Fly or drive?

[hbomdiggity]

Updating: I drove. My (max 9) flight ended up being cancelled which forced the decision but having flexibility for timing has been nice for this trip.

I have a work event in another city and can’t decide to drive or fly. I typically fly but my flight just got delayed and making me second guess.

The drive is about 3hours straight up a major freeway. There is a spot with bad traffic, but if I leave at noon, I should miss it (traffic issue is around a military base rush hour). I will also come back Saturday morning, so traffic shouldn’t be an issue.

It’s a quick 25min flight. My airport is mid size and easy to get in and out of. I will Uber to/from airport on both ends.

Door to door is basically the same time.

I go to this city a fair amount for work and usually fly. That said, others in my company drive. Some have to commute/make the drive multiple times a week.

I will be there for 2 nights. I will not need my car while I’m there. Everything is at the hotel.

I’m a confident driver, but usually prefer the passive travel of flying.

Not concerned with cancelling as my flight was booked on corporate travel program.

[lavenderblue]

Personally, I would much rather drive. But I live somewhere that nothing is particularly close and I commute 1-1.5 hours to the office 3 days a week, so 3 hours sounds like a breeze.

[penguingrrl]

It would never occur to me to fly somewhere that close, I actually didn’t know flights that short even existed. I would drive, personally, but I don’t fly well and find dealing with flying a major hassle.

[meanie]

I would drive, that is about the same distance to my parents house. If you find a spot to stop along the way for lunch or whatever it will pass by quickly, then you can chose to leave whenever you want. Bring an audio book!

[InBetweenDays]

Just guessing - is this PDX to SEA with traffic around JBLM? If so I would drive or take the Amtrak Cascades.

I've made the reverse drive a number of times and unless it's a Friday afternoon I don't find it too bad.

[snapoutofit]

I would drive. I don’t really consider flying until something exceeds 6-7 hrs

[rhian]

For that distance, I would drive or take another form of public transportation (bus/train) if it's available.

[litskispeciality]

Is taking a train an option that doesn't add extra time? If you don't need your car I might think about that so you can work, watch a movie, read etc. on the train.

If it's not I guess I'd think about driving that distance as the flight getting delayed or rescheduled would stress me out more than going in my own car whenever I'm ready.

[hbomdiggity]

Train is not an option. I mean, there is a train, but it’s longer door to door, not easy to get to and from as the airport. And, for this segment, is my least desirable form of transportation.

[candreco]

We've got a similar distance trip frequently in my organization, and while people do occasionally fly, driving is the norm. But my org does pay for either a rental car/fuel or mileage if you drive your own car and parking if necessary while you're there.

[hbomdiggity]

Feb 1, 2024 13:03:40 GMT -5 candreco said:

We've got a similar distance trip frequently in my organization, and while people do occasionally fly, driving is the norm. But my org does pay for either a rental car/fuel or mileage if you drive your own car and parking if necessary while you're there.

I will get mileage. We have fleet cars, but they are all spoken for, or I could rent a car. But if I’m going to drive then I’d much prefer to drive my own car.

[hbomdiggity]

Feb 1, 2024 12:51:05 GMT -5 InBetweenDays said:

Just guessing - is this PDX to SEA with traffic around JBLM? If so I would drive or take the Amtrak Cascades.

I've made the reverse drive a number of times and unless it's a Friday afternoon I don't find it too bad.

Good guess :-)

[cereal K]

I would prefer flying. I can work, ready, catch up on sleep, whatever while flying. If the company is paying, and doens't object to (what I would assume is) a higher cost to do so, then I will choose what makes it easier for me.

I used to travel regularly from STL to the Chicago burbs. It's a 4-ish hour drive, or a 45 min flight. I would only drive when there were 2-3 of us driving up for the same meeting/at the same time. Flying was always a more efficient and productive use of the travel time.

[waverly]

I can do a 2.5-3 hour drive. Once I get over 4 hours, I start to get sleepy. But if you can avoid traffic and keep it to the 3 hours then very doable to drive.

[dexteroni]

If you're asking what you should do, since the door to door time is similar, I’d say go with whatever you prefer.

If you’re asking what we would do, I would fly. I don’t like long drives, especially alone. And I’d enjoy the time to prepare for the work ahead or read or just chill. And even if the flight time ended up being a little longer than the drive, I’d probably still choose it.

I realize I’m in the minority on this board where people drive 12+ hours to a vacation destination. And that’s great for them! It’s just never been my thing at all.

[rachers]

I’d rather fly but 3 hours isn’t bad.

[pandorica]

It would never even occur to me to fly for that short of a drive, but I regularly drive several hours in a day for work all summer long, and rarely even stay overnight unless the drive is like 3.5+ hours one way.

[VillainV]

I’d drive for 3 hours. That gives me flexibility to arrive and leave at a time that works better for me. Like, if the meeting lets out early you can just start driving home instead of waiting for your flight.

For a 25 minute flight, you really won’t even be able to kick back and relax or get work done during that time. And a lot can go wrong (flight delayed or cancelled, etc). Driving would be less stressful for me.

[wildrice]

Flying is really bad for the environment. I can't get on the "nobody should ever fly anywhere because of emissions" train since I would be a giant hypocrite, but for that reason alone I would pick driving for a short distance like that. I generally don't fly somewhere unless it is 6+ hours away (and even then I would probably drive assuming I had the time to do so).

[followyourarrow]

It would never occur to me to fly for something so short. I'm from the Midwest and generally we all drive unless it's over 10-12 hours.

[dutchgirl678]

I would drive. Getting to and from the airport, checking in etc, you lose time as well. Plus it is better for the environment to drive.

[shauni27]

Feb 1, 2024 13:22:17 GMT -5 waverly said:

I can do a 2.5-3 hour drive. Once I get over 4 hours, I start to get sleepy. But if you can avoid traffic and keep it to the 3 hours then very doable to drive.

not at all the point but I am sleepy after driving like 40 minutes. I regularly have to pull over to nap in the car even if just driving an hour. I grew up 30 minutes from my HS and even back then my now husband would drive me home regularly so I could nap in the car, lol.

[lust2hart]

I would drive.

[starburst604]

I'd drive as well. I like having control over my comings and goings when I can.

[dcn]

I would drive

[pinkdutchtulips]

Drive. I like the flexibility of controlling my time and having my own vehicle.

3h isn't long (SF to Tahoe for us CA folks) and I would never think to get a flight for that short of a distance. I flew from Oakland to Burbank (45min flight) for my gpa's 100th bday and that felt like a luxury vs driving 7-8 hours.

[Roc A Bee]

I would drive. I also prefer to have my car to get up and leave if I need to or bring a bunch of shit because I don’t have to care about what fits in my carry-on.

[InBetweenDays]

Feb 1, 2024 13:33:31 GMT -5 wildrice said:

Flying is really bad for the environment. I can't get on the "nobody should ever fly anywhere because of emissions" train since I would be a giant hypocrite, but for that reason alone I would pick driving for a short distance like that. I generally don't fly somewhere unless it is 6+ hours away (and even then I would probably drive assuming I had the time to do so).

Does this hold true for a single occupancy vehicle? I just did a quick carbon footprint calculator and it said flying would produce 0.02 metric tons of C02 and driving would produce 0.05 metric tons (both one way). And that is with my Mazda3 which gets decent gas mileage. 

calculator.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

[holly116]

I would absolutely drive. I like the freedom to leave whenever I want and not wait on scheduled flight times. My cut of is typically around 5 hours but I will lean towards driving even longer gaps if the flight times aren't great.

I live 15 minutes from the airport and mostly Uber/Lyft, have pre-check, and still leave my hours exactly 2 hours before boarding time begins even if I'm just carrying on and not checking a bag.

I do not do airport timeline stress.

DH and I both travel for work and quite a bit personally and we have each had SEVERAL flights delayed in the last year so that would play into my decision as well.

[fernweh]

I would drive- this is probably just a me thing but as an introvert I love 2-3 hour solo drives. Its short enough that I don’t start getting aches and pains from sitting to much but long enough that I can have some quiet me time to think/listen to an audit book or podcast/etc