FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Tipping point where you would drive instead of fly
Old Oct 20, 2025 | 10:50 pm
  #29  
Sheikh Yerbooty
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Western Europe
Programs: Yeah, well, don’t really care anymore
Posts: 1,138
Anything domestic except AAL, which is a 6-hour drive.

For Europe, I'd actually much rather drive out to as far as 1500KM or so. I do like a road trip, and much prefer going 200 km/h on the Autobahn than 450 knots in the air. Sure, it takes much longer, but I make the drive a part of the holiday. For my regular trips to Hamburg, it takes 4.5 hours to drive. The flight is 45 minutes, but if you add to that the idle time (the earliest flight home doesn't leave until 1930) and the time to get from airport to home, the real differences is not more than 30 minutes - if the flight is on time that is.

Another example: I'm a regular at the 24-hour Le Mans race. It's a 1600 km drive, but there's also the option of flying directly to Le Mans (albeit from Billund, which is 300 km from home) on a charter. Despite that I've always driven, with the practical excuse being that I can bring my bike in the car, but not on the aircraft. Le Mans is a big track, and having a bike there makes getting around so much easier. Taking the car around the track is not an option, as I don't mix drinking and driving. But the real reason is that I truly enjoy being just myself and the road. And, no, I don't mind doing 1600 km in a single stretch alone and, no, I don't find it particularly boring. It's a long day, sure, but crossing 5 countries in a day also has it's charm. Besides, boredom is easily dispelled at the Autobahn - just open the taps and enjoy seeing the world fly by at 250+ km/h - it sharpens the senses and keeps you alert. Does drain the fuel tank rather quickly ...

The annual skiing trips are the same - there's a plethora of airports around the alps to chose from with direct service to my home airport, but I still prefer to saddle up the car and drive there. Those trips are usually in the 12 to 15-hour range, distance between around 1100 to 1400 km. It's also quite a bit cheaper if you're 2 or more in the car - it costs roughly the same to fly one person as it does to drive one car.

When I lived in the ME I contemplated driving the car I had there back home just for ....s and giggles. It would have been around 5000 km, but the only thing stopping me wasn't distance or geography - it was politics.
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