corporate-wage-slave

Marseille has a shuttle bus service to St. Charles (the main station) which runs every 15 minutes and costs €8.30. It takes about 30 minutes. From there you are in easy walking distance of the old port and the main shopping and restaurant areas. MRS also has good connections to other places like Arles and Aix if you time it right, it takes about 40 minutes in both cases and essentially a 30 minute interval time. See the unusually helpful MRS airport official website for the low-down.

HAJ is on the S Bahn, and has easy / fast access into the city centre, though the service frequency is one per 30 minutes. Takes 20 minutes or so and the city centre is very walkable, with a wide range of shops and bars around the city centre and the Marktkirche, a forbidding Gothic masterpiece. So that would be a good option too. However MRS is Terminal 3..... I would do both, but if you like a seafood lunch it would have to be MRS.

saint_em

Thanks both. Sadly no status these days & I'd never hear the end of it if I booked a flight from T3 with no lounge (the Marseille flight is £767 up the front!!), it was bad enough when we were too late for the 'breakfast trifle' in the Qantas lounge (first world problems or what?). Maybe I'd be forgiven if there was a good bouillabaisse at the other end though...

BA6501

I'd do Madrid, though it is the furthest and involves the most faffing around, being T4S both ways. If you get in at 09:40 and take the 21:00 back, and take a taxi both ways (30€ each way, though mytaxi may still be running their 50% off offer), you could be in town by 10:30 and leave by 18:45-19:00. Allow an extra 15-20 minutes if you take the 5€ bus and you time it right.

kwisstan

Madrid is nice, although my wife much preferred Hannover - that could be as she speaks more German than Spanish. Train into either city is easy, but I'd probably go for Madrid as there is usually something happening and it's larger.

corporate-wage-slave

Anecdotally, so long as you give at least 3 days before travel, there is a good chance that you will be offered a POUG on awayday fares. You can't rely on it definitely happening, but something to bear in mind. In the case of T3 it may be worth a CE RFS which may well be available.

cameramaker

Anyone know why there aren’t any Awayday fares available to FCO this weekend? There’s plenty of capacity on the route.

nivsy

A day in Luxembourg is always ok especially for a first visit. Think BA can do this for 52 pounds return on some days. A quick 45 minutes or so flight, ok airport, relatively easy free bus service into town at weekends.

Wanderlust888

Given that you'd have to leave the lounge at 06:40 for the MRS flight, you'd be just as well grabbing a coffee and croissant from Pret and spending longer in bed.

Globaliser

Short answer: no availability. Capacity is irrelevant if it's all been taken by others.

In truth, there is actually one seat on BA552 LHR-FCO at 0700 on Sunday, but you'd have to fly back on BA549 at 1255, leaving you with about 2¼ hours at FCO.

Wanderlust888

Total cost £114 with Plus fare inbound, letting you come back at 21:00. Probably.

bisonrav

How do you find these fares? I'm struggling to see them anywhere obvious. Is it just a question of looking at the usual suspect routes a few days in advance?

I'm within one return flight of the 12000 avios bonus, so looking for a cheap way of triggering it.

LSunbury

Bordeaux day return on Monday £46

THEOBCMAN

THEOBCMAN

Sorry 16000 - right ?

bisonrav

yes, sorry, already mentally banked 4000.