Southend Airport

Essex_Jim

Just got back from a week away near Barcelona which was excellent.

We flew from Southend Airport with EasyJet. Flight out is standard in terms of time to arrive by. Maybe a bit quicker than the average airport due to size. The real test was on the way back. I had heard ten minutes from getting off the plane to the Station. It took us fifteen minutes, ten minutes of which was Passport control.

Our flight back arrived about 11pm. And this was the big let down of the Airport. We went to get the train towards London and were told we had missed the last train (Believe it was 11.05pm) arriving at the station at 11.15pm. Our flight was one of three EasyJet flights that arrived about the same time and we only delayed by about ten minutes. I was amazed that there were no trains to London covering these last flights. Even more amazing was that the person on the Station was going to allow us to buy tickets! We were lucky that my daughter was a half hour drive away. To those that were not so luck, the person on station suggested if they needed to get to London, get a Cab for £100!!!

richardw

Were there any trains from Southend Victoria ?

Doshwaster

If the flight was due to land at 11pm did your really expect to catch the last train at 11:05pm? Might have been safer to book a room at one of the airport hotels. I believe there is a Premier Inn and a Holiday Inn.

Essex_Jim

richardw wrote: »

Were there any trains from Southend Victoria ?

Yep. Interesting four!

Essex_Jim

Doshwaster wrote: »

If the flight was due to land at 11pm did your really expect to catch the last train at 11:05pm? Might have been safer to book a room at one of the airport hotels. I believe there is a Premier Inn and a Holiday Inn.

OK. Maybe as I grew up in London and expect an Airport trying to build a Customer base would have trains running to midnight and / or covering the last flight.

For the non UK people - welcome to London, BTW you have to pay £100 to get there. Will they use Southend again?

Maybe I am being unreasonable :huh:

duchy

Sounds like you just didn't check the train times then.
I've used Southend airport and found it very quick and easy and would definitely use it again. Fifteen or even twenty minutes from plane to outside wipes the floor with Gatwick,s times.

I too grew up in London but if I was travelling home to London from outside the capital I still knew to check the times of the last trains. Not exactly rocket science. Bit inconsiderate too that you dragged someone out to pick you up so late instead of getting a cab for a few quid to Southend Victoria.

Most people travelling from other countries would check their onward connections ahead of time and not just a$$ume. As you obviously have the internet it's a pity you didn't.

Yes you are being unreasonable. Most people plan their travel better than you did.

EDIT-there is also National Express that runs right through the night from the airport to Victoria coach station so you certainly had other options rather than train

Sorry but you just planned really badly. Five minutes from plane to train was unrealistic and had you checked you wouldn't have needed to drag your daughter out either but got the coach instead.

Not sure why you have such a down on the airport. It's certainly much faster than departing from Gatwick which has endless treks to the gates .......and faster than Stansted too. I think it's a great place to fly from even factoring in having to use the Dartford Crossing for me.

PeacefulWaters

Why would you expect anything without checking it?

Biggles

It's a great little airport. But, wherever I went, I would check transfer arrangements/times if it was something I would need to rely on.

phatbear

I work at southend airport and often have people ranting at me because they have missed the last train to London.

For starters its not really my job to worry about such things and im always shocked that anyone would turn up at an airport and assume there will transport there waiting for them in one form or another.

Its not as this info isn't readily available on the internet. I do, of course, have some sympathy for people whos flights are delayed but again is it safe to assume a train will wait for the last flight?

despite your 10min delay, which means you may have made the train you still cant assume you wont get slowed down by border force in one form or another, whether that be due to 3 flights landing at once, which always happens last thing, or being stopped by one of their oh so handsome customs officers.

duchy

National Express must do well out of those folk.

phatbear

had a think about this and really you should post it in the public transport section of mse as the issue isn't with the airport its with the train company.

or maybe you would like easyjet to re-schedule their flights to suit the public transport times?