Would you drive 5 hours for a flight?

[maswanson11]

So I can save $200 for each flight for myself and my 2 DD ($600 total savings) if I drive 5 hours to fly out of a bigger airport. My parents live where we would fly out so we have a free place to stay the night before the flight. Would you do it knowing you will have to drive 5 hours home after an 8 day Disney trip with a 9 and 6 year old to save $600?? My DD do travel very well in a car as we visit my parents several times a year. Thanks for your thoughts!!

 

[wishesuponastar]

That's a lot to save so I think I would do the 5 hour drive especially since you have your parents to stay with before the flight. I would suggest to stay at your parents on the way home too for one night. How much is parking at the airport?

 

[Happyjen27]

Nope.

When I get home, I want to be HOME. I do not wish to have a long car ride.

But, I am extremely against car rides. Some people love them. For me, if I'm already tired from getting up, packing, making sure I have everything, waiting forever at the airport in lines and then at the gates. Then flying and collecting luggage, the last thing I would want to do is drive 5 hours. With kids who are equally tired.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

First I think you should figure out the savings. The cost of gas on a 5 hour trip (both ways). Will your parents be bringing you to the airports? If not, what about parking costs. Landing after such a long flight then having a 5 hour drive is such a long day on everyone. Could you spend a couple of days at your parents after Disney?

 

[pryncess527]

First I think you should figure out the savings. The cost of gas on a 5 hour trip (both ways). Will your parents be bringing you to the airports? If not, what about parking costs. Landing after such a long flight then having a 5 hour drive is such a long day on everyone. Could you spend a couple of days at your parents after Disney?

Ditto.
I do this sometimes, because my mom is close to the ATL airport, so it often works out well for me to spend a day with her on either side of a trip to save money and get to relax with her.
I'd want at least one night at their house before I began the 5 hour drive back.

 

[patty57]

I probably wouldn't, unless it was the only way I could afford to go. The five hour trip home would be brutal...going maybe not as bad because you're looking forward to the trip.

 

[secretpantssam]

My husband and I drove 2.5 hours to save money on a flight. We made a night of it and went out to dinner and then went on the trip.

I think if you get to spend some time with your parents that might also be a plus. But it is a pretty far drive for going home so you may need to add an extra day before and day after the trip just for that.

 

[amomma23]

I would, but our nearest (real) airport is about 2.5 hours away anyway. We have to drive no matter what we do.

 

[geekplusnerd]

We regularly drive 3.5 hours to save money. We are 2.5 hours from my wife's family. It is then an hour to the airport. We do get the time to visit her family. We think it is worth it.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I'd just keep driving until I was at Disney. But, that's just me

10 hours round trip would be roughly $100 in gas for me to save $600. That's a net savings of $500. Trade 10 hours for $500 tax free? Yeah, wouldn't even have to think about it.

 

[jsmith]

I do think you want to look at the actual savings-which will not be anywhere near 600 and see if its worth it. Gas is 3.45 a gallon-if your trip is 5 hours at about 70mph thats 350 miles-assuming you get 25 mpg your going to spend 100 on gas. if you have to pay to park at the airport thats going to be at least another 100. meals while traveling-probably 50-you see where i am going with this.
We find that living in Colorado Springs, even tho airfares are cheaper from Denver, for the two of us its rarely actually cheaper to fly from Denver. If it were actually 600 dollars cheaper i would do it-but if its only about 100 cheaper-or even 200 probably not.

 

[DizMe]

No. I have to drive 1 and a half-2 hours to the nearest airport already and that's not even a major airport. I sometimes have to drive 4 hours to get a flight and it does mean spending the night. Do I want to sacrifice that time? Do I want to deal with driving and navigating and so on? No. Not worth it (unless it's the only option, of course). I did gladly do it once last year to get a $298 RT flight to Hawaii.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I do think you want to look at the actual savings-which will not be anywhere near 600 and see if its worth it. Gas is 3.45 a gallon-if your trip is 5 hours at about 70mph thats 350 miles-assuming you get 25 mpg your going to spend 100 on gas. if you have to pay to park at the airport thats going to be at least another 100. meals while traveling-probably 50-you see where i am going with this.
We find that living in Colorado Springs, even tho airfares are cheaper from Denver, for the two of us its rarely actually cheaper to fly from Denver. If it were actually 600 dollars cheaper i would do it-but if its only about 100 cheaper-or even 200 probably not.

OP probably will probably have to pay to park at either airport , so that part is probably a wash. I'd calculate the rest.

 

[DawnM]

Yes, I would.

 

[jsmith]

OP probably will probably have to pay to park at either airport , so that part is probably a wash. I'd calculate the rest.

Possble but not necissarily-at the home airport its possible a neighbor would drive her or a cab ride would be cheaper than parking-we live a 6 minute right from the *** airport. 10 bucks for a cab-or if we park its 6 dollars a day vs somewhere between 12 and 20 in denver-hardly a wash.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

No.

But then I am tired of driving any distances. We are driving to Disney World this year for a family trip and I'm dreading the drive and it's only 8 hours - well 9 with a stop for lunch and gas tank fillup.

Then a week after we get back, we'll be driving 4 hours to where my oldest is going to college in the fall for his orientation/registration/parent meetings stuff.

 

[undertheradar]

Depends upon time of year and possible weather conditions. Add in possible flight delays and you could have a very long day at the end of your trip.

 

[bigbabyblues]

No. We live 3 hours from the airport, which is one reason we usually drive everywhere.

 

[EMode]

No, my flight time to WDW is only 2.5 hours so I would not double that to save money. The cheapest airports to fly out of are 1.5 hours from me and I won't even do that. I'll pay the $600 to be 30 minutes away from home when I land.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I would drive that far to the airport, but not just to save money. We typically drive 4 hours to get to LAX so that we can fly non-stop. We got tired of all the drama from delayed flights when we flew out of our local airport. -- Suzanne