due to some sad family circumstances (a story for another time) i was forced to make an airline flight on short notice to Eastern Kentucky this week booking a flight for 4 individuals (myself included).

So i thought i would compare notes to a GA flight vs the Airline flight so we could all debate it until we were sick to our guts.

Airline flight:

Left home for the 2 hour drive to DFW international Airport at 8:00am

Flight Departed at 11:55am

After a 2 hour fight we arrived at Lexington Kentucky at 2:55pm (KY Time) - Lexington was the closest airport with airline service without an aircraft or city change on the itenerary**

We rented a car from hertz. due to the snowy mountainous terrain we would have to navigate i opted for the SUV package which was still a pretty reasonable price.

Once our baggage was secured, we located our car, punched in the address into the Hertz GPS and hit the road for a 3 hour drive deep into the Appalachian mountain range of Eastern Kentucky.

We arrived at my grandfathers house at approximately 6:00 pm

The departure 3 days later followed an almost exact series of events in reverse order.

total time spent travelling by car 10 hours
total time spent travelling by air 5 hours (approximate)


Total cost of the airfare $2,100
Total cost of 3 bags checked both ways $90
Total cost of rental car $285
Total cost of fuel for rental car $38
Total cost of DFW airport parking $52

Approximate total cost of entire trip $2,565

General Aviation Trip:

Has historically consisted of the following**

15 minute drive to local airport
25 minutes preflight duties of PIC
flight directly to GA airport 10 miles from grandfathers house 4.5 hours
20-30 minute mountain drive from airport to his home

return trip has historically been similar

total time spent traveling by car 1 hour 30 minutes
total time spent traveling by air 9 hours

Total cost of the aircraft rental $700
Total cost of aircraft fuel $260 (based on advertised FBO prices)
Total hangar fee for 3 nights $150

Total GA Cost: approximately $1,110

Weather was not an issue except for our second night there it was rough but cleared quickly... i elected not to act as PIC because i could not pass the "IMSAFE" checklist without fibbing to myself.

cheapest option by a long shot -----> General Aviation

Fastest Option based on time spent traveling -----> GA

discuss  

I'm no surprised to see that comparison pan out as it did... but you forgot the FUN FACTOR!! Even if a GA trip costs more and you're delayed a day because of weather, there's always the fun factor!