Originally Posted by
dordal
Has anybody done a real comparison of time saved on shuttles vs. commercial? I'm not talking theoretical, but more 'what happens in real life'. For example, I could show up 10 mins before departure for a shuttle flight, but I probably wouldn't, because I'd risk missing it. I could show up 30 mins before departure for a commercial flight ( at most airports most times of the day ), but I wouldn't, because I'd risk missing it.
My back of the envelope math with realistic numbers:
NY-SF (downtown to downtown)
Shuttle (HPN-OAK): Uber to heliport ( 10 mins ); wait for chopper ( 20 min ); flight to HPN (20 mins); boarding & takeoff (30 mins), flight to OAK ( 5 hrs ) ; car to downtown SF ( 35 mins ). TOTAL: 6 hr 55 min
Commercial (JFK-SFO): Uber to JFK ( 40 mins ); go through security, get to gate, board ( 1 hr ); flight to SFO ( 5 hrs ); get through SFO to get Uber ( 15 mins ); get downtown ( 25 mins ): TOTAL: 7 hr 20 mins
So that's a total timesavings of 25 mins, or about 6%.
Certainly I understand there are lots of reasons to fly private, but timesavings is a big one, and as I'm doing the math I'm wondering if the Jetsmarter 'shared private' idea really saves all that much time. Maybe better on the shorter routes?
Curious if anybody has done any real-life comparisons, and how they stack up.
as you suggest, on longer flights it becomes a diminishing return (private vs commercial) as a general rule, but even in your example above there are some considerations worthy of inclusion;
1) driving Manhattan to HPN or JFK is about the same (40 minutes) (if time truly is the motivator, then driving to heliport to wait, to helicopter, to wait, to fly is probably not what you'd do - you'd instead drive as close to departure as you could safely do so)
2) technically turning up to the FBO 30 minutes before is ideal and per JS requirements, however, turning up with less than 10 minutes is still possible.
3) technically turning up to JFK 1 hour before is ideal, however, it assumes best case scenario. There are so many variables with commercial that affect on-time performance. Crew. Inbound Aircraft. Another flight coming in that has pax connecting so they keep your outbound one on the ground, to name but a few. I missed a commercial the other day being in security for 45 minutes (priority line), thinking 60 minutes before departure was sufficient. I ran to the gate and was there 8 minutes prior to departure, and the door was closed.
4) Generally private aircraft fly higher, and faster. to suggest the same route would yield same flight time is likely inaccurate.
My quick 'apples to apples' comparison would be as follows:
Private: drive to HPN, give yourself only 15 minutes, fly, and into the city. (40m + 15m + 4h45m + 25m)
Commercial: drive to JFK, give yourself only 60 minutes, fly, deplane, into the city (same end point) (40m + 60m + 5h + 25m + 25m)
5h5m vs 7h30m = A commercial traveler would SAVE 32% more time to fly private instead of his/her normal commercial commute; the private traveler would have to absorb 47.5% more time to elect going commercial instead of his/her normal private commute. In either case, the differential is pretty big even aside from comfort factors and mental health benefits commuting private affords.