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WestCoast

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And another thing! A 40m S-Bahn service to get to the city, despite the infrastructure being in place no faster way into the city. Strikes me as very un-German.

Having lived in Munich I didn't find this bad at all given it runs every 10 minutes combining the two lines and connects to different stations for onward connections. About 30 mins from the airport to Ostbahnhof too, good for many connections into Upper Bavaria/Austria. There was talk of an express train to the airport from the Hauptbahnhof but I doubt it would save all that much time.
 
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WatcherZero

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Bombardier is an aircraft manufacturer no longer, now agreed to sell its business jet division to Mitsubishi next year for $550m and $200m of assumed debt while commercial jet manufacturing will cease once the current contracted orders are completed.
 

TheEdge

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Having lived in Munich I didn't find this bad at all given it runs every 10 minutes combining the two lines and connects to different stations for onward connections. About 30 mins from the airport to Ostbahnhof too, good for many connections into Upper Bavaria/Austria. There was talk of an express train to the airport from the Hauptbahnhof but I doubt it would save all that much time.

It's a similar journey time to (what was) Heathrow Connect from airport to city. It just strikes me as odd that there isn't a fast service to Munich Hbf, stopping at Ostbahnhof if worthwhile, especially given the infrastructure is there. Not the end of the world, just peculiar in my mind.
 

TheEdge

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Bombardier is an aircraft manufacturer no longer, now agreed to sell its business jet division to Mitsubishi next year for $550m and $200m of assumed debt while commercial jet manufacturing will cease once the current contracted orders are completed.

I assume this is why the C Series is now apparently the A220!
 

Bletchleyite

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Having lived in Munich I didn't find this bad at all given it runs every 10 minutes combining the two lines and connects to different stations for onward connections. About 30 mins from the airport to Ostbahnhof too, good for many connections into Upper Bavaria/Austria. There was talk of an express train to the airport from the Hauptbahnhof but I doubt it would save all that much time.

A good many German airports are connected by the S-Bahn only. Remember the German city transport concept is about connectivity, not simply speed - it's all very well having an airport express to the Hbf but you lose time waiting for it or connecting to where you want to go if it's infrequent.

Talking of German airports, though, there can't be one much more embarrassing than Schoenefeld, not to mention the reason why the wretched place is still in operation.
 

cactustwirly

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A good many German airports are connected by the S-Bahn only. Remember the German city transport concept is about connectivity, not simply speed - it's all very well having an airport express to the Hbf but you lose time waiting for it or connecting to where you want to go if it's infrequent.

Talking of German airports, though, there can't be one much more embarrassing than Schoenefeld, not to mention the reason why the wretched place is still in operation.

Tegel is just as bad, at least Schönefeld has a railway connection!
 

Aictos

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Tegel is just as bad, at least Schönefeld has a railway connection!

Nothing wrong with Tegel, it's one of the easiest airports to navigate as everything is no more then a 10 minute walk away indeed it's just as simple to fly to/from as London City although Tegel serves far more destinations!

And yes while Tegel doesn't have a railway connection, it does have a frequent bus link to the Hauptbahnhof where connections can be made onto rail services.

Talking of German airports, though, there can't be one much more embarrassing than Schoenefeld, not to mention the reason why the wretched place is still in operation.

If you want embarrassing then I suggest you look further north west towards Bremen and to what Ryanair consider to be a terminal but is more akin to a cargo warehouse!

The only thing that Schoenefeld needs is some tlc and some investment especially as there is a lack of seating once you get pass security.
 

gsnedders

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Nothing wrong with Tegel, it's one of the easiest airports to navigate as everything is no more then a 10 minute walk away indeed it's just as simple to fly to/from as London City although Tegel serves far more destinations!

And yes while Tegel doesn't have a railway connection, it does have a frequent bus link to the Hauptbahnhof where connections can be made onto rail services.
The newer expansions to Tegel are pretty dire, though, even if the old hexagonal terminal is fine.
 

sheff1

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The Lufthansa & Star Alliance partners terminal at Munich (T2) is absolutely fantastic, even has free coffee machines. Easily the best place to change planes in Europe, maybe alongside Zurich.

Your experience is obviously different to mine. Travelling from Sarajevo to Manchester last year, I had to catch a bus from the plane to the terminal, then up and down interminable escalators and corridors. When I finally reached the gate, after being further delayed at security, I was shouted out for being 'late' before being put on another bus to the plane .... which was parked less than 100 yds from the one I had got off what seemed like an age earlier. I had no chance of getting a coffee, free or otherwise. I vowed never to transfer at Munich again unless absolutely unavoidable ... fortunately it has been avoidable so far.

Conversely, my recent experience at Oslo was the easiest change of plane I have had for many many years - with a time between flights virtually the same as in Munich, I had plenty of time for a relaxing (and excellent) coffee.
 

WestCoast

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Oh I am sure mileage varies as ever. I can only go off experience of the hub airports I've transited via but out of Heathrow, Paris CDG, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Dubai, Doha, Munich, Zurich.....Munich & Zurich have been by far the easiest & cleanest with relatively short walks especially compared to Amsterdam. In fact, my worst experiences have probably been at Schipol, ended up stranded there back in February when high winds struck. I nearly ended up there for 2 days because KLM could not be reached to rebook me and I ended up stood in a queue for 5 hours. They kept saying they'd automatically rebook me and never did......

For long haul trips to Asia/Africa/Australia my thinking now especially in Winter would be to avoid the European airports as transit points where possible and go via Middle East at least you know bad weather probably isn't going to ruin your trip :)
 
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WestCoast

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It's a similar journey time to (what was) Heathrow Connect from airport to city. It just strikes me as odd that there isn't a fast service to Munich Hbf, stopping at Ostbahnhof if worthwhile, especially given the infrastructure is there. Not the end of the world, just peculiar in my mind.

I suspect there would be capacity along the S8 line that runs via Ismanning to do that. However it gets me thinking as I used to commute from a stop (Burnage) on the Manchester Airport line into Piccadilly and one of the huge frustrations for me was a) the relatively poor frequency of the stopping services due to all the express trains b) the amount of priority in cancellations given to the fast airport service meaning that all in all it was pretty crap service unless you were travelling Piccadilly - Airport. I reckon it would be far better service if it was ran like a German S-Bahn.

A good many German airports are connected by the S-Bahn only. Remember the German city transport concept is about connectivity, not simply speed - it's all very well having an airport express to the Hbf but you lose time waiting for it or connecting to where you want to go if it's infrequent..

In perspective, forget comparing to London airports, it's all brilliant compared to rail connectivity at Scottish airports.....there's zilch apart from Prestwick. Glasgow has a super expensive bus and convoluted train/bus link & Edinburgh has a very pricey and slow tram which cost a fortune to build. Across the sea, Dublin is on a par with Tegel for connections with zero rail connectivity for the now.
 
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TheEdge

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In perspective, forget comparing to London airports, it's all brilliant compared to rail connectivity at Scottish airports.....there's zilch apart from Prestwick. Glasgow has a super expensive bus and convoluted train/bus link & Edinburgh has a very pricey and slow tram which cost a fortune to build. Across the sea, Dublin is on a par with Tegel for connections with zero rail connectivity for the now.

One word, Bristol.
 

Crawley Ben

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Me and the wife have booked ourselves a trip to Vancouver with Air Canada in May 2020, believe it should be flown by a Boeing 777-300, hopefully the trip is a good one.

Cheers

Ben
 

scotrail158713

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In perspective, forget comparing to London airports, it's all brilliant compared to rail connectivity at Scottish airports.....there's zilch apart from Prestwick. Glasgow has a super expensive bus and convoluted train/bus link & Edinburgh has a very pricey and slow tram which cost a fortune to build. Across the sea, Dublin is on a par with Tegel for connections with zero rail connectivity for the now.
Edinburgh also has excellent buses which connect you to most areas of the city - as well as Glasgow, and Dundee now. Just because there’s no rail connection it doesn’t mean there’s no public transport. Compared to the London airports Scottish airports are also fairly close to their respective city centres - so buses don’t take forever to reach there.
 

atillathehunn

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Nope. EasyJet flew Moscow to Manchester in 2015, but dropped it when the Russian economy contracted and sanctions kicked in.

EDIT: to tidy up terrible phone keyboard typing and clarify the service did start.
 
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fowler9

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Nope. EasyJet flew Moscow to Manchester in 2015, but dropped it when the Russian economy contracted and sanctions kicked in.

EDIT: to tidy up terrible phone keyboard typing and clarify the service did start.
Cheers mate. Just for a trip that is being planned. Looking at flying to Tallin or Helsinki and then getting the train to St Petersburg. After that a train on to Moscow and flying back. A mate was convinced we could fly up north from Moscow, I wasn't .
 

Aictos

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Cheers mate. Just for a trip that is being planned. Looking at flying to Tallin or Helsinki and then getting the train to St Petersburg. After that a train on to Moscow and flying back. A mate was convinced we could fly up north from Moscow, I wasn't .

For flying to Helsinki I do recommend Norwegian Air, I did a return trip with them on the Gatwick to Helsinki route and didn’t have any issues apart from the return flight which too many people had carry on luggage so Norwegian were doing their best to ask if luggage could be put in the hold.
 

TheEdge

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Quick question, does anyone currently fly direct from Manchester to Russia?

I find the easiest way to answer this question is always Wikipedia and search the airport destination table rather than use flight searches.
 

cactustwirly

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Is it me or do TUI get the bad gates at Gatwick North Terminal?

On the way out, our plane left from Gate 47 which was at the far end of the terminal, and didn't have a jetbridge, stairs to the aircraft instead.

On the return our plane landed on gate 134, which is in the middle of the Apron, therefore we all had to be bussed to the main terminal, despite there being loads of empty gates in the main terminal building
 

gsnedders

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Is it me or do TUI get the bad gates at Gatwick North Terminal?

On the way out, our plane left from Gate 47 which was at the far end of the terminal, and didn't have a jetbridge, stairs to the aircraft instead.

On the return our plane landed on gate 134, which is in the middle of the Apron, therefore we all had to be bussed to the main terminal, despite there being loads of empty gates in the main terminal building
This may simply be due to what they pay for, rather than anything else.
 

atillathehunn

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Cheers mate. Just for a trip that is being planned. Looking at flying to Tallin or Helsinki and then getting the train to St Petersburg. After that a train on to Moscow and flying back. A mate was convinced we could fly up north from Moscow, I wasn't .
Sounds like an amazing trip. There's a load of good one stop connections out from Moscow to Manchester, but not direct.
 

fowler9

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Sounds like an amazing trip. There's a load of good one stop connections out from Moscow to Manchester, but not direct.
Yeah. Always wanted to visit Russia. A mates mate recently sent photos back from St Petersburg and we are a bit "Let's do it". Armenia and Georgia are on my list to but I may end up doing them on my own, not many mates interested. It's going to be next year at the earliest though, going back to Croatia with a side trip to Slovenia this year and am also taking my dad to Belfast and Dublin for a weekend. Plus the Edinburgh festival. That's my finances all used up for the rest of this year.
 

thejuggler

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St Petes is amazing, but we found the only thing typically Russian are language and currency. It's a mash of every European architecture you can imagine (and a few Venetian inspired canals). It is well worth booking an accompanied tour whilst out there.

Catherine's Palace makes Buckingham Palace look like a 4 bed detached - fascinating place.
 

sharpley

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A stowaway hidden in the landing gear bay on a Kenya Airways flight to London falls into a garden in Clapham, south London. Aircraft was on approach into Heathrow. I imagine he would have died not long after takeoff, still pretty horrific for the homeowner to find. Seem to recall something similar happening a few years ago.

https://news.sky.com/story/stowaway...ter-falling-from-plane-near-heathrow-11752788

A stowaway fell from a plane's landing gear as it approached Heathrow Airport and was later found dead in a garden.

The man's body was found in Clapham, south London, on Sunday afternoon, police said.


Officers are unsure of his age, and are trying to identify him.

He fell from a Kenya Airways plane at the end of a nine-hour flight from Nairobi.

Police connected the body to their flight, the airline said.


A bag, water and food were found in the compartment containing the plane's landing gear.

Metropolitan Police said they were called at 3.39pm on Sunday to Offerton Road in Clapham.

More from Heathrow Airport
A post-mortem examination will be carried out, but the death is "not being treated as suspicious", the force added.

In a statement, officers said "police believe the man was a stowaway and had fallen from the landing gear of an inbound Kenya Airways flight to Heathrow Airport.

"A bag, water and some food were discovered in the landing gear compartment once it landed at the airport."

Officers will be liaising "with the airline and international authorities".

Although a rare occurrence, it has happened before.

In September 2012, a 30-year-old man from Mozambique, Jose Matada, died after falling from the undercarriage of a flight approaching Heathrow from Angola.

He is believed to have survived freezing temperatures of up to -60C (-76F) for most of the 12-hour flight, an inquest heard.

But by the time he hit the ground he was "dead or nearly dead".

In 2015, the body of a man landed on a shop in Richmond, southwest London, after travelling in the undercarriage of a plane from Johannesburg.
 
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Iskra

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St Petes is amazing, but we found the only thing typically Russian are language and currency. It's a mash of every European architecture you can imagine (and a few Venetian inspired canals). It is well worth booking an accompanied tour whilst out there.

Catherine's Palace makes Buckingham Palace look like a 4 bed detached - fascinating place.

I agree it's an amazing place, probably one of the best cities I've ever visited. It's not called the Venice of the North for nothing. The Hermitage is one of the best collections of art in the world.

You are right that it has Western European architectural influences, but I have it down as more Russian/Soviet than how you describe it though; the Orthodox churches, the Peter and Paul fortress, plentiful stern-looking police with big hats, plenty of Soviet 50 year old vehicles still in traffic, beggars who have bears, strong but cheap alcohol. ...Nevsky and Pushkin references everywhere, soviet submarines/warships/artillery everywhere. ...Russian navy sailors going for their morning runs on the streets, the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Signal Corps museum, which is very Russian. ...the (incredibly inefficient and bureaucratic) airport was still very Soviet, the food is pretty Russian too (but that's not a good thing). ...the women are very Russian in that they only come in two types- supermodels and middle-aged chubby housewives- there is no in between, even the (stunning) mosque looks Russian ...the railways are very Russian looking, the apartment blocs are Russian-looking, there are loads of derelict Soviet era monstrosity factories everywhere and everywhere you go you find the super rich and the super poor. ...Barely anyone speaks any English. There are shops where you can buy assault rifles and grenades. But, apart from that, it's hardly Russian at all...

How long did you stay might I ask?

I would love to go to Moscow sometime.
 
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