GUWonder

Yes; and this is even as the case is that the dynamic of first class being cheaper than economy class has been popping up more in recent years than used to be the case say 3-15 years ago; but those other factors of very cheap tickets for U16s traveling with an adult companion and U26 discounts have been around for quite some time.

I am surprised that more SJ train passengers don't play the game of paying the very small bit extra to book a young child seat as a companion even when there is no accompanying young child to come on the train trip. This "cheap extra seat to get extra space" doesn't work so well on flights even when it comes to SAS running its "children travel free" campaigns.

entraider

Working for one of Sweden's "propaganda" organizations I can ensure that many of my colleagues actually want to take the trains instead of planes for business trips. All because of the environment. Thankfully, our management still agrees that we need to use the tax money in a suitable way and sitting 3 days in the train to get to a meeting, in for example London, is not using tax money in a good way.

GUWonder

Im a new user

Probably not, unless you really like trains and do the travelling on your own free time. The trains take about 18 hours per direction (Stockholm-Copenhagen 5 h, Copenhagen-Hamburg 5 h, Hamburg-Cologne 4Ľ h, Cologne-Brussels 1ľ h, Brussels-London 2 h), plus you need to add time for your connections and stay a night at a hotel in Germany. Also, you can't book a through ticket. Deutsche Bahn can sell Stockholm-Germany and Germany-London through tickets, but not Stockholm-London.

livious

Not sure I agree about "flight shame", but I am more than happy to see the airports and lounges less crowded! More space for me
More seriously, perhaps the younger generation will follow a greener trend but I would think that any decline in air travel in Sweden is due to the weak SEK/USD exchange and the "older" generation tightening their purse strings after years of over spending. Time to start paying off the house now that the housing markets have cooled.

GUWonder

entraider

Some of my colleagues do this for private trips, and yeah you need to book via different companies and plan for hotel stays. That is also why our organization doesn't allow it. It is literally to much work time that get lost and the argument that you can work on the train just doesn't work.
People here look at me a bit disgusted when I tell them I prefer the plane...

simonrp84

It's gratifying to see the anti-science crowd being made to look so foolish in this thread.

GUWonder

Maybe it's the kind of look some people get from informed travelers when encountering someone who says they prefer flying from DC to NYC during extra-humid summer afternoons when the train is perhaps more sensible door to door? Or maybe it's the kind of look I got from a real estate lawyer when I showed up late to my closing due to being stuck in traffic while taking car service instead of taking the subway as I should have.

I have had people ask me if I consider that my (mucho amount of) flying contributes to pollution? And I say, yes, but I will have to fly as much as it makes sense to me since air travel has a role to play in my life that has no convenient substitute. Never had a look of disgust due to that, but maybe people are inclined to give such looks to people from whom they already want to try to keep a sort of distance?

I know people who choose to take multiple trains for private trips and embed hotels stays along the route despite such choices not being done for environmental reasons. I don't see why that would be such a bad thing.

SK2751

I don't know about that. I do know that weird reasons to use slow connections appear when not starting in a large airport city.

Next month I will be vacationing with kids on Polish/Czech border. On the last day I could put kids into a train, and myself drive to a meeting in Saarlanden, where I should be in the evening. This is 9-10 hours driving. It would make perfect sense for me. Instead, I will drive kids back home (ca. 6-7 hours), I will fly to Frankfurt (ca 3-4 hours effectively), rent a car, and drive for 2 hours to the meeting location.

This does not make sense for me whatsoever, but I spare myself an argument to my Scandinavian employer why do I need to drive my personal car for 9-10 hours, if I could fly. I have learnt that these arguments usually go through, but they make people lose trust in you, raise suspicions, and also cost my time, reducing the benefit of saving time on travel. Similar situations have happened to me many times in the past. Although, frankly, a 9-10h trip by train in this situation would not raise any suspicion.

johan rebel

Don't blame the poor kid, she has mental health issues. Rather point the finger at her parents and others who approve and encourage the way she is being exploited.


Johan

ibguestaccount

If this is indeed true, the whole circus is even more sad. Her parents should be penalized for neglect of their child's welfare and the others should be investigated for criminal exploitation of a minor. (Flying)shame on them all ...


/BoomtownRat

Ocn Vw 1K

We just completed a major pruning of this thread to remove posts that were far more related to OMNI/PR than to this airline thread.

As well, we have removed posts which ran afoul of FT Rule 12 that we avoid personal discussion of other members.

Going forward, please limit posting to content compliant with FlyerTalk's Rules, including that it be related to SAS air services.

Ocn Vw 1K, for the Senior Moderator team.

RoyalSwazi

fassy

There is NO such thing!