The Customer Service Survey
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Road Trip!
Wednesday - August 08, 2007 03:48 PM in
I have to visit a prospective client in Des Moines, IA next week, which is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Minneapolis. There wasn't much doubt that I'd be driving rather than flying, given the hassles of flying these days.
It's interesting to take a closer look at the tradeoff, though.
There's a direct flight from Minneapolis to Des Moines (one of the few advantages of living near a hub airport) which departs at 10:35 AM and arrives at 11:45. I'm not checking any luggage, so let's assume that it takes me 30 minutes to get off the plane and collect a rental car (or taxi), then 30 minutes to navigate an unfamiliar city and get to my meeting. So the meeting will begin at 12:45. To get to on that flight, I ought to plan to be at the gate by 10 AM, which means arriving at the airport no later than 9:30, and leaving home around 9 AM.
If the meeting is two hours long, I will be out the door at 2:45. Allow 30 minutes to get to the airport and turn in the rental car, and another 30 minutes to check in and get to the gate (Des Moines is a small airport), and the earliest flight home I can take would depart at 3:45. Coincidentally, there's a 4:05 departure which gets back to Minneapolis at 5:15. Allow 45 minutes to get off the plane and retrieve my car, and a half hour to drive home, and I arrive at 6:30 PM.
Driving the same trip, I can still leave home at 9 AM, but instead of driving to the airport I head straight to Des Moines. I should arrive at 12:30 PM, and allowing 15 minutes to get lost finding the meeting, I will arrive on time for the 12:45 meeting. Heading home, I depart at 2:45, and get home at 6:15, 15 minutes earlier and $700 richer than I would have been if I'd flown.
This is a best-case scenario, though, since if my meeting was at noon instead of 12:45 I would have to take an 8 AM flight and change planes in Chicago, forcing me to leave home by 6:30 AM (but I won't get home any earlier). Driving to a noon meeting, I can leave at 8 AM and be on time, and get home 45 minutes earlier. If I'm checking luggage, add 30 minutes to each end of the trip. It's easy to envision a scenario where the 7-hour round trip drive to Des Moines is actually 2-3 hours faster than flying.
Given the stress and uncertainty of flying these days, I would give the advantage to driving even when the drive is an hour or two longer than the flight. That's sad, really, considering how much I love airplanes.
Posted by Peter Leppik
There's a direct flight from Minneapolis to Des Moines (one of the few advantages of living near a hub airport) which departs at 10:35 AM and arrives at 11:45. I'm not checking any luggage, so let's assume that it takes me 30 minutes to get off the plane and collect a rental car (or taxi), then 30 minutes to navigate an unfamiliar city and get to my meeting. So the meeting will begin at 12:45. To get to on that flight, I ought to plan to be at the gate by 10 AM, which means arriving at the airport no later than 9:30, and leaving home around 9 AM.
If the meeting is two hours long, I will be out the door at 2:45. Allow 30 minutes to get to the airport and turn in the rental car, and another 30 minutes to check in and get to the gate (Des Moines is a small airport), and the earliest flight home I can take would depart at 3:45. Coincidentally, there's a 4:05 departure which gets back to Minneapolis at 5:15. Allow 45 minutes to get off the plane and retrieve my car, and a half hour to drive home, and I arrive at 6:30 PM.
Driving the same trip, I can still leave home at 9 AM, but instead of driving to the airport I head straight to Des Moines. I should arrive at 12:30 PM, and allowing 15 minutes to get lost finding the meeting, I will arrive on time for the 12:45 meeting. Heading home, I depart at 2:45, and get home at 6:15, 15 minutes earlier and $700 richer than I would have been if I'd flown.
This is a best-case scenario, though, since if my meeting was at noon instead of 12:45 I would have to take an 8 AM flight and change planes in Chicago, forcing me to leave home by 6:30 AM (but I won't get home any earlier). Driving to a noon meeting, I can leave at 8 AM and be on time, and get home 45 minutes earlier. If I'm checking luggage, add 30 minutes to each end of the trip. It's easy to envision a scenario where the 7-hour round trip drive to Des Moines is actually 2-3 hours faster than flying.
Given the stress and uncertainty of flying these days, I would give the advantage to driving even when the drive is an hour or two longer than the flight. That's sad, really, considering how much I love airplanes.
Posted by Peter Leppik
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