Plane vs train - price comparison myths

By: Daniel Elkan
Thu 17 Sep 2015

If you’ve ever had a guinea pig, you’ll know that they are very sweet pets.  The great thing about them is they are happy eating any kind of vegetable, they make sweet squeaking noises, are affectionate and their poo poos come out as inoffensive little pellets – which makes sweeping the hutch much easier.

When I got mine aged seven, I read that if you pull a guinea pig’s tail, it’s eyes pop out.  My immediate task was to investigate whether this was true, or just a myth.
However, my investigation only lasted four seconds – the time that it took to lift up the guinea pig and realise that they don’t have tails.

A few years..ahem..later, I’ve investigating a different myth: that flying to the Alps is far cheaper than getting the train. Ask most skiers – and indeed people who work in the ski industry – what they think about train travel to the Alps, and they will say something like:  ‘I love train travel, it’s the most enjoyable way to travel, but it’s far more expensive than flying.’

I’ve heard people say that for years.  The time has come to show – comprehensively – whether the actual facts prove or disprove that. So I’ve done is a research three kinds of journey.

•    EasyJet flight + shared taxi transfer
•    Daytime travel on the direct Eurostar Ski Train + private taxi
•    Daytime travel on the new direct Eurostar service to Lyon + local train + private taxi  

I compared prices for every date of the season.  I only checked EasyJet because it is representative of independent flights, and checking multiple airlines would have made the research unwieldy for little benefit.

Although from experience, where people tend to initially underestimate the total cost of flying, I knew what the kind of results might be, I was still surprised by a lot of the data.

Interesting results – take a look here: http://www.snowcarbon.co.uk/train-guides/insider-tips/plane-v-train-price-comparison