Comments on: Is it cheaper to fly or drive?

By: LAL

LAL — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:56:12 +0000

We do a lot of car trips I notice. Before we were too broke to really vacation so camping was the mode of vacationing. Now we live in an area where it makes sense to drive across three states.

By: MLR

MLR — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:42:39 +0000

I typically go places where you don’t need a car, to be honest. I just get a shuttle from the airport to wherever I am staying.

I would have to look up those costs. A quick check shows you can get them for $35/day. After a coupon, probably even lower. That rate depends on a lot, though.

By: LAL

LAL — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:35:07 +0000

What about the costs of renting a car?

By: MLR

MLR — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:43:19 +0000

Part of the extra 2 hours I padded in there was figuring for the few minutes it would take to get your car rental reservation picked up. May be a lil high, may be a lil low. All circumstantial

Even if you grossly over-estimate the time it takes to get a rental car and add 2 hours to each leg of the trip… you still get an extra 8 hours of your vacation!

For people living in America dealing with only 2-3 weeks of vacation, that is a crucial 8 hours

By: LAL

LAL — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:52:50 +0000

MLR, what about driving to and from the airport or needed a car? I like the 12 hours extra at the destination, but that’s assuming you don’t need to get a rental car and the time involved in getting and returning a car.

By: MLR

MLR — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:30:47 +0000

I usually prefer flying. I would take a 2 hour flight (4 hrs after you account for getting there early, security, etc) over a 10 hour drive anyday.

That’s 12 more hours I get at my destination (when you factor in both legs of the trip)!

By: tom

tom — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:30:12 +0000

I second the 8-10 hour rule, only if it’s 2 or more people in the car. If it’s only me… i’m flying.

By: bogart

bogart — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:47:00 +0000

I’ve read (in the NYT awhile back? Not sure.) that it is faster to drive “anywhere” that is within a 10-hour radius than to fly. I think this assumes 1 layover and perhaps a 30-minute drive to/from the airport at the start and end, and I think it’s probably right.

For 3 years, I lived in a commuter marriage that had me & DH about 10 hours apart (by car) and we did pretty much find that to be the threshhold — i.e. it wasn’t clear which was worse/cheaper, flying or driving (this was when gas was cheap, but so were airfares). Driving that far solo is pretty tiring, and sometimes we’d split the trip up, e.g., he’d fly up for 1 visit and we’d drive back together, then drive back up together and then he’d fly back solo (this worked, and I use the verb loosely, because we had pretty different work schedules — so sometimes I could take time away from my office and sometimes he from his).

All of which raises another point … if it’s a trip you make repeatedly, the drive is likely to get dull, making the “stopping on the way” feature less attractive (and depending on your life, you may or may not have time to stop, anyway). On the other hand, the flexibility is still nice.

By: JoeP

JoeP — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:34:35 +0000

There are a few things I really like about driving compared to flying. I like the ability to bring stuff and quantities that are forbidden or expensive if flying. I like the option of stopping where and when we want for food, sights, lodging, etc. I like the fact that the seats are far more comfortable, and we don’t have to deal with people who think they’re more important than me.

Of course, flying is much faster and, statistically speaking, safer.

So even if you compute the actual costs, there are benefits to driving that make it very attractive, even if it is more expensive.

By: LAL

LAL — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:44:19 +0000

Good point about seeing extra places.

How far was the drive thinkingaboutit?