When You Gotta Go (Go)

Member Name: kenjohn

Product:	Go
Date:	05/03/02 (609 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: See text of opinion

Disadvantages: See text of opinion

~ ~ I've been off in Bonny Scotland over the last week.
An old aunt of mine died at the ripe old age of 78. So not too many tears, as she had a good, full life, and she’s now off to a better place. But sad never the less, as she was my last aunt or uncle from a grand total of sixteen from both my mother’s and father’s side of the family. So there is a real feeling on my part of a complete generation now having passed away.
The trip was unexpected, so before the journey, I got busy on the Web trying to find myself the best possible deal on both my airfare from Dublin to Edinburgh, and for car hire once I arrived.

~ ~ My normal airline of choice when flying to the UK is the indigenous Irish carrier, Ryanair, who advertise themselves as THE cheap fare airline. Not in this instance though, as they don’t fly into Edinburgh, and the nearest airport I could get to my destination was Prestwick south of Glasgow, which is on the other side of the country.
Aer Lingus are the main carriers to Edinburgh, but to be frank, I had a dreadful experience with them a little over ten years ago, when I was trying to get to Scotland (for yet another funeral) quickly and cheaply, and the best offer they could come up with was an unbelievable £330 (old Irish Punts) return. So ever since then I have been disinclined to give them any of my business whatsoever, at least when there is any kind of option available.
I wasn’t even aware that the Edinburgh route had opened up to competition, to be honest, and wasn’t relishing the prospect of either getting the ferry over with my own car, or driving to Belfast and flying over from there.
So I was surprised to discover (using Google, the marvellous search engine) that another cheap airline, “GO”, have recently started up on this route. And I was even more pleasantly surprised when I logged onto their site and checked out their prices. A totally incredible price of
only €49.95 return (£30.50 Sterling), including all airport taxes and an insurance surcharge.

~ ~ “GO” started out their existence as the cheap flight option from British Airways, but are now an independent carrier in their own right.
The site is incredibly simple to navigate, with none of the complicated rigmarole that you have to go through with some of their competitors. While I love Ryanair, I have to admit that they fall down badly in this regard, and you would nearly need a degree in Computer Science to work out some of their fares and schedules.
With “GO”, you simply fill in your airport of departure, and where you want to fly to in two drop down boxes. The same procedure is followed for the day of your departure, and when you wish to return. Then you hit “find the cheapest fare” button, and voila, all your options for the two days you choose are clearly and concisely displayed, with an all in inclusive price beside each flight.
You can hit the “back” button on your browser if you want to then compare prices for different days, in order to find your cheapest fare.
Be sure to compare some different options if your travel itinerary is flexible.
If I had returned home on the Sunday, for example, which was my original intention, it would have cost me an extra €72.50 (£44.36 Sterling) as compared to flying on the Saturday, which is the option I went for.
“GO” are based at London Stanstead, and within the UK they fly from Belfast International, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle. And, off course, from here in Dublin in the Irish Republic.
They aren’t simply UK based though, and fly to a wide range of Continental airports as well. Here’s a wee list for you.

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Alicante
Barcelona
Belfast International
Bilbao
Bologna
Copenhagen
Edinburgh
Faro
Glasgow
Ibiza
>Lyon
Malaga
Milan Linate
Munich
Naples
Newcastle
Nice
Palma Mallorca
Prague
Rome Ciampino
Venice Marco Polo

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So if you are after a cheap option to fly to Europe, then you are spoiled for choice with “GO”. You even get a further £5 (Sterling) discount for booking online with them, although this is already calculated into the fare quoted.
One other thing to look out for. Even on an internal UK flight all passengers must carry some type of photo identification, such as a passport, photo driving licence, or student or ID Card. I presume that this is an extra precaution they have instigated in response to the atrocities of September, 11th.
Once you have decided on what flights you want, then you are transferred to a secure server, where you do the usual with your name, address, telephone number, and credit card details.
Your booking is confirmed within 5 minutes by email (at least, mine was), which you then print off, and present at the check in on the day of your flight.
By the way, you don’t have to worry that you will be flying on an old World War Two Dakota, as “GO” have a fleet of 18 modern Boeing 737-300 jets. These are as comfortable as an airline seat can be without flying business or first class, with just about enough room to squeeze yourself into your seat, but not too bad once you have got yourself settled.
I was offered snacks, drinks, and refreshments within minutes of takeoff, but having paid £1.50 (Sterling) for a plastic beaker of lukewarm muck that was supposed to be coffee on the way over from Ireland, I passed on the return journey.
But what the heck! When all is said and done, I wasn't flying "GO" for their gourmet food and drink, but because they were extremely cheap.
Both the outward and return flights left strictly to schedule, and both ways the pilot had tailwinds, and managed to shave abou
t 15 minutes of the journey time. (35 minutes instead of 50 minutes in the air)

~ ~ As well as looking for a cheap airfare, I was also attempting to hunt down some cheap car hire. Guess what? I managed to do this through a link on the “GO” site as well.
I’d been running a separate window to search for car hire, and had managed to come up with a Ford Fiesta for £111 (Sterling) for three days, when I spotted the link on the “GO” website.
Again, simple and easy navigation and booking was the order of the day. At Edinburgh airport, they have an arrangement with a crew called “Holiday Autos”. Five minutes later I had a small Ford Ka booked at the incredibly low price of only £76 (Sterling) for three days, inclusive of everything other than my fuel.
As it transpired, I discovered on arrival at Edinburgh that "Holiday Autos" were in fact the fairly large car hire company "Alamo". And the clerk pointed out that I could actually have booked my hire car for £4 less had I done so directly with the company. So note has been taken for future trips. I didn't get the little Ford Ka I had booked either, but a (brand new) Peugeot 106, which I couldn't get along with at all. (opinion to follow) But I still reckon it was a good price, and I liked the ease of booking both my flight and car hire at the one website, even if the car hire cost me slightly more this way.
There is also a link for hotel and guesthouse accommodation, and it looks every bit as good, but I had no need of this on this trip, as I stayed with relatives.

~ ~One thing I did notice though, and that was both on the outward and return journeys to Ireland the planes were practically empty.
There were only 9 passengers (including myself) on the outward leg, and only 15 on my return flight to Dublin. Considering my return flight was at 12.45PM on the Saturday of an Ireland/Scotland Rugby International here in
Dublin, I fully expected the plane to be packed to capacity. So I wonder about the long-term viability of using large passenger jets on a route like this. Or perhaps it is “GO’s” advertising that is at fault. Remember I mentioned earlier that I wasn’t even aware that they were now flying this route!
Perhaps "GO" would be well advised to consider using a smaller aircraft, like the Fokker prop/jet that their rivals on the route, Aer Lingus, use, if passenger numbers are going to remain at this low level. Just a thought in passing.

All in all, the trip over and back went without a hitch, and I was delighted with both the price and the prompt and efficient service from "GO", both in the online booking procedure and on the actual flights themselves. On this basis alone, “GO” gets a very high recommendation from the “mad cabbie”.

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FOOTNOTE

~ ~ I also had the great pleasure of getting together with a fellow dooyoo writer for the very first time ever during this trip. I met up for lunch in Edinburgh with “sidneygee”, the ex-Motors Category Guide, and he’s not such a crochety old bu**er as he’d like to make out. Thanks for the lunch and the bit of crack, pal.

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