Drive or Fly?
 

What is your limit on whether or not you fly or drive (in the context of business travel)?

For me it's 4 hours drive time is my max.

It's really based on weather, airline frequency, standby policies on airlines, my airline status in deciding these 5-7 hour car trips. Anything less than 5, I am driving almost certainly and I will bank the mileage. It's a sliding scale after that.

It's pretty much the same for me, 2 - 4 hours drive is the typical max. for me, depending on location, flight time & frequency of course.

For example I regularly fly YYZ-YUL, YYZ-YOW, YUL-YOW, but will drive YYZ-YXU in most cases due to flight schedules.

It depends on my schedule. If I have just a single meeting, I'll likely fly. If I'm at a destination for a few days, I'm willing to drive up to 3-4 hours.

For business I fly most always unless I am adding fun into the mix. And then it is because I need to haul a lot toys with me.

Anything more than 3 hrs would seriously make me consider flying.

To me a big factor is how much longer driving will take overall. A 4 hour drive might not be much longer than flying takes door-to-door.

For example, I love just outside of BOS. Driving to NYC on the weekend takes just under 4 hours. But door-to-door travel time when flying is still just over 3 hours. As I own the business, I won't spend much of my own money to fly that route. Of course, when you do the drive and what to do with the car might affect the decision.

also whether renting car

Actually I prefer the third option, I like to take the train. :) Not in the States, but it helps that my trips are often to countries with high speed trains. No delay, little hassle and comfortable. Depending on the distance, it can get you to your destination quicker than a comparable plane trip if you add in the travel time to airport, check-in, security and just general waiting at the gate.

Drive or Fly?
 

Depends on the flights. I used to travel from Chapel Hill to Charlottesville. Drive is about 4.5 hours flying RDU to 5.5 hours + time to airport. In contrast I flew to DC. 6 hours drive versus 45 minutes flying. About the same distance. Having a car in Charlottesville is handy. Not so much in DC.

Drive or Fly?
 

6 hours. As I live near an airport that does not offer direct flights, by the time I connect and add all the other wait time, getting to the airport x mins before etc, having to pick up a car there... also I rent a car anyway in my destination so it does work a lot cheaper.


I fly in the winter (much more dangerous to drive)

I consider a number of factors in determining whether to drive or fly. The most important issue is door-to-door time for flying versus driving versus other reasonable modes of transportation available (e.g., reliable train service). As a rule of thumb the breakeven point is around 4 hours, though for some trips I've estimated that even a short, 60 minute flight would result in a door to door time of 5 hours based on the distance from the nearest airport to my destination.

After door-to-door time I consider schedule convenience, my need for flexibility (when driving I can leave anytime I want without change fees or the uncertainty of standby), whether I need or even want a car at my destination, whether the trip involves very early or late hours when I might be too sleepy to drive safely, weather impact, and the overall costs. An interesting view of overall cost is that if I'm traveling a short flight route with a colleague, driving a rental car is usually cheaper than buying two tickets even if dropoff fees are involved.

Usually 6-8 hours, but it really depends on other factors. I'd fly STL-Chicago (5 hr drive) if I was staying in downtown Chicago and didn't need a car because most hotels charge so much for parking and STL-CHI flights are usually pretty cheap. KC, Memphis and Indy are all about the same distance as Chicago from here and I don't think I'd ever fly to one of those because it won't be nearly as expensive to park my car, and unlike CHI, I'd probably need a car anyways. Not to mention the fact that unless I want to go in a FedEx box, I don't think there are nonstops from STL-MEM or IND, so a connection makes it even less worth the time.

On the other hand, I don't mind a road trip every once in awhile and might be willing to go up to 15 hours away driving. But 6-8 is my rule of thumb.

For regular trips, 4 is a good guideline, though it depends on the options/locations for flying. I spent a year driving just under 4 hrs to outside of DC, flew a couple of times. I've spent the last year driving 3:30, though there are no longer direct flights, so that's not a real option. For one-off trips, I've driven to Philly and northern NJ, which are 5-5:30.

I agree about the winter part. I wouldn't mind driving 5 or 6 hours in the warmer months. Winter....you never know about the weather.