I am arranging a face to face trip to Newcastle later this month. After looking into the costs of flights etc and conference calling, I had forgotten about Flybe until reading an article in the metro newspaper.

The cheapest flight from London to Newcastle was with Easyjet which with all costs, i.e travel to from the airports came to £92. The next best was British Airways, which was £143 with all the little bonuses. By far the most expensive was Flybe which after considering the trains you have to catch just to step on the plane came to £202.
This is only part of it, the next aspect is the cost of me. Consider my wages to be out of the office for the entire day. By far the quickest way to get to and from my meeting would be with BA out of Heathrow, which would be a 10 hour round trip starting at 7am. If I was to fly with either of the other two airlines to service Newcastle, the round trip would be a staggering 17 hours, starting my day at 4am. Not having fun so far on my trip to Geordie land…!!!
The other option is to take the train from Kings Cross, with the total cost being £70 but even this journey would be 13 hours.
Finally we have a small matter of European Law. The working time directive states that workers do not exceed a 12 hour working day, and yes travelling to and from a meeting is included in this. So here is the final expense, a hotel room for the night. If I was to book a non-flexible room at a Travelodge, i’d be looking at £35. So if I was to travel with Flybe the total cost of my trip would be £237.
I spoke to my boss just before writing this post and as our customer is an established one, I have been told to use your conference calling service instead.