Brad Pitt charters a Virgin Train!

[Simon Poole]

Next you be seeing Angelina Jolie's name likee 390052 & 390027

 

[williamn]

Apparently lots of crew (several hundred) went with them. And according to one newspaper the kids wanted to go on a train having seen the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter.

 

[bnm]

Apparently lots of crew (several hundred) went with them. And according to one newspaper the kids wanted to go on a train having seen the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter.

What a disappointment a Pendolino must've been for them then!

 

[bengolding]

Well if there were several hundred on that train, I guess it must have been full and standing, which is the norm these days!

 

[TomE]

FYI - An 18 person Jetstream chartered plane costs £10,000 per hour to hire (I know this because I once enquired). I would imagine this Pendolino would be significantly more.

I don't know which company you enquired with but if that's the figure they gave you they obviously didn't take you seriously! A Jetstream 31 would be no-where near that! Try more like £1000 per hour, if that.

Tom.

 

[Bon Accord]

I wonder if special catering arrangements were made onboard or if Virgin served up their usual swill?

 

[Liam]

Daily Mirror reported it cost around £40,000 to charter the 14 carriage train.

 

[dk1]

I wonder if special catering arrangements were made onboard or if Virgin served up their usual swill?

I loved it on my last journey up North. Staff where great too!!
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Daily Mirror reported it cost around £40,000 to charter the 14 carriage train.

Typical. That particular rag could do with somebody with even a hint of the rail industry to save them constantly having egg on their face.

 

[jones_bangor]

Since when did carbon emissions become the primary concern for any sane person when picking which method of transport to use?

Well it matters to a lot of "sane" people! Isn't it one of the main reasons the railways get so much public subsidy!!??

 

[graham43404]

Typical. That particular rag could do with somebody with even a hint of the rail industry to save them constantly having egg on their face.

With there lack of knowledge on an almost daily basis I am amazed they didn't drop the bomb big time and have the current train promotion with the Siemens majority trains fleeted First TPE. Now that would have been funny

 

[Jonny]

Could the actual cost be put down as an offset against taxation by their accountants?

Probably - although it involves the blurring of "business expense".

 

[NightatLaira]

Daily Mirror reported it cost around £40,000 to charter the 14 carriage train.

Not far out with my £50k then... but was it really 14 carriages? Even the extendolino only has - oh wait it's the Daily Mirror...

I don't know which company you enquired with but if that's the figure they gave you they obviously didn't take you seriously! A Jetstream 31 would be no-where near that! Try more like £1000 per hour, if that.

Tom.

We enquired with loads and the cheapest we could find was £10,000/hr. This was this year. Admittedly, we were attempting to be flown to France and then back again 2 days later, not domestically, but the effective cost per flying hour was £10,000/hr. We were looking at Gatwick to Toulouse on a Friday evening coming back Sunday afternoon - privately chartered 18 person plane for a lavish stag do. The result was no change this side of £30k. So instead we're saving our money and going with Flybe instead.

In five hours time I'm boarding an Edinburgh to Heathrow plane that's costing me £262.50 (economy class) on a sweaty old BMI airbus crammed full of passengers. If I could get a whole Jetstream for £1000, I'd find 3 or 4 other travellers and we'd save our money.

 

[TomE]

I see, but I still don't understand how you arrive at 10k per hour. It's likely the operator would have quoted you two one way trips given there are a couple of days between arrival and departure. In a J31 you're looking at about 2 hours flying between LGW & Tolouse so two trips is going to be 8 hours flying. That means the hourly rate for the aircraft is £3750 per hour. That doesn't include any time spent positioning the aircraft from & to it's home base so that hourly rate would come down again depending on how far the plane had to fly to get to & from LGW.

If they were moving a lot of cast and crew with them then i guess the train makes sense, but if the cost was around £40k, I reckon they could have done the same Journey for less on a chartered 747.

Tom.

 

[PhilipW]

I do hope he was not bombarded with safety announcements and "Please keep your luggage with you at all times" etc, etc every 30 mins.

I wonder if the shop was open too.

 

[graham43404]

I wonder if the shop was open too.

Not until Preston as they were doing a stock take

 

[talltim]

If I had that many kids I know I would pick the train over a plane any day.
Virgin need to install some play areas in their Pendos tho, perhaps in coach N

Play area by ta||tim, on Flickr

 

[NightatLaira]

I see, but I still don't understand how you arrive at 10k per hour. It's likely the operator would have quoted you two one way trips given there are a couple of days between arrival and departure. In a J31 you're looking at about 2 hours flying between LGW & Tolouse so two trips is going to be 8 hours flying. That means the hourly rate for the aircraft is £3750 per hour. That doesn't include any time spent positioning the aircraft from & to it's home base so that hourly rate would come down again depending on how far the plane had to fly to get to & from LGW.

If they were moving a lot of cast and crew with them then i guess the train makes sense, but if the cost was around £40k, I reckon they could have done the same Journey for less on a chartered 747.

Tom.

See PM Tom, if we talk too much about planes on a railway forum someone's gonna get modded!