tim..... wrote:

"Theo Markettos" wrote in message
...
tim..... wrote:

"Theo Markettos" wrote in message
...
[quoted entire message]

IME this is a problem with almost every major country in the world

Why should London have to try hard to solve it?

To which problem do you refer?

being (un)able to buy "national" rail tickets rather than just local tickets
from the machine in the airport metro station.

(obviously this is not always a problem where the airport is served by the
local national rail network)

Gatwick /is/ served by the national rail network. And a large number of
passengers are hoping to take a train to London, but that means they have to
deal with National Rail. In which case they shouldn't have to decide
whether they want a train in Southern, Gatwick Express or FCC colours, or
whether they want a ticket that allows them to travel during some
vaguely-specified hours called 'peak'. It's no wonder the queues at Gatwick
are a problem if the staff have to explain all this, especially to people
who might not speak English. And the ticket machines are worse: instead of
saying 'are you coming back today?' and 'if you want to travel to London
before 10am Monday-Friday, press here', they offer bewildering names like
Super Off-Peak Travelcards that not even the denizens of this group know
exactly what they mean.

Theo