website has a huge amount of detail on travelling this route.  One issue (which Seat61 briefly mentions) taking the ferry as a foot passenger is how quickly you can get off the ferry once you arrive into port.

Holyhead - Dublin offloading

Stena - Adventurer

I've used this ship a few times, and have always had to wait at least 20 minutes for most of the cars / trucks to off load, before Stena bring the buses on board the ship, to get you into the ferry terminal.  One time we had to queue up (in the rain) to have our passports/IDs checked as we left the buses and before they let us into the terminal building.  Seriously unimpressed !

Irish Ferries - Jonathan Swift (fast ferry)

Sometimes they give you the main berth with passenger gangway, but if the Ulysses is in berth, then the Swift gets relegated to a crappy berth around the corner, where you have to wait for the cars to disembark.  However, since the Swift isn't very big, it should only take about 15 minutes before you get to walk off.

Irish Ferries - Ulysses

The Ulysses gives you the best chance of speedy offloading - you almost always get to use a dedicated foot passenger gangway, so no waiting for the cars.  One time there was a vehicle parked on the quay wall which blocked the passenger gangway, so we had to wait for the cars to off load, and then get a bus to the terminal building - but that was highly unusual.

This is my preferred option for Holyhead - Dublin route.

Dublin - Holyhead offloading

Irish Ferries - Jonathan Swift (fast ferry)

You have to wait for the cars to off load, before you walk off the ferry, and board a bus to the terminal building.  Since the Swift isn't very big, it only takes about 15 minutes for the cars to drive off.  Just make sure you get on the first bus, as the second/last bus will wait for the old and infirm to slowly exit the boat - no point wasting good Coop/Lidl shopping time waiting for the OAPs !

Irish Ferries - Ulysses

I haven't done this routing in ages (for morning trips the Ulysses departs Dublin at 08:05 and may not connect with the 11:27 train from Holyhead, so the Swift is much more attractive) ... but considering the arrangements for loading Ulysses at Holyhead, I assume you have to board a bus on the Ulysses to transport you to the ferry terminal ... so you presumably have to wait for most of the cars and trucks to offload before Stena drive the buses onto the ship.  I suspect this may take a while.

Stena - Adventurer

I haven't done this routing in ages (for morning trips the Adventurer departs Dublin at 08:20 and is unlikely to connect with the 11:27 train from Holyhead, so the Swift is much more attractive) ... but considering the arrangements for loading Adventurer at Holyhead, I assume you have to wait for most of the cars and trucks to offload before you get to walk off the ship (possibly to the funny little staging building where you catch a bus to the ferry terminal), or Stena brings buses onto the ship.

The different disembarkation options need to be considered when working out which train you are likely to catch (or timings for friends/family pickups) and which ferry to choose.  My choice for afternoon departures from Holyhead is the Ulysses.  For morning departures from Dublin my choice is the Swift (despite the slightly higher Sail Rail fare) as it also gives you some extra sleep time!

One other thing to bear in mind is that booking tickets in Ireland doesn't allow you to reserve a seat on your trains in the UK, so if you're booking a return from Dublin to London, you might want to book two singles, so you get to reserve seats on the trains from London.

EI avios redemptions available online

You can now search for availability and book Aer Lingus flights using Avios on the Avios.com website ... although you probably won't want to actually book them there !

I've written previously about the high "carrier surcharges" that BA impose on european EI flights - and booking through Avios.com - they are even slightly higher !

Here's a few examples:

LHR - DUB  76 gbp

DUB - LHR  41 gbp

return 117 gbp

For context - if you chose a BA flight and had flown or earned miles in the last year (so were eligible for their lower fees reward flight) a single ex LHR would be 17.5 gbp and a single ex DUB would be 10.3 gbp (book through BA no Avios.com who charge everything at 17.5 gbp)

LGW - NOC  57 gbp

NOC - LGW  36 gbp (plus airport 10 eur "development" fee)

ex NOC return 94 gbp

ex LGW return 92 gbp

when I phoned up BA in June 2015 the NOC - LGW fee was 27 gbp

when I phoned up BA in August 2015 the LGW - NOC fee was 54 gbp

The longhaul prices are a bit more reasonable - but you still shouldn't book them through Avios.com

In the 13,000 avios category (for an off-peak economy single)

DUB - Hartford  100gbp

DUB - Boston  100 gbp

DUB - Chicago  109 gbp

DUB - JFK  100 gbp

In the 16,250 avios category (for an off-peak economy single)

DUB - Orlando  109 gbp

DUB - LAX  117 gbp

For a return flight the taxes and fees come to around 180 gbp - but a commenter over on HeadForPoints rang up BA and for the same flights the taxes and fees are 90 gbp

So ring up BA before booking EI flights on Avios.com

Dublin to Ischgl for a few days skiing

Ischgl isn't the easiest of places to get to from Dublin ... there aren't (m)any direct flights from Dublin to Innsbruck (the nearest) airport to Ischgl ... so the journey is a bit longer ...

The other complication is that Swiss (the airline) seem to have gone back to the dark ages with their pricing ... single flights are exorbitant ... so if there isn't a flight in one of the directions on one of the days that you want - you're screwed !

Aiming to fly out of Dublin on Tuesday 2nd February ...

Dep Dublin 16:15
Arr Zurich 19:25
price 79 eur plug baggage (EI)

Dep Zurich Flughafen 20:18
Arr Landeck Zams bahnhof 23:42
price approx 60 eur

Taxi to Ischgl
price ?

Another option is to fly to Innsbruck on a connecting flight ... with plenty of time to check in again in LGW

Dep Dublin 07:35
Arr LGW 09:10
price 23.40 eur plus baggage (FR)

Dep LGW 11:30
Arr INN 14:30
price 68 eur plug baggage (EZY)

Bus F from the Flughafen terminal to the Hauptbahnhof takes less than 20 mins and departs every 15 mins
price 2.7 eur

Dep Innsbruck Hbf	15:57	17:01
Arr Landeck-Zams	16:58	17:57
Dep Landeck-Zams	17:05	18:05
Arr Ischgl	17:58	18:58

Price 16.1 eur for the train (postbus not bookable online - fare approx 10 eur)

A further option is to fly to Salzburg - one advantage of this routing is sold as a connecting flight by BA (although DUB-LGW is operated by EI) - so if you miss the connection in LGW, it's up to BA to find you a new one !

Dep Dublin 07:00
Arr LGW 08:25
Dep LGW 10:05
Arr Salzburg 13:05
price 157 eur including baggage

Dep Salzburg Flughafen	14:25	15:25
Arr Salzburg Hbf	14:47	15:47
Dep Salzburg Hbf	15:00	15:56
Arr Landeck-Zams	17:39	18:30
Dep Landeck-Zams	18:05	19:05
Arr Ischgl	18:58	19:58

Price 53.6 eur


Accommodation

Ischgl has a reasonable amount of accommodation bookable through the town's website - with B&Bs in the town (rather than in Mathon which is 5km away) from about 55 eur per person per night sharing.  Ganahl is showing availability on the website - others may be available offline by email the tourist office.


Return flight

Need to get back into Dublin around lunchtime on Sunday 7th February ... so looking at options that give a full day skiing on Saturday 6th ...

None of the airports have late flights on Saturday to Dublin - so starting off looking at late flights to London (so could fly to Dublin on Sunday morning) ...

Innsbruck
The last (sensibly priced) flight out on Saturday evening departs at 17:15 - so that's not much good

Salzburg
There's a 19:45 flight on Saturday evening from to London for just 37 eur - but you'd have to leave Ischgl by 2pm in order to make it

Zurich
The 20:50 departure to LHR is 148 eur - that would mean leaving around 3pm

Munich
The last flight from to London on Saturday night is soon after 7pm - so that's not much use


Looking at travelling to direct to Dublin on Sunday morning - so spending Saturday night near the airport ...

Munich
dep Ischgl 17:58 (or 15:58) and arr Munich 22:21 (or 21:15) for 39 eur (no price showing for earlier timings)
dep Munich Sunday at 11:05 and arr Dublin 12:45 for 106 eur plus baggage (EI)
or Sunday evening departure at 20:10 (arr Dub 21:50) for 100 eur plus baggage (EI)

Zurich
EI direct flight departing at 8pm (arr Dub at 21:25) for 102 eur
or connecting BA flight departing at 7am (arr Dub at 12:20) for 150 eur

Innsbruck
No direct flights
connecting FR/EZY flights departing at 10:45 (arr Dub 15:35) for 150 eur with 2:35 in Luton to transfer / check in

Salzburg
No direct flights
connecting FR flights departing at 10:30 (arr Dub 15:05) for 99 eur with 2:05 in Stansted to transfer / check in


Looking at travelling to London on Sunday evening

Munich
8pm departure for 86 eur plus bag (EZY) or 9.15pm departure for 100 eur - but doesn't work with connections
to make the 8pm departure - would need to leave Ischgl around 2pm

Zurich
9.25pm departure for 171 eur plus bag (EZY)
departing Ischgl soon after 3pm would get you to the airport by 7.45pm

Innsbruck
sadly the last flight to london is at 5.40pm (for a crazy 473 eur) and the 3.10pm flight (for a still hefty 219 eur) isn't very helpful

Salzburg
the last flight to london is at 5.05pm for 157 eur with BA
departing Ischgl soon after 10am would get you to the airport for 2.30pm - trains only every 2 hours

When not to redeem Avios on EI flights

I previously wrote about the (vaguely reasonable) cost of redeeming Avios on EI flights from NOC - LGW ... and I recently contacted BA about the cost of a couple of other routes.

Whilst there is usually good BA reward availability from DUB - LHR, sometimes the reverse is not available, so I asked about the fees/taxes on an EI reward flight from LHR - DUB ... and was staggered to hear that it would set me back 67 gbp !

I also asked about LGW - NOC on an EI flight ... and it was a not very pleasant 54 gbp for fees / taxes.

dublin to spain for new year ...

looking to go to spain for new year ...

the best prices are all to barcelona, with the options:

mon 27th
dep 06:40 for 107 eur or dep 17:50 for 127 eur
tue 28th
dep 06:40 for 127 eur
wed 29th
dep 06:40 for 149 eur or dep 10:05 for 170 eur
thu 30th
dep 06:40 for 107 eur or dep 17:50 for 127 eur


the options for flights back to dublin on mon 3rd jan are:

dep barcelona 08:10 for 92 eur or
dep alicante 20:35 for 76 eur

dublin to south africa ...

with the Lions tour in South Africa in June and July ... i was looking for flights from Dublin to South Africa ...

trailfinders assert that their best price to DURban is eur 650 with Etihad, and eur 519 to JohaNnesBurg with Swiss - but since you can't book online, i have no idea of their availability ...

Etihad's own website doesn't allow bookings to DUR [presumably trailfinders use another airline for the final leg] - but their flights to JNB don't look cheap - mostly around eur 715.

Emirates claims to have flights from DUB to JNB for eur 608 [using EI flights to LGW], but they aren't bookable online ...

AirFrance has a good selection of dates from DUB to JNB for eur 570 - such as o/bound 17th june, and i/bound 1st july.

Swiss has flights from DUB to JNB for eur 511 with good availability on the outbound legs, but the only return dates are 12th and 13th july ...

netflights is better at searching by fare - selecting their Latest Offers menu, and then clicking on any of the flight options, you can access their full list of fares, and then play around with dates to look for availability at the lowest rate. they only offer fares from the UK.

they have flights on Etihad from MANchester to JNB for an amazing gbp 254 - the o/bound leg is reaonably flexible, but the i/bound has little availability - the latest return date is 23rd june. with a 9.30am departure time, and an arrival back into MAN at 7.30am - the first flights of the day arrive into MAN at 7.30am from DUB, with a lunchtime return flight ... using a departure date of 17th june - the price is approx eur 20 with FR or eur 52 with EI ! and to go over the previous night before the o/bound flight would be a similar price.

netflights also have Etihad flights from LHR to JNB for a similarly amazing 262 gbp - again the o/bound leg has reasonable availability, but the latest i/bound date is 23rd june. the LHR departure is at 9.10am, arriving back into LHR at 7.20am - the first arrival into LHR from DUB is at 8.05am - too tight for an intercontinental flight. using a departure from DUB on 16th june - the last flight into LHR, and an early morning flight back on 24th june [overnight from JNB], the price would be about eur 70.

the usually reliable websites expedia, ebookers, opodo & travelocity aren't so good for very flexible travel ... but they have the same Etihad deal [travelocity also has a departure on 24th] ... but when DUBlin is selected as the departure point - the prices double, and AF becomes the cheapest option ...

skiing in dolomites in january - from dublin ...

i'm looking for a week's skiing in dolomites for a week from Saturday 17th January ...

Val Gardena seems like a good location - not too far from the airports, not too expensive a resort, in the heart of the Dolomites and with access to the Sella Ronda ...

the best flights seem to be with Ryanair to Bergamo (BGY) - outbound on saturday dep 07:40 and arr 11:20 with the inbound on sunday dep 11:00 and arr 12:45 for 93 eur including the 30 eur baggage charge. there is a connecting bus service with return tickets for 29 eur.

there seems to be a good choice of bed and breakfast accommodation with prices from 200 euro for the 8 nights. so the total for flights and accommodation from 322 eur - a lot cheaper than a package holiday, and you get an extra day's skiing !

a ski pass for the 7 days in Val Gardena is 191 eur, and for the full Dol0miti Superski area is only slightly more at 205 eur. premium ski and boot hire is available from Snow Rental for 138 eur.

so the total for the 7 days skiing would be 665 eur plus drinking and eating money !

west of ireland for a long weekend ...

at slightly short notice, i decided to take a trip to the west of ireland for what was a bank holiday in the UK ...

my preferred routing was LGW - NOC with XL ... but the price was exhorbitant, at well over a hundred quid - i guess lots of people are scrambling to use the route before it is withdrawn in a few weeks time. flights from LUT or STD to NOC with Ryanair were also very expensive ... so it was back to skyscanner.net to find the best priced flight to DUB ...

i did even consider taking the train to Holyhead, and the ferry over to Dublin, but the timings were dreadful ... the latest afternoon sailing with Irish Ferries departs Holyhead at 17:15 and with Stena an even poorer 15:00 ... and the train connections don't help - there is a 12:45 departure from London Euston that frustratingly arrives into Holyhead at 17:20 ... so to catch the last afternoon ferry, it would be the 11:46 train from Euston ... which would mean taking a full day off work rather than just the afternoon.

on the return journey, i again considered taking the ferry option, but with engingeering works on the direct train routes, it would have meant a 7 hour journey with 3 changes ... and a 7am departure from the west of ireland ...

so it was back to the airlines, and again both XL and Ryanair were charging over 100 quid for the monday flights from NOC to London ... but I was prompted to look at flights from NOC to BRiStol ... and unbelievably, they were selling for just 24 euro [plus the 3rd world style 10 euro departure fee charged at the airport] which is a huge saving over a direct flight to London ... and luckily there aren't any engineering works on the line from Bristol to London.

thetrainline.com have singles from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington for 21 gbp, charging 1 gbp for ticket delivery, or 0.50 gbp to collect the ticket from a machine at the station ... however First Great Western have the same priced tickets, but don't charge for collecting your ticket from the station ...

dublin to seefeld ...

looking to depart 27th december, and return 1st january ...


best departure is 07:00 with EI to MUNich, arriving at 10:45 for approx 125 eur ... with the train leaving the airport at 11:42 taking 3 hours, with 1 change required - costing 31 eur ... or a shared transfer using http://www.a-t-s.net/ for 45 eur taking just 2 hours !

there is also an EI flight departing at 12:30 to Zurich, arriving at 15:35 for 315 eur ...

or an EI flight departing at 15:30 to MUNich, arriving at 19:00 for 250 eur ...

an indirect option would depart at 12:50 via MANchester, arriving into Salzburg at 19:10 for 180 eur ...

there is a 15:45 EI flight to VIEnna, arriving at 19:30 for 150 eur ... but the train connection would be overnight - even the daytime train takes 7 hours.
there is also a cheap flight to Friedrichshafen departing 06:10, arriving 09:30 costing 55 eur, but the train connection is approx 5 hours !


best return flight is a 21:30 FR departure from Salzburg, arriving into Dublin at 23:00 for 80 eur ... the train connection leaves Seefeld at 15:46 arriving into the airport at 20:32 ... however, if we had a car, it is only about 2 hours drive ...