scottish minnie

After lots of questions and advice from posters here I finally booked my first ex EU - well ex INV - I need to break Mr SM into this new way of travel gently

It's a return to LAS in September, CW with group W car hire for £1450 each which I think is a good price. We'll drive to Inverness the night before, stay over, use the long stay parking and drive back home on our arrival. I'm actually looking forward to a night in Inverness before we head off and as it's a weekend we have plenty time to get there. I did look at taking the train and flying back to Gla or Edi however it was pushing the prices up another £1k per person so not an option.

Without this forum I'd have been completely unaware of the EX EU deals so thanks again to those who patiently answered my questions and made suggestions.

LCY8737

bmibaby737

KARFA

To be fair though you did something that is not really advisable for positioning by trying to go up on the last flight the day before and not on BA (I think you booked U2). Had you either done a b2b on BA at INV (highly recommended) or done the new nightstopper (so last BA flight up day before to get the first leg down the next day) you would have probably found BA easily persuadable to let you start from LHR if your BA positioning flight had been cancelled,

I don't say this to have a go at you or to try and reopen any specific discussion about your case, but merely to reassure the OP or other readers that an exINV should be low risk if you choose the right positioning options.

HIDDY

Bargain fare. ^

Well if you have to drive to an airport it's a very scenic drive to have to do. Certainly much nicer than the two hour one we have to EZE.

BlueThroughCrimp

It's only a 2 and a half hours drive for me. Edinburgh and Aberdeen are over an hour. Renfrew International is close to 2 hours. Really not difficult.
The difficult part is the frequency and times of flights, not the location.

mikeyfly

I’d thoroughly recommend INV as KARFA’s note above

kipperman

Did a B2B in INV yesterday. Complete dawdle. There were 2 people in front of me in security (there is a fast track, but not worth it in this case) and back at the gate 10 minutes after exiting the aircraft.

KeaneJohn

Windy1875

Not long back from doing Inverness to Nashville with BA Holidays, used train from Glasgow and two night stay before flying out. Has a great time in Inverness and even managed to do a full day tour of Skye.

UKtravelbear

Is it just me or have there been less bargain fares ex-INV recently? The trips I've planned have all been cheaper just doing ex LON.

BlueThroughCrimp

Absolutely, although I was comparing it with the 3 other main Scottish airports, and for people who live nearby, rather than people who are doing B2Bs.
Compared with the frequency to the alternatives in the East/North East of Scotland it's a not so good comparison, but the increase is, of course, welcome.
In the case of my ex-INV, it's in the Winter timetable, and only two flights a day - 12 hours apart outbound, and the first inbound doesn't leave Heathrow until 16:30, so 11 hours to wait there.

I don't mind the early start outbound, it's the 16:30 return that's a pita.

PIKnic

For some of us it has been a bonus and nice to have a drive to get a great deal. I think that it has some scope to expand further so if the rest of the UK could keep doing their B2B to keep passenger numbers up. It will allow you to appreciate the best parts of our country.

turnleftbrighteyes

Not just you. I was looking for a quite a while for a decent fare to get home from vacation in early September, and finally recently booked something ex-DUB. Which is a bit annoying since the vacation is in the Outer Hebrides so INV would have actually been much more convenient! Leaving from INV was consistently at least £600 more per person than DUB (the return on this involves an open jaw to Italy a few months later.) Whereas I booked something similar last year, ex-INV, and it was less than £1,100 in CW then.

ratechaser