Flying Legends 2021 - Your opinion on the ticket-prices?

[spruecutter96]

5 minutes ago, wellsprop said:

getting children interested in historic aircraft is incredibly important as they are the future of historic aviation.

A very good point, well-made. 

 

Chris. 

[FalkeEins]

This probably needs it own thread.. but can I just mention here that the Aero Legends ‘Battle of Britain’ weekend at Headcorn is still going ahead at the end of June...£20 per day or £35 for all three days. They are promising the Reds, B-17, six Spitfires, 2 C-47s and other types including their Yak 3 and a Dx Buchon..looking forward to it.. and they were the only guys who managed to organise a show last year as well. See the current issue of Flypast for more on Aero Legends

[wellsprop]

On 19/05/2021 at 23:19, spruecutter96 said:

£50.00 per day per adult for the Saturday or Sunday. 

 

 

£50 for Flying Legends is now looking incredibly good value compared with £50 for the Duxford airshow 😅

[spruecutter96]

23 minutes ago, wellsprop said:

£50 for Flying Legends is now looking incredibly good value compared with £50 for the Duxford airshow 

Unfortunately, not actually true. If you go to a Duxford airshow, you get a 3.5 hour airshow for £50.00. Obviously, you also get to look around Europe's largest air-museum (normal, non-event admission is now £26.00 for an adult, I believe). 

 

If you go to the RIAT airshow, you'll experience 7.5 hours of flying for £65.00 (the last time I looked - that was an "early-bird" charge). Also, there will be a lot less "filler" in the flying-programme compared to Duxford. You will also be able to walk around a huge, static-display area. Which seems the better value of money?

 

I appreciate that not every punter wants to see the modern stuff do its thing and will want to see examples of earlier aviation - so there's that to consider, as well. 

 

Chris. 

[alt-92]

On 6/8/2021 at 11:29 PM, wellsprop said:

I believe access to the flight line is included in the Sywell Flying Legends prices (whereas it wasn't for Duxford). 

Duxford has let go of that extra 10 for flightline walks, last year. So now it's included in the ticket.

[wellsprop]

2 hours ago, alt-92 said:

Duxford has let go of that extra 10 for flightline walks, last year. So now it's included in the ticket.

 

Is anything actually happening regarding Flying legends at Sywell?

[alt-92]

Not Sywell, possibly.

https://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=933669&sid=8c09da2200e7b5e2f4ed595edeae94e0#p933669

[spruecutter96]

Unfortunately, 'Legends is looking fairly unlikely for this year (but not impossible). I would expect that they would have announced the brand new venue by now. Only time will tell on this one....

 

Chris. 

[rayprit]

Recession? What recession?  Well beyond the scope of your average enthusiast.  When I was young, I saved my pocket money to go to airshows.............dont think many kids could ever afford these prices unless daddy gives them a £30-£40 towards admission.................these prices are set for the adult spectators and not the plane spotter of the hobby

[wellsprop]

https://www.facebook.com/100067148713557/posts/pfbid02Fx86LL2ukkwwdLWCS5eu3AYh3ErC618PcJajCyHrvdtosRteXDDNATPGq9Eggjwdl/?sfnsn=scwspmo

 

Confirmed at Leeds East Airport, subject to approval. 

 

Unfortunately I don't think its going to have the same feel as it does at Duxford, but at least it's alive! 

[Sabrejet]

I did a quick bit of comparison and found some interesting stats: the 1978 Air Show at Bassingbourn (one which promised a lot but ended up a bit of a damp squib) had a £2 entry price for adults. In 2023 equivalent that's £10. And IAT at Greenham in 1981 was £4. Again, calculating for inflation, the 2023 equivalent is £14.12.

 

So it does beg the question - why the high prices? And why are we paying £65-odd for a RIAT ticket when IAT in 1981 was a quarter of that?

[Dogtail2]

40 minutes ago, Sabrejet said:

I did a quick bit of comparison and found some interesting stats: the 1978 Air Show at Bassingbourn (one which promised a lot but ended up a bit of a damp squib) had a £2 entry price for adults. In 2023 equivalent that's £10. And IAT at Greenham in 1981 was £4. Again, calculating for inflation, the 2023 equivalent is £14.12.

 

So it does beg the question - why the high prices? And why are we paying £65-odd for a RIAT ticket when IAT in 1981 was a quarter of that?

 

There are several factors involved, but I would say to start with that your inflation calculator seems a bit off.

 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

1 hour ago, Sabrejet said:

I did a quick bit of comparison and found some interesting stats: the 1978 Air Show at Bassingbourn (one which promised a lot but ended up a bit of a damp squib) had a £2 entry price for adults. In 2023 equivalent that's £10. And IAT at Greenham in 1981 was £4. Again, calculating for inflation, the 2023 equivalent is £14.12.

 

So it does beg the question - why the high prices? And why are we paying £65-odd for a RIAT ticket when IAT in 1981 was a quarter of that?

 

In 1979 the average house price in the UK was under £14k (with the average single income male salary just under £3.6k p.a.). By 2025 the average house price is forecast to just over £251k (with the average salary last year just under £28k p.a.).

 

I'd suggest inflation doesn't tell much of a story in real terms about how much stuff costs.

[Greg B]

7 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

I did a quick bit of comparison and found some interesting stats: the 1978 Air Show at Bassingbourn (one which promised a lot but ended up a bit of a damp squib) had a £2 entry price for adults. In 2023 equivalent that's £10. And IAT at Greenham in 1981 was £4. Again, calculating for inflation, the 2023 equivalent is £14.12.

 

So it does beg the question - why the high prices? And why are we paying £65-odd for a RIAT ticket when IAT in 1981 was a quarter of that?

Looks like you used the Bank of England inflation calculator for the increase. 
 

However a pint of beer in 1981 was 51p

been out of the uk for a purple of years but average is nearing £6 these days by the looks of things. Extrapolating that out, both IAT to RIAT has followed the same trajectory of increase  of being worth about  9 - 10 pints

[Toe]

15 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

I did a quick bit of comparison and found some interesting stats: the 1978 Air Show at Bassingbourn (one which promised a lot but ended up a bit of a damp squib) had a £2 entry price for adults. In 2023 equivalent that's £10. And IAT at Greenham in 1981 was £4. Again, calculating for inflation, the 2023 equivalent is £14.12.

 

So it does beg the question - why the high prices? And why are we paying £65-odd for a RIAT ticket when IAT in 1981 was a quarter of that?

 

I would also cost in the increase in labour for these, stewards, traffic measures -we all know that even digging a small hole in the path means having traffic measures with the extra bods associated with this, Police charges, RIAT had temporary pelican crossings set up, even cutting the grass as the huge increase of car ownership has meant more space and logistics to accommodate this (for my 1st few years of going to airshows I went on a bus/coach set up by the local bus company) but I would surmise the biggest increase now is insurance, especially since Shoreham

[alt-92]

On 2/18/2023 at 7:16 PM, rayprit said:

dont think many kids could ever afford these prices unless daddy gives them a £30-£40 towards admission

Hey, it's RIAT, or the latest and greatest IPhone model. Have you seen the prices of those? And yet it seems to be no problem to get one of those. 
Priorities are different these days apparently.

[spruecutter96]

The 2023 Flying Legends has now been announced.... the same weekend as RIAT! Surely they could have made it another weekend?

 

Warbird enthusiasts from the Yorkshire area will love the new venue. I suspect that those living elsewhere won't so much, though.

 

You pays your money and makes your choice...

 

Chris.    

 

 

[-Ian-]

15 minutes ago, spruecutter96 said:

The 2023 Flying Legends has now been announced.... the same weekend as RIAT! Surely they could have made it another weekend?

 

Indeed, seems an odd decision unless that was literally the only weekend over the entire summer that Church Fenton was available which seems somewhat unlikely.

 

I've already bought my RIAT ticket and Flying Legends was the one other airshow I would likely have attended as well - if it was any weekend other than that one.

Edited March 15, 2023 by -Ian-

[Agent K]

On 3/15/2023 at 6:09 PM, -Ian- said:

Indeed, seems an odd decision unless that was literally the only weekend over the entire summer that Church Fenton was available which seems somewhat unlikely.

 

I've already bought my RIAT ticket and Flying Legends was the one other airshow I would likely have attended as well - if it was any weekend other than that one.

 

It was the only weekend in that July period that Church Fenton (CF) could provide, as the weekend before (or after - I forget) was already booked. I'm led to believe they will move it next year to avoid conflict. One mustn't forget it's not just about CF availability but also TFC aircraft and all the other visiting warbirds that make up the show.

[Mr T]

These days RIAT would be just too far for me to travel and I don't think I could cope with the day. Flying Legends this year is more or less on my doorstep (18 miles), and so I have booked my ticket this morning. Already the line up is looking promising. I note this year the ticket includes Flight Line access. Makes up a little bit for not being at Duxford. 

[Tim R-T-C]

I'm going to try the Flying Legends show at Leeds.

 

£45 for an adult ticket - as I mentioned two years ago in this thread - is about average for a top tier domestic motor racing event and similar to most concert tickets too.

[fightersweep]

On 2/21/2023 at 7:04 PM, Sabrejet said:

I did a quick bit of comparison and found some interesting stats: the 1978 Air Show at Bassingbourn (one which promised a lot but ended up a bit of a damp squib) had a £2 entry price for adults. In 2023 equivalent that's £10. And IAT at Greenham in 1981 was £4. Again, calculating for inflation, the 2023 equivalent is £14.12.

 

You got me all misty eyed there. First airshow I went to was the Great Warbirds Air Display at West Malling in 1983. As I was just shy of my 14th birthday that Sept, the price of admission was £1.00. It was £3.50 for an adult. My paper round wages was £4.00 a week then, so I had £3.00 left over for a program and a couple of cheap kits from the stalls there that day. Happy days!

 

After years of searching, I finally found the poster. This particular one flew back to Duxford with it's owner on Sally B.