“You’re driving there?” I was asked this in the same tone someone might ask, “You’re ripping your fingernails out?” See, the company I was working for at the time was doing a “brand activation” at a Supercross race – we were doing them at every race on the circuit that year – and while the rest of team was hopping on a two-hour flight to get to the event, I drew the short straw and would be driving the five or six hours to the venue so I could bring a pickup-truck bedload’s worth of stuff we needed to set up the activation.
But I hadn’t actually drawn the short straw, at least not accidentally: no, I requested the short straw, and the drive it represented. I was looking forward to it, in fact. This stunned my work buddies, who thought I would have it hard while they had it easy. It was the other way around, I explained.
“Let’s do the math,” I said. “Is a two-hour flight really a two-hour flight? You’re going to drive about a half-hour to the airport, take at least another 30 minutes to get through security and to the gate, and then blow an hour waiting at the gate and boarding. We’ll assume the plane takes off and lands on time, and the flight is precisely two hours. You’re going to kill another 30 minutes deplaning and getting your bags, then 30 more getting the rental cars, and then you’re driving at least 40 minutes to the venue. That’s 340 minutes, divide by 60 … five hours and 36 minutes.”
I could see it starting to register. “Going through security, sitting in a gate chair eating a garbage lunch, squeezing into a coach seat, waiting in line at the rental place … none of that sounds fun to me. While you’re doing that, I’m going to hop into a nice, new Honda Ridgeline [the company had just purchased one as an errand runner] and take a scenic drive through southern Texas – alone – as I blast my music as loud as I want. I’ll stop to refill the tank at Buc-Ee’s, stretch my legs a bit and enjoy a chopped brisket sandwich with those hand-cut potato chips of theirs, then hit a full-size, nice-n-private bathroom stall before heading back out on the road in a comfy seat, with my tunes on the stereo and a giant Coke in the cupholder. I’ll arrive about the same time you do. Who will be more refreshed and less sore, you think?”
So, long story short: if the drive is going to be 12 hours or less, and it’s not expected to be a traffic beatdown, I will choose driving over flying every time.
Your turn: How Long Does A Drive Have To Be Before You Consider Flying Instead?
Top graphic images: depositphotos.com
For either work or vacation, it’s 8 hours.
There are some caveats, tho:
I only take direct flights, I don’t do layovers unless it’s an intercontinenetal flight for vacation specifically, how many miles I have can skew my decisionfor work there are a few advantages to driving, like being able to bring lots of tools and parts that have on occasion saved the day by not having to overnight unexpected stuff, and I also get extra pay for mileage (aka free money when driving a 45mpg diesel car), all that money goes into a special fund for mods for the track car & bike
Hell, I would drive 12 hours if it kept me off of an airplane. Granted I fly damn near weekly, but if I can justify driving in any fashion, I’m driving every time.
In general: about 5 hours.
Under certain circumstances (for example, the destination has a smaller airport that has a really awkwardly scheduled connecting flight): 8 hours. I did a drive like this pretty regularly until a couple of years ago. Sometimes it would turn into about 10 hours, depending on the weather, but it was tolerable.
Definitely flying if possible: over 10 hours.
If it’s for work and I’m getting paid either way, 5-6 hours. If it’s for vacation and I’ll need a car where I’m going 1-2 days.
If its not an emergency, and its just me, then its has to farther away (not longer by time) than my car can do on two tanks (or….about 12 hours, assuming its highway speeds and cruise control). Coffee, music, and the open road? Yes please.
If its family trip? 6 hours is my limit. Everyone else needs too many bathroom and food breaks, and it just becomes easier to fly, even with security, etc.
We’re retired. 12 hour days are usual at the first couple days of our trips. After that 6 or so for the duration of the 5 to 6k miles we drive.
Probably 5 hours. Which coincidentally happens to be about how long it takes to drive to Las Vegas from home. I’ve been to Vegas dozens of times but only flown there 3 times I think.
I just faced a similar decision when traveling from Frankfurt to London last week. Flights are cheap, but only 29″ pitch which means my ogre-like proportions barely fit and I’m not comfortable. By the time I factored in time to/from the airport plus time to go through security, baggage pick up, etc. it would only be net 1-2 hours more to take the Eurostar train through the Chunnel, in a much more comfortable seat watching the French, Belgian, and English countryside go by, so that’s exactly what I did.
It depends on the proximity to an airport at my destination, and the ability to fly direct or not, but my limit is 5-6 hours, or about 300-350 miles. Longer than that and I will fly every time. You get tired of driving too but it offers more flexibility – like the ability to leave immediately.
Depends where I am going – Straight down I-95 probably 10hrs; going west, more like 6hrs; depends on how much traffic I anticipate hitting. For example, NJ to Pittsburg PA is kind of a Pain so I was going to fly for a work trip event though total travel time would likely be a wash. NJ to DC or North Carolina, much easier.
I live in Las Vegas. It’s a minimum of 5 hours to drive most anywhere of any significance. Since Vegas is a destination, I can fly almost anywhere dirt cheap on the low-bucks airlines. Still, if the trip is under 10 hours in a car, I’ll drive.
I flew to St. Louis not long ago for $50 r/t on Frontier. I literally can’t drive there for 5x that money.
It’s not about distance, but time. If I only have a long weekend, I may fly just to spend more time on the “vacation” portion. If I’ve got all week, well, the journey is the destination, as it were.
I have worked with wayyyyy too many aviation mechanics and electricians to be comfortable flying unless I absolutely have to. And I have 4 kids so unless I’m crossing an ocean im driving
While I’m sure those stories are unsettling it’s worth just looking at the statistics:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2025/02/04/is-flying-safe/78209648007/
Depends on how many empty gatorade bottles I accumulated at home.
If I’m staying longer than two weeks, I’ll take the (medium large) dogs unless JSX flies where I need to go, which they used to but don’t anymore. So it’s an 1150 mile trip up and an 1150 mile trip back three or four times a year. The trick is to leave by 4:30am and get the first 800 or so miles out of the way on day one. Then day two feels like a walk in the park.
Flying on a normal airline with dogs in the baggage hold is even more of a pain in the ass than the drive. First, if it’s over 86 degrees (on Alaska Airlines, don’t know about other airlines) the rule is no animals in the hold on that day and the trip is scrapped. It’s often over 86 degrees at my departure airport. Additionally, the dogs don’t deplane where you deplane. So you must shuttle bus to the rentacar place and then drive to where the dogs are or find an uber driver who likes two giant dogs in his/her/their car. There’s also a LOT of paperwork with the vet before they’ll let you put the dogs on the plane that takes time and money.
I suppose we could pretend to need emotional support dogs but I don’t want that on my conscience, it might make me need an emotional support dog.
Really hard to drive to japan.
With THAT attitude, sure. Believe in yourself and you can achieve anything!
We do a 12-hour/675-mile road trip down to North Carolina at least once a year (and it is probably going to get more frequent with the in-laws aging). Once you add in the costs of the flight for a family of four, parking at the airport (I’m not close enough to make Uber/Lyft viable) and the rental car for the week, driving just makes more sense.
I used to commute from Portland to the Bay Area once a month. That’s 700 miles, or 10-14 hours, depending on traffic. For me that trip is fine once in awhile, but doing it every month meant flying. (I would end up taking public transportation to the airport at both ends, and so as you say, the two hour flight pretty much took most of the day). At the same time, I have a friend who has to make the same trip to deal with an aging parent and he drives every month, mostly because he takes his dogs
Ten hours. Ten hours of driving is all I can reasonably do anymore without getting dangerously tired. And if it’s more than that, it’s either fly or do it in two legs, which involves a hotel somewhere. I usually opt to fly in that case. HOWEVER: in the current environment where ATCs are getting fired for no good reason, I would probably opt to drive anyway and spend a night in a hotel.
From Austin, if it’s farther than one state away, I’m probably flying. But there are definitely qualifiers. Direct flights certainly make flying more attractive and vice versa. Also depends on how I’m getting to the final destination and whether I need a car there. If I’m going somewhere that I’ll need a car to do just about anything, then it would need to be more than 12 hrs or so of driving before I’ll fly and rent a car.
I’ve never actually done an overnight road trip in which the stop-over wasn’t also a destination. My longest single day of driving was Austin to Lake Charles and back in 24 hrs (including casino time), about 7 hrs each way, split between three drivers.
My dad was road tripping king though, taking us from San Antonio to Pensacola, FL in one day. Left at daybreak and got there just before midnight, iirc. That was back in the days of mega cheap gas, fortunately, since the family car was a ’72 Mercury Montego with a 429 CJ V8. I have no idea what mileage he got, but it wasn’t good.
beyond about 1200-1300 miles or so, if for personal. Obviously, if its for work, then its probably anything beyond 300-400.
The drive has to involve too much water, like the Pacific, as I find most cars leak.
Highway One West, they call it.
I try to avoid driving in austere conflict zones.
I avoid flying in erratic weather, especially icing.
My last flight was delayed 18 hours when I was checked by security at random, apparently.
I no longer fly in or out of LAX after a near crash on landing, and advice from someone working there.
Nothing about commercial flight is worth it now.
If I could take a G5, that’s a different trip.
I drive coast to coast and no longer even bother to check ticket prices.
Airlines are the cable companies of the skies.
If I don’t have time to drive, I will no longer go. I hope to never fly again unless it’s to never return and I only wouldn’t drive because there’s an ocean in the way. I hate the entire parasitic airline industry that eats the profits rather than reinvesting them, subsequently requiring us to bail them out pretty much every economic downturn so they can find new ways to fuck us with poor treatment and nickel-and-dime bullshit, the experience sucks, and it’s a major source of air and noise pollution. Of course with the gutting of ATC and criminal-led Boeing, it’s not unlikely enough that I wouldn’t return no matter what my intent.
Last month I flew from VT to Orlando to visit family. Next month I’m driving to northern NJ for NNL East and the NY Auto Show. If I ever have occasion to go somewhere between Jersey and Florida I’ll get back to you.
I’ll drive 8-10 hours alone no problem. 16 if I can share the driving, with my partner or a friend.
Depends. If I’m going for work they can fly me and pay for a rental.
But, I love a good road trip. I even have a pilots license but I prefer to drive places. I find being up in the clouds gets boring after an hour or two even if you’re the one flying the plane. Whereas driving in the western states is usually pretty interesting. I’ll take my drone along and find cool places to explore with it on the way. If I’m not rushed I’ll take random dirt roads off into the desert or woods to see what’s out there. I used to go on multiple day trips with just me and a backpack on my sport bike. I rode that thing everywhere, even dirt roads in the desert. I have a picture somewhere of a line of adventure bikes and my ZX600 at some random mine in Nevada. They couldn’t believe I made it out there.