Those wacky airlines

I live close enough to a major hub, that I can drive there and sometimes save money flying... So as I'm looking at trips to see my parents over Christmas, I find...

Local airport, connecting at hub, to destination: $225
Flying direct from hub to destination: $330

So by flying an extra leg and them having to handle my bags four times instead of two (round trip)... they are going to charge me -$105.

No wonder those companies are struggling.

 

Shit, who cares? It's costing me nearly $500 to fly home to see my folks, and they're only a 14-hour drive away. And that's with at least one connection each way.

 

For some reason, it's often more expensive to fly out of a hub than to connect through a hub to the same destination.

I haven't figured that out expect that they are trying to match someone else's price.

 

I'm no expert on the airline industry, but I've always suspected this type of thing goes on because the airlines have a stake in the success of smaller airports and price the way they do to help keep the smaller ones viable. If one day we only had the hubs, that couldn't in any way be good for airlines.

 

Fly Virgin America if you can. Good airline.

 

I once was looking at airfare from my West Coast locale to either Milwaukee or Chicago. Flying to Milwaukee through Chicago was significantly less expensive than flying to Chicago, even though the leg to Chicago was the same flight.

 

My parents have tried to convince me to fly home for Christmas.

If gas stays down for the holidays, it's cheaper to drive home (especially since airfare will probably be more expensive since I would be flying out on Christmas Eve, which is a whole 'nother situation that I don't want to deal with) anyway.

There is virtually no time saved. I have to drive two hours to the nearest major airport and then the airport that I'm flying in is THREE hours from where I would be going. That's five hours of driving right there, which is half the time I would have been on the road anyway. It's about an 11-hour drive and when I flew here for my interview, I was either on the road or in the air for 12 hours. So I actually save an hour by driving.

Plus, I'm hoping to be able to go see friends that don't live in my hometown. That's another key. My mom's all worried about me driving and even suggested driving back with me and then flying home.

I still don't know why they're so freaked out about me driving. I've driven in every weather condition possible, including complete white-out blizzard and I've amply proven over the last few years that I can drive for 10+ hours in one sitting and make good time. Sheesh.

 

11 hours is no picnic of a drive, but neither is flying on Christmas Eve.

But if you still have to drive five hours to and from airports anyway, that's a no-brainer.

I didn't think people were allowed to live three hours from an airport.

 

I'm two hours from the Louisville airport (and it's $200 extra to fly into Lexington, which is closer) but when you live in Kansas, you pretty much only have one option for an airport, and that's the suckfest that is KCI.

But I've made several 11+ hour drives in the last two years, across some of the most boring country the United States has to offer, so it's almost no big deal to me. I usually have a 12-pack of Pepsi, a bottle of water, a few snacks and my iPod fully charged. What else do you need?

 

Ms. Slappy and I are using frequent flyer miles to go to Minnesota this weekend.
Our free flights cost $49 each for fuel, had to tweak hers with an agent for another $20 and we're bringing one bag each at $15 each bag each leg. Because the second bag is $25 each bag each way, I shipped home my suit and topcoat and will ship that, and any purchases, back at a far cheaper cost.
Free flight my ass... the alternative is an 1,100 mile drive each way.

 

Why not just wear the suit and topcoat?

 

Road Head