Silverjet London - New York

[luxuryFan]

Has anyone tried Silverjet? They just started business class-only flights London (Luton) to New York (Newark).
Message Edited by luxuryFan on 02-08-200704:26 AM

[pauljohnson]

No, I've not tried them yet, but I am sorely tempted. They have introductory return flights starting from 799 at the moment. The other two to compare with our EOS and Maxjet.

[jashermd]

Hello,

I'm tempted as well, though more by Maxjet and Eos since they fly into JFK. I'd be even more tempted if one of them flew out of an airport which is more easily accessible on the UK side (Luton and Stansted are only in London if you use an extremely generous definition, and are not easy to access if you're coming from outside London). Given that even Easyjet has slots at Gatwick, I really hope one of these business-class only airlines follows suit.

Cheers,
Julian

[pauljohnson]

Just out of interest, if you were looking at alternatives to a London departure, I was recently looking at flights from Manchester to New York and, although it's not business class only, I found business class flightsfrom Globespan to be more competitive still. Unfortunately, they only run the flights seasonally, though.



Paul

[jashermd]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your post. I live in Oxford, which is only 90 minutes from Heathrow (or a bit more than an hour from Gatwick) -- but Luton and Stansted are a royal pain unless you live in London or East Anglia (I used to live in Cambridge, which would be ideal for Eos or Maxjet). Of course, if they would open up the Oxford-Cambridge train link it would make all the difference in the world...though given the fact that there is a guy who has been campaigning for this since the 1970s with no effect it doesn't seem likely.

Eos does have a temporary offer where the price of one of their more expensive tickets includes a car transfer within a 60-mile radius of Stansted -- unfortunately, you only get it on one leg (outbound or inbound) which means you're still stuck for the other leg.

Cheers,
Julian

[luxuryFan]

jashermd wrote:
Hello,

I'm tempted as well, though more by Maxjet and Eos since they fly into JFK. I'd be even more tempted if one of them flew out of an airport which is more easily accessible on the UK side (Luton and Stansted are only in London if you use an extremely generous definition, and are not easy to access if you're coming from outside London). Given that even Easyjet has slots at Gatwick, I really hope one of these business-class only airlines follows suit.

Cheers,
Julian

Personally I prefer Newark to JFK. Too many times I've got stuck on the Van Wyck or in the Midtown Tunnel (I think I've tried every option, 125th St and the Triboro Bridge, dodging through the back streets of Brooklyn etc.) but nearly always get gridlocked. Newark's fast once you're on the west side. As for Luton, I don't know much about it but how much worse can it be than Heathrow! What I like the sound of is the private Silverjet terminal so you don't have to hassle through security with everyone else who's flying that day (fast track? snail track more like). You can check in 30 minutes before, more like the old days.

[jashermd]

Hello,

Generally speaking I do find that small airports are nicer (I used to live in Cambridge, which is 10 minutes from Stansted) but they can also be a pain in the bum to get to...a 30-minute check-in time is not much good when it takes three or four hours to get to the airport versus 90 minutes to Heathrow.

London Luton is an great example of what some people call Ryanair geography. Ryanair flies out of airports which it describes as 'Venice' or 'Hamburg' but are acutally two hours outside the named city. At least the fligts are cheap, though...

Cheers,
Julian