When travelling, at what point do you fly instead of drive?

[Chaotic42]

I'm looking at travelling back down South for spring break and it's a 10.5 hour drive each way. A flight will require one stop, plus car rental, so say $600 for cargo class and maybe $900 for first class. Flights are about 4 hours each way.

So I'd be spending say $900 to avoid ~1500 worth of miles on my car and having to drive for 21 hours.

I'm curious, in general, at what point you'd choose to fly instead of drive. Ten driving hours? Twelve? Where's your line?

 

[BoomerD]

For me, it's about the time...how much time I have/need for the trip.

I don't mind driving long distances as long as I'm not in a hurry...or have only a short time to spend.

 

[Chaotic42]

For me, it's about the time...how much time I have/need for the trip.

I don't mind driving long distances as long as I'm not in a hurry...or have only a short time to spend.

Saint Louis to New Orleans/Biloxi is an agonizing drive. Super flat. It's all farmland until Memphis at which point it becomes all slashpines. Plus when I drive I want to speed which can add in an extra cost.

 

[Ns1]

Yeah if you're going solo and you like to drive fast flying can def be cheaper...

 

[Chaotic42]

Yeah if you're going solo and you like to drive fast flying can def be cheaper...

I'd want to do first class for this one, my last cattle class trip sucked. I'm just tall enough that my knees get jammed up and I'm very broad shouldered. Not a good combo.

 

[TheVrolok]

Really depends on if I'm taking my dogs or not. Distance/cost are far less significant factors (often times unfortunately).

 

[Ns1]

I'd want to do first class for this one, my last cattle class trip sucked. I'm just tall enough that my knees get jammed up and I'm very broad shouldered. Not a good combo.

Domestic first class is kind of underwhelming. Certainly better than economy but I wouldn't pay a crazy markup for it.

 

[BoomerD]

We make the trip from w. WA to CenCal at least once a year. It's about 900 miles.each way. Once upon a time...it was a straight-thru drive...nowadays, I have to stop after 9-10 hours.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Is bus an option?

 

[Chaotic42]

Is bus an option?

Nah, I'd rather not take a bus. Interesting idea though.

 

[OutHouse]

I'd want to do first class for this one, my last cattle class trip sucked. I'm just tall enough that my knees get jammed up and I'm very broad shouldered. Not a good combo.

a 10 hour drive is like a hour flight. first class is not worth it.

to your question. 10,5 hour drive is within range of picking driving over flying.

 

[OutHouse]

We make the trip from w. WA to CenCal at least once a year. It's about 900 miles.each way. Once upon a time...it was a straight-thru drive...nowadays, I have to stop after 9-10 hours.

west VA to Central california is way way more than 900 miles. or is CenCal is not short for Central California.

 

[Chaotic42]

west VA to Central california is way way more than 900 miles. or is CenCal is not short for Central California.

I think he means Washington. There aren't any direct flights, so I've got to go all over the US to get there. It's always a crap shoot on seating.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Saint Louis to New Orleans/Biloxi is an agonizing drive. Super flat. It's all farmland until Memphis at which point it becomes all slashpines.

Entertainment value of the scenery plays zero part in my decision. I rather like flat farm country. Very easy driving when you're just trying to put miles behind you.

I like driving and having my car with me for longer vacations and regularly drive 1500 miles each way to visit family back east (Colorado to Pennsylvania). But like Boomer said, total travel time vs. total time for the trip are the basic variables in the equation.

 

[rh71]

In 1 shot, I did 8 hours coming back from Toronto to NY but it was the tail end of a roundtrip week-long vacation and I didn't want to pay for another hotel night so I forced myself. 10 hours? If it's a whole family that I'd save airfare for 4 people, I'd drive it, but just me? I would probably fly.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Since we got Porter here years ago flying is now cheap. Used to be over a grand just to leave the city by plane, but now it's cheaper. Can go from here to Toronto for less than $200. That's 8 hours of driving otherwise. To me it seems like a no brainer to fly if going that way. Personally if I am the one driving I'd say 6-8 hours would be my cut off. North Bay is 4 hours from here, so I would drive, but Toronto I'd rather fly. Heck I went in that area a couple times on my own and I took the bus which is a LONG journey (like 16 hours) but I just don't want to drive 8+ hours. Also took the train once that was a bit shorter. The bus or train ride is actually kinda fun tbh, you end up in all these random towns and can just sit back and relax. Coach buses tend to have lot of leg room too. The train even more, and you can even walk around if you want.

 

[lxskllr]

When I have to cross large bodies of water. If I were rich, I'd take a ship in that case.

 

[IronWing]

It depends on airfares and what I'm doing when I get there. For field work, I'll drive no matter the distance as renting a 4WD truck is all but impossible.* Thousand mile driving days don't bother me. For vacation, I prefer driving except when going to California where I want to be magically teleported to my destination.



*Go online, rent 4WD truck, arrive at destination, rental person hands me keys to an Infinity station wagon (no lie, this happened). "That's not a 4WD truck like I reserved." "It's all wheel drive!" "It's isn't a 4WD truck like I reserved and you promised me." "It's all we have, take it or walk." Shredded a tire within 20 minutes of going off pavement and it wasn't even a bad road.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Hell, I won’t even drive to Las Vegas from San Diego and that’s only about a 5 hour drive (on a good day, with no traffic). It’s a 55 minute flight.

 

[Red Storm]

5-6 hours, about how long it takes to fly across the country. If the drive is longer than that, I will fly.

 

[dullard]

For me, the cutoff is about 8 hours, unless I need 4WD, in which case I often just suck it up and drive regardless of the distance.

For an 8-hour driving trip, it takes me 1 hour to drive to the airport (your situation will vary). You have to be there at a very minimum of 1 hour before boarding (your situation will vary). Boarding/unboarding is about 45 minutes. A flight that long is about 1 hour. And then the forced baggage claim since flights that short often don't allow carry on adds 30 minutes. So, flying a trip that length takes a minimum of 4.25 hours, and that is if there are no delays, or rental car lines. I'll have to cough up $200+ to save 3.75 hours. I do it, but grudgingly.

Any shorter that that and it is never worth it.

*Go online, rent 4WD truck, arrive at destination, rental person hands me keys to an Infinity station wagon (no lie, this happened). "That's not a 4WD truck like I reserved." "It's all wheel drive!" "It's isn't a 4WD truck like I reserved and you promised me." "It's all we have, take it or walk." Shredded a tire within 20 minutes of going off pavement and it wasn't even a bad road.

Exactly. I often go to obscure places with roads that have ruts large enough to swallow small cars, no pavement for 50+ miles, and certainly no cell phone service. So, when I rent, I want 4WD and high clearance.

I've rented a 4WD Jeep. When I arrived, they said that I can take any vehicle that I want from a row. No Jeeps at all in that row. So, I take the closest thing in that row for high-clearance and 4WD, get to the exit and they say that'll be another $100/day. So, I return that, and drive the highest-clearance 2WD that I can find (usually some crappy vehicle that can barely do what I need).

 

[BurnItDwn]

Generally for me... 1000 miles one way is my limit for driving. Woman is afeard to fly though, so, we may drive farther or take a train beyond that. If it's me & friends or me & my brother or whatever, and if woman doesn't come with, then, 1000 miles.

 

[nakedfrog]

I don't want to spend more than a day driving, so anything beyond what I can do in a day.

 

[Zeze]

1. Is flying still faster factoring in security / taxiing BS?
2. Is the cost worth it?
3. Do we just want to get there ASAP or points of interests exist?

 

[dainthomas]

Anything I can do in a day, I'll generally drive. So up to about 15 hours or so. Also depends on duration of stay. A weekend trip to Vegas I would definitely fly even though it's about 15-16 hours from Portland. When we went to Yosemite for a week, we drove.