CONCERN over the greater cost associated with Jamaicans travelling to England for cases at the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) compared to travelling to Trinidad for Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) trials may be misplaced, according to prices stated by international travel site Expedia.com.

A comparison of some of the various travel costs entailed in travelling to the two locations shows that there is not necessarily much difference between the two, with London actually cost a costing less — even if the traveller stays in a higher-rated hotel.

It is significantly less costly to fly to Trinidad than to England. Jamaica is 7,600 km or about 4,700 miles from London, compared to 1,900 km or 1,200 miles from Port of Spain. Although more Jamaicans will be travelling more than four times the distance, flight costs to London are roughly only double the cost of flying to Trinidad. And once in London visitor can make savings on both internal transport and hotel accommodation.

The Jamaica Observer used international travel site Expedia.com to look at comparative costs for airfare, local transport and hotels for one-week stays in Port of Spain and London. The week March 18 to March 25 was used for comparison.

A return economy flight from Kingston to Trinidad, leaving on March 18, will cost about US$555. The flight will take six hours including two stops in Philipsburg, St Maarten and Bridgetown, Barbados. The flight leaves Kingston at 2:45 pm and arrives in Port of Spain at 9:45 pm.

A return economy flight from Kingston to London on the same date will cost about US$1,144 — or almost twice as the Trinidad flight. The flight is non-stop and takes eight hours and 50 minutes, leaving Kingston at 6:50 pm and arriving at Gatwick, London, at 8:40 am.

Meanwhile a rental compact car in Port ofSpain for the one-week period will cost US$190, according to the Expedia website.

That compares to US$110 for a compact car in London, a saving of US$80. But that cost could be cut further as six-day Oyster Travelcard, which gives unlimited travel access across London on the underground and other public transport, will cost the traveller £40 or US$61.

One of the most popular hotels in Port-of-Spain, according to the Expeida site, is the four-star Hyatt Regency Trinidad, where a one-week stay in an average room will cost US$209 per night, for a total of US$1,533 for the week.

A less costly option could be the three-star Courtyard by Marriott with an average room rate of US$176 — or US$1,232 for the week. The hotel is a 10-minute drive from the CCJ.

There is a much wider range of hotels in London, with one of the most expensive being the five-star Ritz at a regular average price per room of US$899 per night, according to Expedia. Alternately, for a mere US$26 per night visitors could stay at the two-star PubLove Hostel. That option may prove to be somewhat less salubrious than the Ritz but has the additional advantage of being very conveniently located in the Victoria area, near the Privy Council at the Supreme Court.

A happy medium might be the four-star Kensington Close Hotel and Spa. That hotel has an average room rate of US$117 for the period. It is an 11-minute drive away from the Privy Council, according to Google maps.

As the London visitor arrives at Gatwick at 8:30 am Tuesday, as opposed to 9:45 pm Monday for the Port of Spain visitor, he will only need a hotel for six nights instead of seven. So that works out to US$702 for the period, a saving of US$530 over the three-star Courtyard by Marriott in Trinidad.

Altogether, the flight, car and three-star hotel would cost approximately US$1,977 for a one-week trip to the CCJ in Port of Spain. Meanwhile, the person attending the Privy Council, in this example, would pay a total of US$1,956, for his flight, car and four-star hotel — a total saving of US$21 over the person attending the CCJ in Trinidad for the same period.