West London to South Warsaw

After nearly three weeks at my father's in West Ealing I'm back in W-wa Jeziorki, having flown in via Heathrow on a BA flight.

Getting to Heathrow from West Ealing is now easier than ever - simply get on a TfL Rail train to the airport. Off-peak fare £6.00 (peak £7.30 - that is Monday to Friday 06:30-09:30 and 16:00-19:00). My train departed at 05:44 and arrived at Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 at 06:03. Less than 20 minutes. As BA flights to Warsaw now depart from Terminal 5, I had to wait to catch the free inter-terminal rail service (provided by Heathrow Express trains) from the same platform. It arrived a few minutes later, with a four-minute journey time. Brilliant! Less than one hour after leaving my father's I'm inside the terminal building!

Now that national rail fares have gone up, Luton Airport is getting pricier to reach from London. The 29-mile journey on Thameslink trains now costs £20.40 (off-peak £15.36 - but 'off-peak' here means weekends) including that wretched shuttle bus from 'Luton Airport' Parkway to the actual airport, over 2km/1.3 miles away. To get to St Pancras station from Ealing Broadway costs £3.30 (peak Mon-Fri 06:30-09:30) and £2.80 all other times. And Ealing Broadway's a 20 minute walk, while West Ealing is just nine minutes away. Total travel time from my father's to Luton Airport is around two and half hours.

Add to this WizzAir's new baggage restriction. I am now only allowed to take on board for free a laptop bag (max 40x30x20cm). Taking my rucksack means buying the WizzGo package for an extra £23 - this also gives me up to 20kg cabin baggage and priority boarding - neither of which I need or want. When WizzAir announced it's reducing free cabin baggage size from 50x40x25cm, I immediately went to the Samsonite shop in Warsaw, who told me, yes, they'd heard about WizzAir's announcement, but no, they don't make a rucksack as small as 40x30x20cm. Of course I could buy a tiny rucksack with Pixar Cars or Disney Frozen graphics from the children's department at Auchan, but, well, you know... Having a laptop bag slung around one shoulder is no good for anyone's body. Rucksacks distribute weight properly across both shoulders. For someone who walks lots, that's really important.

So - I'm comparing prices for a London-Warsaw flight on the same day (a Friday three weeks hence), at the same time (around 14:00) with WizzAir and BA, with a rucksack measuring 50x40x25cm weighing no more than 8kg.

BA: £68.44 + £6.00 travel to airport = £72.44

WizzAir: £46.33 + £23.20 travel to airport = £69.53

So - for just £2.89 more, I save around an hour and half in travel time; I have the comfort of a proper airport where you can be seated at the gate rather than having stand in a queue to board for 20 minutes; arriving at Warsaw Okęcie the BA plane arrives at a sleeve rather than depositing you at the far end of the airport for a bus to take you on to passport control, and the seats are more comfortable.

WizzAir, Luton Airport, Thameslink Trains - you have lost a frequent flyer, a once-a-month reliable source of revenue over the past 15+ years.

I never wish to set eyes on Luton Airport ever again - I utterly loathe and detest the place. I detest the overcrowded seating areas and bars, the stupid shuttle bus connection to the distant railway station.

Linguistic PS: Can anyone think of a better English word for dojazd than 'journey/travel to [a place]'?

If not, may I suggest adding this excellent Polish word to the English language as a loan word?

UPDATE 9 JAN.

Booked my next flight to London and back with BA. Price: 497zł (£104). Checked WizzAir (still with my WizzAir club discount in place)... price 224zł (£47). Now, until recently, it would have been a no-brainer - that difference would have easily swallowed the extra cost of travelling from and to Luton. But with the small-rucksack surcharge, the price more than doubles to 456zł (£96). Add open return railfare (£30.30) plus return Tube fare to Ealing (£5.60) and flying through Luton would now cost me £131.90. With BA, the price is £116. A saving of £16 over the Wizz/Luton option. Plus, with BA, I get air miles!

UPDATE 28 JAN.

Flew into Heathrow Terminal 5 with BA. Plane arrives on time at 14:30, at a sleeve (no need to put coat on). Get through border control quickly - literally one person ahead of me in queue, though probably a time-of-day thing, down the stairs to the train platform. Catch Heathrow Express train (free for the one stop) to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 station where I wait an annoying 27 minutes for the next TfL service to town via West Ealing (off-peak the TfL trains are half-hourly). But the train's on time, soon I'm at West Ealing, from where a nine-minute walk to my father's. Ninety minutes from landing to the doorstep. Had I hustled through T5 at a brisker pace, I might have caught the previous Heathrow Express train to T2&3 and caught the earlier TfL train, cutting journey time to one hour.

This time three years ago:
Anger and hate have no place in political discourse
[Blimey! How times have changed.]

This time five years ago:
Is Conservatism rural or urban in nature?

This time six years ago:
Poland's roads get slightly less deadly

This time seven years ago:
It's expensive being rich in Warsaw 

This time nine years:
Winter commuting in colour and black & white

This time ten years ago:
Zamienie in winter

This time 11 years ago:
Really cold (-12C at night)