December Trip-Fly or Drive?

[OverplanninJess]

Hi All-I already posted this on the transportation board...but since it's somewhat budget related as well I thought I'd see what the budget boards have to say!
So DBF and I are headed back to the World for our first Disney Christmas! I'm so excited to see all the decorations and MVMCP! We have been having a debate over whether or not we should fly or drive down (from Ohio). We have done both before (drove down in May '06, flown all other times). Flights out of Pittsburgh via SW are around $200/person roundtrip-DBF thinks this is too much (we've been spoiled in previous years with GREAT ding! deals), but I just hate to part with the convenience of flying and Magical Express! Also, while I don't think the drive down will be bad, I just don't see us being too excited about driving home on the 20th of December (plus there's the uncertainties of traffic and weather). His other argument is that since we are planning on going to Universal IOA for a day, having the car will make getting there more convenient than using Mears. So...what do all of you think?? Fly or drive? (and why?)

 

[Darcy03231]

For $200/pp round trip I would fly.

 

[WDWorBUST]

I would fly in a heartbeat for that rate. Two of our flights were booked with rewards but our third is going to cost $400 for just one person. Definitely fly....not to mention you never know what the weather conditions between Florida and Ohio will be like. We drove in January one year from Oklahoma and got stuck in a snowstorm in Arkansas and ended up having to take an extra day getting home.

 

[OverplanninJess]

I completely priced out our flight on SouthWest...with taxes and fees it comes to $240 a person. While I agree with DBF that it's quite a big price difference from the $117 a person we have paid previously it's still worth it to me

How do I convince him?

 

[FLBound11]

How do I convince him?

Do the math along with him

One of the biggest mistakes people make when calculating driving costs is that they only factor in fuel costs.

So for your trip, Pittsburgh--Orlando = about 1,000 miles each way. That's 2,000 miles RT.

The government (well, the IRS) establishes this rate called the Standard Mileage Rate, and it is an estimation of the "true" cost (including gas, depreciation, oil changes, wear & tear you're putting on the car, etc.) of driving 1 mile. Right now it is $0.55/mile.

So 2,000 miles x $0.55 = $1,100! That's how much it will really cost you to drive to Orlando and back.

Just do the math out on paper and that should convince him. I think that a lot of people forget to factor in things like the wear+tear they are putting on a car doing a 2,000 mile trip. Not that there's anything wrong with driving...it's just important to use the true costs (not just gas) when you're making the decision.

Hope this works--let us know!!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

How about doing both?

Most of the rental car companies will have special rates ffrom the midwest or northeast from mid-November through mid-December for one way rentals to Florida. A few years ago I paid $162, including all taxes, for a Buick LaSalle Limited for eleven days. Picked it up at the airport at home and turned it in at MCO. And we flew home for $75 each one way fares.

So check with Hertz, Avis and National and ask for "repositioning rates".

(Note they do this usually in May to return cars from Florida.)

 

[Simba22]

For $200/pp round trip I would fly.

DITTO! It's costing us $265/person RT and I thought THAT was a pretty good deal! Driving is fun but it wastes Disney time, you are bound to be tired, sore, and cranky, by the time you get there, and with an approx 18 hour drive, that means you both still have to drive 9 hours, and that doesn't include sitting in traffic, or stops.

 

[OverplanninJess]

Thanks for the responses. The drive down, fly back idea I like a lot-but I don't think we can rent cars in Ohio since we're both only 24. I pointed out how many miles the trip would put on his brand new malibu (he just bought it at the end of June), plus the uncertainty of what kind of weather he would have to drive it through and I think he's coming around. He still wants me to hold out on booking the flights to see if they go down in price, but I worry they will just go up as we get closer to Christmas-can anyone with December flying experience tell us how flight prices usually go?

 

[cjnix29]

Have you tried Air Tran? They have those $25 vouchers. We are in Columbus, flying on Air Tran, with the vouchers, and three of us to fly in December was just over $300.

 

[la_la]

I agree with PP about trying to fly with Air Tran. With those $25 vouchers, my husband, myself and my daughter are flying to Disney and back for $266!! And that's for all 3 of us, not per person!!

 

[akayek31]

We live 8 hours away from WDW so we drive. I also am terrified of flying so it will always be driving for me.

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

I second the vote for checking Airtran, we just found flights for Dec. for $79 each way out of Milwaukee. That is fantastic for this area which usually runs $99.

 

[OverplanninJess]

How do you get the $25 off coupons from Airtran? Can you use one per person or just per group? Also, how does Airtran compare to Southwest?

 

[Pixieflip]

While I know in my head that the gov. charges so much per mile for use of a vehicle, you don't really spend that or feel that till much later in the life of your vehicle. For me, the most concrete way to measure the cost of driving is to add up what dollars will leave your hands on a round trip drive:
-gas
-food on the road
-hotel, if you stop
-AAA or the equivilent, something you should have when driving that far

Add that up and then compare to your airfare (recognizing all the miles you'll be putting on your car, too). What's the difference? Now, how many hours will it take you to drive? How many hours to fly? Is that difference worth the few dollars difference to drive? Only you can decide that.

Just for some perspective...We are a family of 6. $240 is about what we'd pay from here, so that's $1460 for our family to fly! We can drive it in under $600. Saving $860 is a no brainer to us! It's a 24 hour drive and we spend the night somwhere. We take food in our cooler to save on fast food costs and make the whole thing an adventure. I watch for inexpensive activities all year long to stow away as surprises on the drive. The kids actually enjoy it.

Maybe you could tell your BF that when you have the 4 kids in tow, flying will really be expensive!! Enjoy it now!!

 

[Pixieflip]

Oh, and we always take our trip in the Dec-Feb. time frame. Weather is always a concern, but has never cancelled a trip for us. One time we decided to leave a day early to avoid an approaching blizzard and we were successful, it was fine. Just stay aware of the weather and all your road options.

 

[cjnix29]

you can get the vouchers at www.airtran.com/sunshine. You book two one ways, and you can use four vouchers. It is one per person, per trip. In order to get four vouchers, you will need four email addresses. It is limited to one per address, but one per person when you book.

 

[OverplanninJess]

Thanks for filling me in on the Airtran discount. Unfortunately our return flight isn't until Dec. 20, which is after the allowed discount date of Dec. 18-so we can only get a total discount of $50 (which is really only $20 when you consider that Airtran charges $15/each for bags).
So, when I priced out Airtran (looking at Columbus, Akron/Canton, and Pittsburgh to try and get the best possible combination of deals) it comes to about $213 a person with 1 bag each. However, to get this price we would have to fly out of Akron and fly home to Columbus-and our families (and our Christmas) are in NE Ohio-which means someone would have to either come pick us up in Columbus and drive us to Akron to fly out so that our car would still be in Columbus, or they would have to come pick us up from the Columbus airport if we were to drive home before our trip to fly out of Akron. Either way it's a lot of driving (~2.5 hrs to Columbus from my parents house) and a lot of hassle for one of our family members right before Christmas (which I will not do). So SW out of Pittsburgh (which is only a 45 minute drive to drop us off) for $240 seems like the best we're going to do!

 

[KimFIGFern]

I also live in Pittsburgh and I'm going to Disney during the dates listed above. I was able to get one way tickets on SW for 68.00 (not including all the taxes) and 68.00 one way on Air Tran (not including all the taxes).

I did a little research and found out that if you buy your tickets on Tuesday night after 12:00AM (I bought mine Wednesday morning) the airlines reduce their rates. Rates tend to go up on the weekend when more people are looking.

You may want to try this. When I first looked (on a weekend) these tickets were 98.00.

Hope this helps -- Fran

 

[kmvand1]

We fly Southwest every year to Disney. Just got our tickets yesterday from Dulles to Orlando for $54.00 each way. I do not like to fly, but with that price, I refuse to drive!

 

[OverplanninJess]

Fran-thanks for the tip! I'll check out prices early Wednesday morning