What is the maximal distance that you would drive to a location instead of flying?

47 comments

  1. I guess technically speaking 300 miles (the distance from the Bay to LA), but tbh 90% of the time I’m flying.

  2. Depends on time constraints.

    I’ve taken cross country trips instead of flying just for the hell of it.

    If its a time factor usually more then 12 hours is my cut off

  3. 14 hours max. I’ve done enough cross country drives to know I’d rather get groped by TSA over driving longer than that.

  4. I’ve done some 20 hour car trips before. I’ve also flown when the drive would have only been 3 hours. Depends on the situation.

  5. Depends what it is for and how many people are going. Family vacations to somewhere like Florida, might drive or fly. One person for a weekend in Nashville, probably going to fly.

  6. Usually 4-5 hours because at that point you’ve negated most of the airport hassles like having to get there early and dealing with security. Anything over that and I’m more willing to fly.

  7. About 400 miles or 6 hours, give or take. That’s about what a drive between LA and San Francisco will take.

    Everything else being equal, if a drive would take longer than that, I would probably just fly.

  8. Depends.. my family of 3 will consider flying if the drive is over 10 hours and we dont have a lot of time off. My sisters family of 7 will drive across the country to avoid the cost of airfare.

  9. I think 4 hours is my limit. I’ve done 8 to 10 hour drives before and they’re brutal.

  10. If time’s unlimited, I’d rather drive until the ocean gets in my way. Say 3000 to 4000 miles.

    Otherwise, about 6 to 10 hours driving, I guess. I’ll drive longer if I’ll be doing a lot of driving wherever I’m going.

  12. Depends more on the logistical factors: time, length of trip, flight cost, and what I need to bring with me.

    I’ve flown between two cities that would be a 4 hour drive before, and I’ve driven 42 hours across the country instead of taking a 5 hour flight before because each scenario required different things.

  13. 12 hrs maximum for me, anything beyond the Mississippi is a flight, unless a road trip is planned!

  14. It depends if I want or need a car at my destination. 5-6 hours and I am probably driving unless for that trip flying makes more sense. Anything longer than that I am probably flying unless part of the trip is the roadtrip portion of it. When I was younger we would equally fly and drive to Chicago from the Bay Area and I am not sure why my parents made the choice to do one over the other, as we would just drive sleep drive until we got to Chicago. I’ve driven from the Bay Area to Seattle before when really I should have flown. 8- 10 hours of driving in a day is really my limit before I want to stop for the day.

  15. In general, I draw the line around 8 hours of travel time.

    I have a project I go to for work every year. It’s in a small city 500 miles/800 km from where I live. I drive it every year. If I want to fly, I have to go from my small airport to a regional hub, then take another small plane to the city NEAR my destination, then rent a car, and drive about 90 minutes to the city. By the time you factor in the airport, security, the plane, the layover, it’s a wash in terms of time between flying and driving. I also have to worry about my bags making it, and I bring some equipment with me, so driving is honestly more convenient.

    In college I regularly traveled 775 miles/1250 km between my parent’s house and college (12 hrs). My longest ever road trip was a glorious 1150 miles/1850km from St. Louis to South Padre Island (the southern tip of Texas), done over about 20 hours. We made it in time to watch the sun rise over the ocean.

  16. Roughly 12 hours is my upper limit.

    I did that last week, driving from Kentucky to Minnesota. I was seriously contemplating flying, but figured I’d try to see if it was viable to drive that distance in a day.

    If it takes more than a one-day drive, it’s something you fly. If less, you drive.

  17. Personally, I would rather drive to most places. Unless I’m just going somewhere for the weekend. Even then it would depend where it was. I would still consider driving

  18. I prefer to drive, but if it takes much more than a full day to get there, I’m at least thinking about flying.

  20. I’m okay with driving to anywhere in Florida and neighboring states since I live in the central part of the state (Tampa). I only fly if I have to go outside of the Deep South region, like the northeast or west coast.

  21. I hate flying, I’ll drive 1500 miles to avoid the miserable experience of getting on a plane.

  22. More than ~6-6.5 hours, I’m flying. Over 8 hours, no question (unless I have time to kill, which is rare since when you’re on vacation, time is money).

  23. It all depends on context. Sometimes the drive is the best part (blue ridge parkway, big sur, etc).

    If it’s purely about getting to the destination, then lots of times, it’s a 1-2 hour drive to an airport, the flight and then an additional 1-2 hour drive to the destination. For me, the line typically gets drawn when the drive is long enough that I have to split it in two days (10-12 hours)

    Edit: I read some of your replies. You are asking because you are visiting. Someone else said it, but I’ll reiterate. Fly here (obviously) and then rent a car and drive. The country is beautiful, especially California.

  25. Depends on the situation and how much time you have. With car rental prices lately, driving is pretty tempting. I don’t mind driving 12 hours or even longer, but when you have to take time off work it kinda sucks to take an an extra 24 hours (or more if you stop to sleep) of your vacation time just driving. I’m also older now and I no longer smoke, so long drives are not as easy as they used to be.

  27. It depends and I’ll give you an example.

    I’ve had to fly from Miami to Orlando for work before. It’s like a 45 minute flight and obviously work pays for it. If I had to do it for personal reasons, it’s only 4-5 hours so I would drive.

  28. 1400 miles – NM to TN. I drive because I need to haul camping gear. I break it up into 4 days, as I’m driving solo and I don’t want it to be 2 or 3 marathon days of driving. I’ve done 550 in a day and that’s torture.

  29. Shit, gimme some landbridges and I will drive the entire world before I get on a plane.

  30. It depends for me. I live in the chicago area. We drive back to the carolinas (14-16 hours) if we are there for a week or more. I fly for quicker trips.

    I also used to drive to Ann Arbor Michigan a lot (4 hour drive). Between April and November, I drove. Between November and April I flew. This was due to lake effect snow that could impact the drive.

    In general – 6 hours of driving time is where I start weighing my options.

  31. 10+ hour drive is a flight for me if I’m traveling for business. If I’m traveling for personal reasons I usually have my family with me and that makes the cost of airfare too expensive. Its cheaper to road trip and plan a stop or two along the way to keep the kids in good spirits.

  33. Well, I drove from Tampa to Los Angeles instead of flying, so I’d say about 3000 miles. Haha

  34. Personally if I could make it within a two-day drive I’ll usually go via car. Flying is always a last resort because I am both big and tall so I don’t fit well in most planes, even when I pay for the larger seats I’m uncomfortable along with the people next to me. The last flight I was on was from Miami Florida to Atlanta and was less than an hour and I was miserable the whole way.

  35. Generally anywhere east of the Mississippi I’m driving. Before the pandemic I had a significantly smaller driving radius but since then the experience of flying and renting a car has got so much worse.

  36. I’ve done a couple of 18 hour drives in a single day, but those were going back home in my car so flying wasn’t an option.

    I’ve got a 730 mile drive planned for May from NJ to Salem SC. If I flew, I’d have to rent a car as well so I’d prefer to just drive both ways. I enjoy driving and have a very comfortable car.

  37. I travel full time for work and take a weekend home trip every 3 weeks… so I do this a lot.

    My fly vs drive window is 12 hours. More than that I’ll fly.

  38. Time is the bigger constraint to me than distance. If I have the time to drive, I love a road trip. If it’s going to be a short trip with a tight turn around, a flight will be better. I have a shitty car so if I am driving long distance I will usually rent a car which makes the price pretty much the same.

    For example, I live in Ohio and have a sister who lives in Tennessee. It’s about an 8 hour drive and I’ll usually visit her for a week about once per year. I always just rent a car and drive because I like driving and 8 hours instead that bad, i wtill get 5 days of vacation time. My mom lives in Florida and it would be a 16-17 hour drive to get there, meaning 2 days of driving because I can’t do 16 straight. If I only have a week, I am not spending 4 days of it driving and 3 days visiting. I’ll take a flight and spend more time relaxing on a beach.

  39. A day’s drive. 500 miles give or take. Also depends on if layovers are involved

  40. My rule of thumb is 6hrs. If I can drive it in 6hrs I’ll likely drive it.

    That said, I drove across the country 3x and summer 2021 I drove Philadelphia -> Houston and back via Nashville and Columbus for the hell of it.

  41. It’s not a distance factor for me as much as how long I’m going to be there, at a certain length of time I’m just going to decide it would be more worth it for me to drive so I can have my car there.

    If I’m going to be somewhere for a weekend, I probably wouldn’t drive more than 6 hours. Weeklong trip, probably 8-12 hours. 2-4 weeks, maybe an 18 hour drive, maybe more or less if public transport at my destination is particularly good or bad. If I’m going to be somewhere for a month or more, I’ll drive my car, even if it means driving ocean to ocean, unless I know public transport will get me everywhere I need to go for that length of time.

  42. For a weekend (2-3 day) trip: 5 hours each way

    For 5-7 day trip: 12 hours each way

    Longer than a week: will try to drive ~6 hours/day

  43. For me and my husband, a 12 hour drive seems to be our limit. So anything beyond that is a guaranteed flight. We tried a one day 15 hour drive and a two day 19 hour drive and those were miserable. 12 hours is manageable. Unless we’re explicitly going on a road trip. Like we’ve done circuits of the eastern and western US and that was fine, but planned out so we weren’t just driving multiple days in a row for 12+hours.

  44. A few times I’ve driven from SE PA to northern WI, far enough where I need an overnight stay in a hotel. Of course it was for at least a two week vacation. I really dislike the hassle of flying, and when I drive the worst I have to deal with is Chicago.

    The longest I went was a 22 hour drive from MI to MS but that was switching with other people where one person would drive, one would navigate, and the others would sleep.

  45. 8 to 10 hours? Could drive, but will most likely fly if we don’t need a car.

    10+ hours? We will fly.

  46. I haven’t found it yet. I’d rather drive for 12 hours than spend 8 hours sitting around between getting to the airport early, layovers, taxiing, etc.

    Driving, as long as you aren’t stuck in traffic, has *consistent* progress. I know how much of the trip is over because I’ve driven XX% of the miles from point A to B.

    Flying is like watching the loading bar on Win95. It means nothing. Oh, you’ve landed at your final destination? Could still be an hour before you’re actually at your hotel or relatives house.

    Planes are also uncomfortable as hell. Seats are more cramped than in a car, you’re too close to anyone else to stretch without inconveniencing them. In a car you can also stop for reasonably priced food whenever you want instead of either eating 3 peanuts or paying $30 for a hamburger on the ground.

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