Flying vs. Driving...What price difference makes it worth it to you to drive?

[tbaptista]

It's the deduct able cost allowable from the IRS if you use your vehicle for work. It's not necessarily what your actual out of pocket cost will be. It's supposed to allow for all costs associated with operating a vehicle; purchase, gas, tires, insurance, repairs, etc averaged out per mile in case you only use it sometimes for work and other times for personal you can deduct the miles you used it for work purposes @ .55 per mile.

So then multiplying the $.55 by the total miles to Disney and back is not what it really costs to drive.

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

So then multiplying the $.55 by the total miles to Disney and back is not what it really costs to drive.

Short answer No

 

[tbaptista]

AAA has $.188 as a per mile rate which includes gasoline, tires and maintenance.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

There is also a wee bit of a difference of keeping $1,000+ dollars in your pocket while still having the same exact Disney experience whether I drove or flew.

This savings amount also can vary a lot. For us, flying was around $400-700 for our family of 4 up until the past year or 2. Even gettting a convertible car for a rental was less than $150 for a week. With airfare creeping up to approx $1000 it still would not come close to $1000 in savings. Unless driving was the only way there, I'll be flying. To each his own.

 

[tbaptista]

This savings amount also can vary a lot. For us, flying was around $400-700 for our family of 4 up until the past year or 2. Even gettting a convertible car for a rental was less than $150 for a week. With airfare creeping up to approx $1000 it still would not come close to $1000 in savings. Unless driving was the only way there, I'll be flying. To each his own.

Believe me if the price was right I would fly without a doubt. But in July a flight from NYC to MCO Morning arrival and afternoon departure was running about $350 pp. and that before I add luggage fees and long term parking. What a bummer.

 

[DCTooTall]

Just because i enjoy throwing a red herring into a conversation....

OP... are you renting a vehicle for the trip because your car wouldn't handle the long distance drive? Because you don't have a vehicle large enough? or because you just don't want to put the wear and tear of the long drive on your vehicle?

The reason I ask is a pretty simple one. Have you looked into the Autotrain?

Since you are coming out of the DC area, The Autotrain could be a decent compromise for you. You'd be able to bring your car with you on the train (save the rental, gas, and wear and tear) which travels from just south of DC to just north of Orlando. You'd be able to enjoy the train ride (ADVENTURE), and have a place to sleep on the way (Save the Hotel room).

It's not as fast as flying, but the fact you can bring your car with you along with the adventure aspect of it (and the fact you'll be sleeping thru a majority of the trip) could make it an interesting alternative for you.

 

[dana1003]

Nope, no point missed at all. Perhaps you missed the last paragraph of that post you quote, the one in which I state the following:

I acknowledge that not everyone gets the luxury of not worrying about their job vacation days being impacted by the extra time of traveling by car. My family does have the luxury, and so we find the financial burden of traveling by plane to be worse than the time burden of traveling by car. These variables are what makes this an individual decision with no right or wrong answers, IMO.​

Spending two days talking with my husband and children while we drive to and fro is a gift, not a hardship. I've not lost time in my life by doing so, but rather gained something valuable.

You obviously have found that flying is the right choice for you and your situation. That doesn't mean that driving is an invalid choice for others, or that people who feel the driving is a better choice have not done the math and taken things like vehicle wear/tear, vacation time, family dynamics, and myriad other variables into consideration.

we drove for the first time to florida, tennesse and ohio this summer..we have never driven, always flown only cuz the thought of driving to me was a waste, HoWEVER, after being in the car for so many days- i would nt change it for a thing. it was not time wasted. we had picnics at rest stops and pulled over when we saw something interesting. my kids loved it and it was quality time spent together. from now on- we will drive there if we can!

 

[tbaptista]

I told my DW next time we have a cruise out of Port Canaveral we are driving and she actually totally agreed. She rather use the savings for shopping or an excursion.

When the total round trip cost (actual dollars spent) for the 4 of us is under $700. It is really hard to find flights that compare. And it would only requires us to use 1 extra vacation day to drive than fly.

Now if we dreaded the drive that would be a different story. But since we only get down to FL around every 3 or 4 years the ride isn't mundane.

 

[NotUrsula]

That is not a detail for our trip. We're getting to WBC on Saturday and we have seven nights there, regardless of flying or driving. There is no "day early." The idea that if we fly, we get extra days for vacation is not a valid one for us. We get seven nights in Orlando and six days in the parks. That is what we have planned for, and extra days in Florida won't happen.

I acknowledge that not everyone gets the luxury of not worrying about their job vacation days being impacted by the extra time of traveling by car. My family does have the luxury, and so we find the financial burden of traveling by plane to be worse than the time burden of traveling by car. These variables are what makes this an individual decision with no right or wrong answers, IMO.

I doubt there are very many people who look at it as "two more days to spend in Florida". To most people it is "two more days that I won't have to take off work and lose pay from." The vast majority of people cannot get credit for being "at work" while sitting in the passenger seat of a minivan winging down an interstate, so for the vast majority of Americans, travel days are days when income is lost and very little ROI (in this case, fun and relaxation) is gained for it. In that scenario, you would not be getting your seven nights in Orlando and six days in the parks without losing add'l income from work; you would be getting 5 nights in Orlando, four days in the parks, and two days and nights enjoying the beauty and relaxing ambiance of an interstate highway.

I *do* get a whole lot of paid vacation days. However, every year I have to set aside 20 days for child-care duty, because those are days that my childrens' schools are closed and I do not have alternative child care arrangements available. Sometimes we can coordinate travel plans with those school closures, but more often we cannot because DH cannot be out of town at those times. So, when we go to Florida we normally take a 4-day trip; that is, a weekend plus a Friday and a Monday. That is do-able when flying, but a total waste if we tried to drive, because we would no sooner arrive than we would have to turn around to head home.

 

[tbaptista]

I doubt there are very many people who look at it as "two more days to spend in Florida". To most people it is "two more days that I won't have to take off work and lose pay from." The vast majority of people cannot get credit for being "at work" while sitting in the passenger seat of a minivan winging down an interstate, so for the vast majority of Americans, travel days are days when income is lost and very little ROI (in this case, fun and relaxation) is gained for it. In that scenario, you would not be getting your seven nights in Orlando and six days in the parks without losing add'l income from work; you would be getting 5 nights in Orlando, four days in the parks, and two days and nights enjoying the beauty and relaxing ambiance of an interstate highway.

I *do* get a whole lot of paid vacation days. However, every year I have to set aside 20 days for child-care duty, because those are days that my childrens' schools are closed and I do not have alternative child care arrangements available. Sometimes we can coordinate travel plans with those school closures, but more often we cannot because DH cannot be out of town at those times. So, when we go to Florida we normally take a 4-day trip; that is, a weekend plus a Friday and a Monday. That is do-able when flying, but a total waste if we tried to drive, because we would no sooner arrive than we would have to turn around to head home.

I would hope that when people are deciding the costs of flying vs. driving they would factor in lost pay for travel days if that is how it effects them. That would change the dynamics if that was my case but in my case we have a use or lose system for vacation time and I struggle to use them all in a year (20 vacations days, 5 personal days, 10 sick days). Can't see taking a day off only to sit around and our budget only allows for one vacation a year. So the rest of the year is a day here and a day there but I still manage to have a few days not used at the end of the year.

I would have to agree no way I am driving to Florida for only 4 nights. When we go we are there for 8 nights. 6 nights Disney 2 nights beach resort relaxing from commando touring.

Unfortunately our last visit was only 4 nights at Disney and 4 nights in Tampa.

 

[artemis4]

I doubt there are very many people who look at it as "two more days to spend in Florida". To most people it is "two more days that I won't have to take off work and lose pay from." The vast majority of people cannot get credit for being "at work" while sitting in the passenger seat of a minivan winging down an interstate, so for the vast majority of Americans, travel days are days when income is lost and very little ROI (in this case, fun and relaxation) is gained for it. In that scenario, you would not be getting your seven nights in Orlando and six days in the parks without losing add'l income from work; you would be getting 5 nights in Orlando, four days in the parks, and two days and nights enjoying the beauty and relaxing ambiance of an interstate highway.

I know. That is why I acknowledged that our careers give my husband and I the luxury of not worrying about adding an extra day on to each side of our stay to accommodate travel. We can do most parts of our jobs from anywhere with internet and cell towers, and we often work while in the travel stage of our trips.

Considering how many posts I have seen here on DIS that state things like "We decided to come down two days early next month and now have a split stay at Resort A and B" or "I could get an ADR I want for our trip next month, but it is on the day we are supposed to leave, so I just added an extra day to our trip!", I would venture to say a fair number of people do have some degree of vacation flexibility.

I find traveling by plane to be a stressful, rather miserable experience. Hurry up and wait, submit to whatever the gov wants, herd from here to there. I always run the math for trips, and so far, the financial v. life circumstances analyses for me hasn't justified flying since a trip I made in '07 that saved me an 8 hour solo drive with a 6 month old. For the most part, I'd far rather spend two days enjoying the beauty and relaxing ambiance of the highway than paying a premium for one day enjoying the beauty and relaxing ambiance of an airport and plane.

This thread was a question of when is the break point for people. The $68/hr that driving saves us is worth it to us. I am participating in this thread to question the false statements that people are forgetting to take things like the wear to the car into the financial considerations and the idea that people get more vacation if they fly.

I am not saying that DRIVING IS THE WAY TO GO! FLYING IS FOOLISH! nor have I implied anything along those lines. Please. I've repeatedly stated that this is personal decision with many considerations. My family's decision that driving is the best option for us is not a judgement on your family's decision that flying is the best option for you or vice versa.

 

[tbaptista]

For a family of 4 or more it is very hard to argue that flying is cheaper than driving from a pure dollars spent point of view.

Example:

For our family of 4 to drive the total cost spent (actual dollars put on CC) was $700.00 round trip. I can't find 4 round trip flights from the NYC area with baggage fees included that cost $700 or less.

However, I think it is only the particular family dynamics that can put a value on their time.

So I think after the real costs it is a family by family decision on what their time is worth..

Either way you will still end up at the Happiest Place on Earth!

 

[artemis4]

However, I think it is only the particular family dynamics that can put a value on their time.

So I think after the real costs it is a family by family decision on what their time is worth..

Either way you will still end up at the Happiest Place on Earth!

Exactly.

 

[luvmy2babies]

It hasn’t been worth it for me so far to drive instead. I can usually get our flights from NC for around $600 to $620 total. There are just three of us. Doing the math it would cost me probably around $500 to drive down in our minivan and that is not nearly enough of a difference for me to put us and my vehicle through that. Being I am the only adult, and given how my children have so far been on drives half the distance we would have to stop overnight each way to arrive alive and sane. We also stay onsite and use Disney transportation. I’m a single parent with a 45 mile round trip commute to work. I consider not having to drive as part of my vacation.

I think the plane tickets would have to be upwards towards $1,000 for me to drive instead. Even then I think we would take the train. The Amtrak station is a quick cab ride over about 2 miles outside the resort. I’ve gotten quotes of $250 with my AAA discount. That is round trip for all three of us. You can’t beat that with a stick.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

For a family of 4 or more it is very hard to argue that flying is cheaper than driving from a pure dollars spent point of view.

Example:

For our family of 4 to drive the total cost spent (actual dollars put on CC) was $700.00 round trip. I can't find 4 round trip flights from the NYC area with baggage fees included that cost $700 or less.

However, I think it is only the particular family dynamics that can put a value on their time.

So I think after the real costs it is a family by family decision on what their time is worth..

Either way you will still end up at the Happiest Place on Earth!

I don't think anyone was saying that flying is cheaper or even equal. I just feel that the amount of savings isn't worth using that much extra time spent getting there & back. I've driven to FL 3x when I was younger and at this stage of my life, time is priceless. Sometimes, especially when it comes to vacations, the cheapest way isn't necessarily the best way.
We all know that WDW costs more than our local Six Flags. We could go there and save a lot of $$ but if we're wishing we were someplace else, it's not worth it.
Same with resorts, we don't all stay at value resorts, right? Sometimes you don't mind paying more to have a better experience.
Some things in our budget we're willing to compromise, some things we won't. Flying is one of those areas where we won't.
You have to do what works for your family, your time, & your budget.

 

[tbaptista]

To answer the OP question. For our family the break point to fly vs. drive is $500.00. So if driving saves us $500.00 or more than we drive if not than we fly.

 

[lylone]

For two of us to fly to MCO from ATL for $275 RT. It is worth it not having to sit in the car or drive for 8 hours. Not even thinking about saving the $$, it is just less of a hassle.
We both hate driving so... we fly...
Even if we had a couple of kids we would fly. For $500 its a steal!

 

[scrapper2k]

tpabtista- Thanks for telling me how much your drive costs. I'm coming from the same area. I paid $2170 to fly seven last week. We had free bags so that wasn't a factor. We got rides to/from the airport so had no extra costs. I didn't have extra days and would've had to rent a car to drive down. I'm not sure what a rental car would have cost me.

How many hours does it take you? I can't imagine driving such a long distance and the flight is an attraction too, to the kids but I'm in awe of how little you spent to how much I did.

 

[tbaptista]

On they way down we left CT at 4am and arrived in Savannah GA at around 8:30pm.

Actual driving times to Savannah GA was 14 hours which me and my DW split evenly (this was a huge help). The kids enjoyed seeing the Washington Monument and Capital on the way down in the distance. Redbox rentals were a great asset as well. They also had a blast at the shops in South of the Border trying on tons of fun different hats.

So when we think of it, the ride down is really part of our vacation..

From Savannah to WDW was 4.5 hours so we checked into POFQ at around 11:30am.

Now keep in mind that this was our first time ever driving to Disney as adults. (Did it once when I was a kid). We hit zero and I truly mean zero traffic on our drive and I am not sure if that was the exception or the norm and the weather was perfect with only one small shower.