driving to FL? should you re-think

[NYDisneyKid]

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/g...-up-after-spill-despite-weak-demand/19462198/

 

[Missytara]

Gas always goes up near me during the summer, because of the shore traffic. We get used to paying higher prices for gas; because tourism brings us a great amount of money each year.

I still think it is cheaper to fly.....

 

[kidd_freeper]

It would cost $1500 to fly six of us to Orlando and $800 for a rental minivan.
Driving will cost $400 in gas and probably $200 wear and tear on the minivan that I own.

If gas gets up to $10/gallon by July, I'll start to rethink.

 

[Vickis3js]

Gas prices would have to go up a lot for it to be cheaper for us to fly. We are a family of 5 and the cheapest fare I found was $1800 plus luggage. Gas round trip right now would be around $260 plus an over night stay each way which is $180 total. Add in food for the 5 of us and we are looking at another $200 TOPS. So $640 minus $200 in gas cards I've earned and its $440. Even if it was to get to the $5 a gallon it would still be much cheaper to drive.

Now if you are looking for convience then flying slightly outweighs it for me but we like to drive down so for us gas would have to go really high for us to fly but then airlines will raise prices as well since more people would be looking at the alternative to driving.

 

[darrengs]

I must agree with PP with the current add on fees ($7.8 billion last year http://www.northjersey.com/news/business/050310_Airlines_made_78_billion_from_fees_last_year.html) for a family it would almost always be far less expensive to drive then fly.

 

[bookwormde]

Gas expense increase is very small compared to the air ticket increases and fees this year, I am back to driving after 2 years of flying

bookwormde

 

[thumbalyna]

i wasnt able to find a reasonable airfare either and it just me and my daughter so we are driving this year i havent done this since 1998 - lets hope we dont kill each other...lol

 

[skiingfast]

The cost to drive and fly have the same variable affecting cost. The price of oil. I haven't noticed in the last week how the gulf disaster is affecting oil prices.

While it could, I think things like Iraq, Iran and Israel have a far bigger effect.

However I did hear on the radio that China will reduce government spending. Indicating a slowing economy there. They consume more oil that Iraq or Iran or a oil field in the gulf produce. So this will be good for fuel costs.

 

[NYDisneyKid]

i was just out for a leisurely drive the other day here in kissimmee and saw a gas station for $2.56 a gal

 

[Belle1962]

Gas is already close to $3.00 a gallon here.

If gas goes too high the airlines will up/add that "fuel charge" like they did a few years ago.

 

[TheWog]

How come there is no outrage by the media like there was a few years ago? Creep up? Really? Almost $3/gallon.

 

[MrsNick]

I must agree with PP with the current add on fees ($7.8 billion last year http://www.northjersey.com/news/business/050310_Airlines_made_78_billion_from_fees_last_year.html) for a family it would almost always be far less expensive to drive then fly.

If you are only comparing airfare to gas + hotel (if breaking the trip into two days) + meals on the road + wear and tear on the vehicle, then yes, driving appears to be cheaper.

However, if you assign a dollar value to the time spent travelling, flying could turn out to be cheaper, as it is in our case. Each day spent driving is a vacation day spent (in my case) and a day that goes unpaid (in DH's case since he doesn't receive paid vacation days).

If we were to only account for DH's loss of pay for just one day spent driving in each direction (total of two days), even though we'd most likely break the trip up into two days in each direction, his loss of pay would easily be equivalent to, or greater than, the airfare that we pay to fly.

If you assign a dollar value to my vacation time, then driving is that much more expensive for us. (A vacation day does have this value to me, since a vacation day I spend driving is a day that I can't stay home if DD is sick or I need to take care of personal business). But, let's assume that you don't want to assign a dollar value to vacation days...It's still cheaper for my family to fly because of DH's lost income (actual, real loss of pay).

Now, factor in rewards travel or frequent flyer miles, and flying gets to be even cheaper. In our case, four of us are flying free on reward travel to Orlando, and paying to fly home (I did it this way to keep us all on the same reservation in each direction). I didn't spend extra out of pocket to earn the rewards. Some of the rewards were accumulated miles from previous travel, even though we don't fly more than once or twice a year. The remainder were accumulated by charging our groceries, gas and other necessary expenses to a credit card affiliate with the airline's frequent flyer program and paying the balance in full just about every month (it's money we would have spent anyway on necessities).

So, I think comparing the price of driving to the price of flying is more complicated than just adding up gas + meals + hotel and saying that amount is less than airfare. JMO, YMMV.

 

[sharadoc]

When comparing "out of pocket", then driving will always be cheaper for us. We drive on weekends, so we don't use extra vacation days. We wouldn't extend our trip by one or two nights if we fly, because that would be more hotel night/ticket/food costs at WDW.

I think gas can go to $4 and still stay cheaper for us. Last time I checked, RT airfare for us was around $1,200 to $1,400, plus fees, airport parking and a rental car in WDW, so cost around $2,000 total vs. around $500 for driving.

 

[MrsNick]

When comparing "out of pocket", then driving will always be cheaper for us. We drive on weekends, so we don't use extra vacation days. We wouldn't extend our trip by one or two nights if we fly, because that would be more hotel night/ticket/food costs at WDW.

I think gas can go to $4 and still stay cheaper for us. Last time I checked, RT airfare for us was around $1,200 to $1,400, plus fees, airport parking and a rental car in WDW, so cost around $2,000 total vs. around $500 for driving.

I hear you. Everyone has a different cost analysis, and has to do what works best for their family. I just meant that the cost comparison might involve more than just gas vs. airfare, kwim?

 

[NYDisneyKid]

but you know what?? even with gas prices going up and airfare and Disney ticket increases,,,even though people hem and haw,moan and complain,,in the end they still manage to come down here and spend money.
the way Disney keeps increasing evey august it wouldnt surprise me that in 5-6 years a 1 day admission will be $100