Re: Traveling on the XPT

["Russell Norton" <russelln@primus.com.au>]

>There would undoubtedly be an arrangement between Kendall/Hazelton and the
>various railway bodies, providing them with special fares. I know we did
>when I worked for QANTAS and we had the ADF contract. These specials are
not
>as available to the general public.



As far as I'm aware, no rail operator has a deal with these airlines, these
fares are available to anyone that rings up a travel agent.



>Still does not justify your argument that a discounted airfare is the same
>as a first class rail ticket. If you are going to use discounted airfares,
>you need to compare them with discounted railfares. If you are going to use
>full rail fares, you can only compare them to full Y airfares.



I was trying to highlight the expense of first class XPT travel, in
comparison to other modes of transport, as suggestions to the original
posting indicated first class XPT seats were the way to go.

I agree that discounted fares are different to full fares, especially in
relation to cancelling or altering a booking (you generally can't on any
discounted fares). However, I wonder how many people in this ng realised an
airfare, any airfare, would be anywhere near as cheap as the price of an XPT
fare, let alone the same as one, for a similar journey.

Obviously, Countrylink needs to review their pricing policy if they wish to
retain or increase their non-subsidised passenger levels. An extension to
the half price fares deal would be a good start. Or maybe they could provide
extras for first class e.g. Video screens, music (via headphones), even,
heaven forbid, a complimentary meal or snack! etc. etc. etc..

We have got off the track (no pun intended !) a bit from the original post,
and if you must travel by XPT my vote is still for car A (especially if it
is a sleeper, as your compartment would only have a maximum of two other
people to annoy you, and you can sometimes transfer to another compartment
if there are vacant seats).

Regards,
Russ...