If time is money, time spent on the road (as on the highway) can be particularly stressful. It’s not just the traffic, it’s what the trip takes out of you. For all the hassle associated with airport security, and despite rising airfares, if you’re traveling solo or as a couple and time matters, airplanes remain a relative bargain.
Consider some statistics put together by CSA Travel Protection, a company that sells trip insurance. Based on a gas price of $3.66 per gallon, CSA compared plane, train, and car travel on five fairly representative routes. Here’s what they found. The calculations are based on round-trip travel for one person.
Phoenix (PHX) to San Diego (SAN)
Plane: $124, 2.5 hours
Train: $300, 33 hours
Car: $106 (712 miles), 11 hours
Fargo, ND (FAR) to Seattle (SEA)
Plane: $509, 12 hours
Train: $385, 64.5 hours
Car: $423 (2,852 miles), 40 hours
Cincinnati (CVG) to Washington, DC
Plane: $467, 3 hours
Train: $148, 28.5 hours
Car: $155 (1,044 miles), 17 hours
Grand Rapids (GRR) to New York City
Plane: $401, 4.5 hours
Train: $286, 48 hours
Car: $221, (1,494 miles), 23.5 hours
Austin (AUS) to Orlando (MCO)
Plane: $426, 5.5 hours
Train: $566, 141 hours
Car: $344 (2,254 miles), 34 hours
Time is a key component of the travel proposition. People are working harder than ever to make ends meet. That means they have less time to travel. When they do break away for vacation, they want to make the time count and not be beaten up by the time they arrive at their destination. Depending on the number of people who travel, there’s still a real argument for the air option.
© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler
