Peter Cheney has written a most interesting column in which he proffers that he’d rather drive up to 1,000 miles (1,600 km) than fly. He discusses his thoughts with Charles Adler here.
What’s the maximum distance or time that you’d rather drive than fly?
Before the intrusive post 9/11 security abuse I would fly most anywhere at the drop of the hat – the shortest flight I took was from Lethbridge to Calgary. Now it’s more like a thousand miles too, depending on which city. We’re all supposed to have personal flying cars already though, what a gyp.
Depends who’s paying and for what.
I drove ~4500km’s in the past week for vacation, but will fly the 300 between Calgary and Edmonton for work.
I’ve flown YYZ-PIT a couple dozen times, which when you consider customs, layover and delay (not to mention the dash8) is faster to drive most times.
Much as I usually enjoy driving, I’d rather fly any day. Especially some of the small commuter flights going out of Toronto. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a flight I didn’t enjoy, whereas being stuck in rush-hour traffic is never fun.
10,000 km is the distance on the odometer after driving from Victoria, BC to Dartmouth, NS.
I hate flying.
I prefer flying. That being said, with the need to get to the airport early, and the time required to get a taxi on the other end, I will normally drive instead of a 1 1/2 hour flight. Anything longer and I prefer to fly, unless the economics make it too expensive (like flying to Charlottetown) or it is impractical (like when taking a lot of luggage/pets/other).
No space exploration, no airline travel, no jobs, no lightbulbs…yes, it’s all coming along very nicely.
Depends. On how much time I have and the route. If I have the former and I’ve never driven the route before then there is no limit. If it’s a run from say calgary to kelowna or from Edmonton to fort mac then it’s 737 every time.
There is no max or minimum for me. I WILL NOT SUBJECT MYSELF TO THEIR SO CALLED SECURITY RULES to fly anywhere for any reason. I will preferably drive but walk, hitch hike or crawl will work for me in a pinch.
Just in the middle of a trip from Regina to Washington DC through Minneapolis (will never fly Air Canada if I have other choices) to Atlanta to Washington – what I hate are the massive airports – any airport that needs a train system to get people to gates is just too big).
I would drive to Winnipeg because it is about a 5.5 hour drive on double laned roads – if I flew it would mean getting up at 4 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. flight (two hours), a one hour flight, and then another one hour deplaning, getting baggage and getting a taxi to where I am going. Plus I have to rely on taxis, buses and car rentals – between the time and cost, it is cheaper to drive. Calgary also approaches that.
And besides I like driving. It is just me in the car (as opposed to be squashed in a tin tube) and I can control the whole trip.
I keep hearing SCTV’s Sid Dithers: “How’d you come? Did you drove or did you flew?”
I will not fly. Not that they would let me, anyway.
I am waiting for them to start their treason on the roadways next…
Drive for fun and pleasure …. any distance.
For work it is all about time and money.
I do avoid flying because of the security impositions…. I’ve purposely put off trips to the USA because of this bullshit.
Flying is the preffered choice
Except the US. The US is a flyover country. Their obsession with “security” is out of control.
It has become another of the government job creation schemas. A tax money sucking socialist enterprise.
When I go to the Chicago area to visit my mother, I drive. It’s about three-hundred miles. I think that I’d drive four-hundred miles rather than fly, but I’m not sure about five-hundred.
You know you’re getting old when you don’t like flying or driving:
Flying means crowds, security, being cramped in a small space, and being 30,000 feet above the earth if there’s a malfunction. I always think of this possibility until after the second drink — which isn’t served until you’re almost at your destination.
Driving means dealing with the increasing number of crazies on the roads, the drivers who seem to think they’re in those video games they play, weaving in and out of three-lane traffic at 140 kms/hr, barely missing my car by a centimetre.
On the whole, I’d rather be in my home. (Not that I was, this year …)
Travelling, by any means, is becoming more and more stressful.
batb nails it. As an old Air force vet I still get glued to the window checking out the other planes, ramp activities and such. flying can be enjoyable when the flights are on time, you don’t get a middle seat between a pair of sumo wrestlers or the talkative/yappy flier/crying baby/pet in discomfort. Then we are talking about he double hockey sticks.
By the same token, I have put on many miles on the roads and that is also an adventure that can be great or not. Getting to see a perogie on a fork or a flying saucer spaceport is one thing. Driving from Edmonton to Ontario in January is something else. Also add that you have to prep the vehicle, be prepared for any fixes/delays and detours and construction. On my last trip trans-Canada the condition of the roads made me glad it was a U-Haul I was driving and not my car smacking those hidden potholes. Being old also means that night driving is harder on the eyes and “rest rooms” seem too far apart.
Bottom line is I weigh all these things when planning a trip and act accordingly.
Not a distance, time.
I figure about 6-7 hours driving.
A. It’s about what I can drive alone without needing a break
B. What with leaving for the airport, being early, security, the flight, luggage. The time overhead (time not actually flying) of time for a flight for me is 4-5 hours. ( Time it, from the moment you walk out the door until you get in the aeroplane, and from ‘plane to final target. And I live within 30min of a major airport.
I just drove from Vancouver Island to Prince Edward Island – and I flew it earlier in the year. It’s a toss up which is better. No jet lag when the time changes at one hour every two days. Cost-wise, at 36 mpg it works out about the same. The pet issue mentioned earlier isn’t much of a factor with a $50.00 ticket for the pooch on WestJet (don’t get me started on Air Canada though!).
Unless I have to go overseas, Hawaii, Caribbean isles, the other continents, I will drive. I live 40 miles from Mordor, er I mean Chicago.
Flying is preferable to any road trip over 3 or 4 hours, even though it is still a second class way to travel.
Commuter flights on dash 7’s and 8’s…
I’m a seasoned flyer but….we don’t call it Scare Nova and Scare Ontario for nothing…then there is Scare Canada….
A buddy was telling me about parking prices in the GTA….
Only 2 ways I am comfortable on a trip….with a bike(this ol’ boy don’t peddle) or a rig…with one you can dodge….with the other you don’t hav’ta.
The only airports I now use and the only flights I take are small local air fields that service private air passenger operators who fly into wilderness hunting/fishing lodges or camps.
No paranoid groping or frisking as all the passengers are armed to the teeth and the only “junk” the operators grab is your fishing/hunting gear to throw in the back of the otter float planes.
Buffalo Airways rule!
I drive between Philadelphia and Ottawa / Montreal regularly. About the same time as flying, but I’m in control.
And the border crossing folks are always much, much nicer than the airport immigration customs folks (both sides of the border). I mean, who needs to wear a bulletproof vest in the middle of an airport as a immigration person?
I get to carry as much as I want, and not subject to endless searches.
It used to be 500 miles, for me. I could drive 500 miles quicker than I could trudge over to the airport, wait around for the flight, wait for the luggage, transport myself from the airport to the actual destination, etc.
Now, I don’t know. I don’t want to fly anywhere that the TSA has authority over. What a bunch of power-mad morons they seem to be.
Both driving and flying are fun ways for us to travel and it depends on the time of year and road conditions which method we use. I hate driving in stormy winter conditions.
Although, to be honest, the nonsense before the aircraft takes off is anything but fun. Grin and bear it.
We have also learned to avoid using Air Canada to fly overseas.
I just did a trip from Saskatoon to Sioux Falls via Minneapolis. Had zero problems with security or customs. The longest line up was maybe 15 minutes at Customs in MSP. Pack light, carry on only, don’t bring unnecessary crap. I find being courteous and businesslike when dealing with security and customs goes a long way, at air or land border crossings.
I recently rode from Vancouver to San Diego to get a $49 armour addition to my new riding pants.
Um, this after riding down 6 weeks earlier to get measured and fitted but in the process failed to understand that the essential hip armour was optional.
I was supposed to ride down to get the gear, but they screwed up and shipped it to Vancouver.
I cudda mailed or couriered it back down but I chose to ride, instead. So I’ve ridden Vancouver-San Diego TWICE in so many months.
I’m still pissed that they shipped up the gear.
It cudda been THREE rides to San Diego and back!
In a few days, I’m heading to Montreal to visit a customer. I cud fly but it only takes 6-7 hours all in. I’m goin’ the 6-7 day way.
I grew up in an small aviation town.
I love airplanes.
When I see small ones at small airports I go seriously wobbly — I get giddy. Childlike.
I used to LOVE flying, window seat always.
Always a wonder!
No more. Is it age?
Airports were highly romantic to me at one time.
Now they’re like the post-office (remember these) or the Motor Vehicle Branch.
And when I go to the Vancouver Airport I’m often the only white in view. Profoundly alientating.
I recently got very close to taking up flying but with all my riding experience decided that I wouldn’t get to fly enough to be safe.
Also, I felt it would give me more INTERFACE with gubmint, which is something I actively avoid at almost any cost.
That is my chief operating principle today: Do not voluntarily interface with gubmint if at all possible.
Riding, at least within 20km of the posted limit, usually results in minimal gubmint interface. And when I fail, I just look at it as a toll road.
I still fly but I hate it and the security procedures which only serve to terrorize the very people who are supposed to be “kept safe”. Here’s some hints for the freedom lovers who like to keep their junk from being man handled by blue shirted TSA or white shirted CATSA goons :
1) Check out flyertalk.com forums for an up to date list of where the terrorist naked scanning machines are and which lanes allow you to self “opt out”
2) prior to arriving at the checkpoint secure everything in your pocket into your carryon bag except your cash, id and ticket which I like to keep in my pocket
3) If you get directed to a terror machine say you’d like to OPT OUT
4) If they ask you to go to a private room say no. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES go to the private room. They will/can strip search you.
5) Keep an eye on your bags at all times and insist they always be in your sight. Most thefts are from the screeners.
When it’s available I prefer a train, or a ship when water crossing is involved. To hell with flying! I love airplanes, but I hate all the BS “security theater” associated with air travel.
Drive…and I’d say 1600km might be a little on the high side for me…but definitely anything under 1000km I’ll drive. Anything more and I’d have to say it depends on where, purpose, who’s paying, what I need to bring etc. I really hate flying. Cramped seats, leg crampos, crying babies, annoying seatmates, seat kickers, seat tilters into your lap, standing in line, hauling luggage all over hell’s half acre, surly security dudes and dudettes feeling me up, taking off my shoes, walking back and forth through metal detectors, disease ridden passengers sharing their colds etc, searching for parking spots, renting cars, way tooo much hassle if it can at all be avoided.
Flying used to be a classy thing to do…now it’s akin to those trains you see in India with people hanging all over them.
In my Program Manager days helped to build the first 50 Boeing 757’s plus several other aircraft, so naturally have the once bitten always interested in airplane talk.
Living in the Niagara Region I can go to Buffalo for my U.S.A. & overseas flights. Saving many $ even before the parity plus of currency and have avoided the exorbitant fees of Pearson Airport and the Air Canada/CBC attitudes which seems to permeate even the United States representatives there.
Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City always drive and down to Charlotte except now leave a little later and have an overnight stayon the way.
For awhile my work days consisted of leaving Sunday night and flying across the U.S.A. and to a lesser degree Canada. When lucky I would start for home on Thursday evening. It became old very quickly and changed jobs after five years.
Wouldn’t even think of doing that kind of work now. Condolences to you who still do. Cheers;
I love to fly but I will never go on a commercial flight as long as the TSA and anything that looks like the TSA exists.
I will walk before they are allowed to touch me.
If I could drivein an underwater tunnel to Australia I would. Airports just mean humiliation if not sexual maulings today. Unless of course your Muslim.
Freedom is everything it’s cracked up to be.
I spent a lot of time reading the comments on the article because I do a trip to NYC occasionally. The security hassles at airports are getting really annoying. Loved this posting: “The annoying part is the people most likely to be terrorists all work in airport security.” I actually had a security person steal money from me once — I did not realize it until after wards, but there was no doubt that is what happened.
It is better (and cheaper!) to drive to Buffalo airport and fly to Arizona than to fly out of Toronto.
Driving to Arizona from Ontario realistically takes four to five days unless you have a couple of co-drivers, it costs pretty near a thousand bucks round trip due to fuel, food and hotels. I’ve done it solo from Minnesota to AZ in three days, that’s a harsh trip. Nebraska seems to stretch on pretty much forever.
I’d definitely drive anywhere in the US or Canada within one day sooner than fly. Flying is great, the airport part just sucks.
If they make the airport suck a bit more, driving four to five days will probably start looking worth it. Slap a camper on the Ford, hammer down. Kate does it all the time, I can (probably) do it too.
Besides, then I can tow my race car back to the desert. Yay!
Just spoke with a friend who is a mining engineer. He does a trip from Vancouver Island via Dallas to Chile.
Takes 30 hours and he’s done it six times already this year. Must suck to be him.
I once had a security person scan my bare feet. (I had to remove my sandals so she could do this.) When I asked why I had been selected out for special screening it was explained that this happened because mine was only a one-way ticket. Funny thing, though, the reason it was a one way ticket was because Air Canada decided to cancel its Phoenix to TO flight with no explanation, so everyone on that flight had to make do with whatever one-way connections were available. They did not explain the cancellation (this was June), but I am pretty sure it was because they did not have a bilingual person to serve the 7-up.