Give Me A GOOD Reason

Having flown the route from Michigan to our place in Florida multiple
times using both commercial jet, and my moth eaten, battered, refugee
from a junk yard airplane, I have actual comparison numbers...
Flying the commercial jets we have landed at both Tampa, and Fort
Myers, with the cottage being 90 miles from Tampa and 50 miles from Ft.
Myers.... Of course, I have to rent a car both to get to the cottage,
and to have transportation while there(~$120.00)...
The average time for either landing point: 8.5 hours portal to
portal...
Tickets ~$600.00 to $700.00 round trip (two people more or less
comfortably)

Flying ourselves, I land at Venice and rent a car... It is 16 miles to
the cottage...
The average time: 8.5 hours portal to portal...
Fuel cost ~$870.00, round trip (5 seats comfortably)

Obviously, if we are going to Florida for a long weekend, or we are on
a business trip with appointments in certain cities at a certain time,
the airlines have the distinct edge on dealing with inclement weather
and meeting schedules, and that is the method we usually choose under
those circumstances... If we have more days and a flexible schedule,
we fly ourselves...

For comparison Mapquest shows that if we drive it is 1350 miles and 22
driving hours... Fuel cost ~$180.00 round trip (4 seats comfortably if
a bit numb in the butt) and I don't have a ~$120 car rental bill -
clearly the cost effective method... Still, I haven't driven the trip
since the 1960's and don't intend to...


Denny

"jim rosinski" wrote in message
oups.com...
Matt Barrow wrote:

Putz around San Diego airport waiting for luggage... one hour.
Drive 31 miles to in-laws through the heart of the city: one hour.
**Airline - Door-to-door: 7.0 hours. Cost of four tickets: $502
apiece = $2008.

'Nuff said?

Yes I think the main reasons the numbers work for you are 1) you're
filling your airplane with people;

Four of six seats.

I should add that the $502 is round trip, vs $1380 for a round trip by my
airplane. Yet just taking three of us beats the airline price, not to
mention the three hours time difference.

Even just three of us beats the airline price.

As I said, Montrose is not a major hub and that's where the time AND dollar
differences come into play.

2) $502 ticket price seems excessive
for Montrose-San Diego;

Best price I could get on Orbitz.com (UE - UAL) with a 10 day advance
purchase.

and 3) connecting through a hub city wastes
alot of time. But an *hour* waiting for luggage in San Diego??? I don't
have much good to say about Denver's airport, but on United quite often
the luggage arrives at the carousel before I do.

In July my daughter and wife waited 55 minutes for luggage in San Diego.
That might be a bit much, but not very much.


Matt
---------------------
Matthew W. Barrow
Site-Fill Homes, LLC.
Montrose, CO

"Dave" wrote in message
...
............One trip we take is a 6.5 hr drive around a body of
water by car.

Via 172, 1.6 hrs chock to chock....over the water of course...

And very often my partner (who uses the plane for business
travel) saves hundreds of $$$$ in meals & hotel costs. His clients
are very happy with the response time and low costs to them. With
good weather (so he can fly) he is killing his competition and still
making a great margin on his services.

...works for us...

Think of getting up in the morning, doing business 500 miles away in some
town out in the boonies, and still being home in time for dinner.

Our ratio of one day trips vs. over-night trips is about 4:1 or 5:1. Most
trips by car would be two or three days.

We don't do business in bigger towns (too much competition, cost, etc) and
we couldn't do it by car or by airline. AAMOF, I can beat the big boys doing
it this way.


--
Matt
---------------------
Matthew W. Barrow
Site-Fill Homes, LLC.
Montrose, CO

On 27 Jan 2005 05:19:15 -0800, "Denny" wrote in
om::


The average time for either landing point: 8.5 hours portal to
portal...
Tickets ~$600.00 to $700.00 round trip (two people more or less
comfortably)

Flying ourselves, [...]
The average time: 8.5 hours portal to portal...
Fuel cost ~$870.00, round trip (5 seats comfortably)

[...] or we are on
a business trip with appointments in certain cities at a certain time,
the airlines have the distinct edge on dealing with inclement weather
and meeting schedules, [...]

What of battling the congested automobile traffic to the airline hub
airport, absurdly intrusive security measures, waiting interminably
for the airliner to board, being packed in a sealed vessel with, and
re breathing the same air as, hundreds of strangers who may be
infected with various maladies? Airline travel is no longer
"glamorous"; it reduces passengers to the status of "a revenue
generating member of the herd," and subservient drones. Private
flying is a three dimensional adventure in freedom.

For comparison Mapquest shows that if we drive it is 1350 miles and 22
driving hours... [...] Still, I haven't driven the trip
since the 1960's and don't intend to...

I don't know how the situation is where you are, but within 100+ miles
of Los Angeles the freeway congestion is so bad (mostly due to
bumper-to-bumper commuters and road work), that it renders long
distance automobile traffic very unpleasant indeed.