AnnMarie_C

Couldn't find a thread on this and I'm curious to know how far you are from the local airport, how far you are willing to drive for a non-stop flight. I feel fortunate to once again live in an area with options... w/o traffic, I can reach Philly in 1.5 hours; Dulles around 2 hrs; BWI, 40 minutes. Destination has a lot to do with how far I'd be willing to drive but would make the trip to Dulles for a great deal, overseas flight. I had a friend who once drove 3 hours, San Antonio to Houston, for an international flight and swore he'd never do it again. So how far do you travel to get to the airport, how far are you willing to go?

Jeff_Costa_Rica

"Back home" in the U.S., I'm in a medium-size city with its own local airport. That same city has a bus shuttle that runs about 10 times a day (day and night) to O'Hare at three hours and $25 one way. If the Chicago fare is a lot better (and it's gotta be a lot better), I'll take the bus to O'Hare. Driving myself I'd rather not do.

yk

Hi Ann Marie,

There was a recent thread here, but somewhat different. The OP was asking how far one would drive to a different airport in order to use FF miles:
http://www.fodors.com/community/air-...lier-miles.cfm

To answer your question, I guess it depends on the situation: how much $ I'm saving, how much extra time I'm spending, how much more $ I'll spend on parking/gas/toll, and where is my ultimate destination.

When I used to live in Philadelphia, I was "fortunate" to have US Airways as my hub, so I pretty much used it exclusively; except ONCE. I flew out of/into Newark NJ to get to Germany. I think I save a couple hundred bucks.

The major downside was the pain and hassle to get to EWR. In philadelphia, it was a 30-min, $6 ride for me to get from my apt to the PHL airport.

To get to EWR, it involved 3 changes of trains (SEPTA ->NJT -> EWR Airtrain), and took about 2.5 hours. Was it worth it? Probably not, esp considering after ALL THAT traveling, I was faced with another 10 hr flight to get to my actual destination. But, back then, I had more time than I had money, so that's why I did that. Of course, the worst part was coming home - after a 10+ hour on the plane, another hour through immigration, I still had another 2.5 hours of 3 changes of trains to get home.

Is BWI your closest airport? Is Dulles really 2 hours away, when you include traffic? For me, I don't think I would drive more than an hour to get to the airport. But then, if we're talking about tickets being $200 cheaper and there's 2 of you, $400 savings is pretty significant...

travelgourmet

I am closest to the only major airport around, but I sometimes face this decision on the other end. My gut feeling is that I would drive up to maybe 30 minutes less than the extra time added by a connection. In other words, if my connection adds 1:30 minutes, then I would drive an extra hour. I would probably max out at around 2 hours of driving time, though, since there are too many variables beyond that.

Oh, and I would factor in the extra costs of driving (gas, parking, etc) and wouldn't pay more to drive and fly non-stop.

rkkwan

From my uncle and aunt's place on Hong Kong Island, it takes a 20-minute taxi ride to a cross-border bus stop. Then 90 minutes from there to SZX (Shenzhen), including getting off the bus twice to clear Hong Kong and Chinese immigration respectively. That is to get a better-scheduled and cheaper non-stop to a secondary city in China than flying from HKG.

rkkwan

But to answer your question, I will drive farther than travelgourmet would. A "comfortable" connection of say an hour will mean at least 2 extra hours of scheduled departure and arrival time.

For example, from LAX to LGA, scheduled time will be about 7:20 with a 60-minute connection at Chicago, which adds almost no extra flying distance. In contrast, a non-stop to JFK can be as little as 5:16 if on a red-eye, or about 5:30 during day-time. If the connection is at DFW, IAH or ATL which adds significant distance, then the extra time will be easily 2 hours.

I'm willing to drive that 2 hours to catch that non-stop, which also eliminates the chance of a misconnect.

simpsonc510

I live 45 minutes from each of two regional airports; but that said, I traditionally drive 3 hours to OHare to make sure I get on my long non-stop international flight! Those smaller flts can sometimes be delayed by weather (especially in winter months).

AnnMarie_C

Thanks for the feedback. The time factor is important to me, too... think I'd rather make the 2-3 hour drive for a long-haul than worry about a missed connection especially when you consider some airlines have only one flight per day to certain destinations. After flying 7-8 hours+- on the return I would hate to miss a connecting flight that could take as long or less to drive.

Oh, the angst of those waiting to get through immigration to catch a connecting flight--we've been fortunate so far but I've literally been pushed and shoved out of the way by those who were not.

Thanks for the link, yk, I missed it. BWI is our closest airport. Dulles is about 2 hours (maybe a little less, but I like to round up) without traffic according to one of the map sites--haven't made the trip yet from here.

Wow, rkkwan, have you actually made that trip to the airport to / from your uncle's?

rkkwan

AnnMarie - Sure, I have made that trip from my uncle's to SZX like twice.

travelgourmet

Ray - but you forget about the extra miles from connecting!

Seriously, though, I just find that I can usually get something done during a layover - buy magazines, grab a bite, etc. such that I don't view the entire connection time as wasted.

AnnMarie_C

Well, I'm impressed--thanks for the recount. What other hoops have you jumped through, I wonder!

DebitNM

The nearest major airport [not a regional] is 250 miles, 4 hours from us. That's a drive and a half!
Deb

abram

We're 20 minutes from a medium size airport, 90 minutes from O'Hare. We often drive there to get a non-stop flight.

AnnMarie_C

Wow, Deb! Pack a lunch... ;-) Have you made that 250 mile trek to catch a flight?

alanRow

Most of the time it's a 6 hour drive / train journey from Edinburgh to London - and the same on the way back.

JoanneH

I live in California in the Central Valley Fresno is the nearest airport but it is direct to no where, has issues with it being to foggy or to hot so lots of delays and it costs as much to fly to LAX as it does to New York. I either have to drive appx 5 hours to LAX or 3 hours to San Jose or 4 hours to SFO. I mainly go to SFO because San Jose had more domestic and Mexican flights and I mainly travel Europe or Far East.
I am going down under this September and I will have to leave home at 3pm in order to catch a 11pm flight out of SFO.

DebitNM

AnnMarie,
We make that trek EVERY time we fly; luckily, the kids are in ABQ as well as granddaughter, so it is less of an ordeal. All those trips to Houston - trek city!
Deb

yk

Reading all these responses, I feel so lucky that I live in a big city. While it's not NYC, at least I don't need to drive HOURS just to get to an airport!

AnnMarie_C

I have a whole new appreciation for what people go through to travel and I admire those of you who make such long treks in order TO travel. Whether travel is business, pleasure or other I suspect there are a lot of folks who might be put out by having to drive hours to get to an airport (in fact, I know quite a few!) so I admire you for not letting that stop you.

SamH

I live about 45 minutes from my home airport, which is MCO. I would consider driving to Miami (3 hrs) to avoid a connecting fligt (MCO-MIA) in order to save time, money and hassle.

I can take a shuttle from my front door to MCO fairly cheap.