Forget Flying. Drive.
Flying should be a speedy affair. Hop on a plane and 4 hours later, get out on the opposite coast. Eight hours? Jump the pond and get to Europe. At least, that’s how it used to be. With travelers stranded in airports across Canada and the US, I wanted to do the math: how long would it take to drive some key routes that a carrier like Southwest Airlines used to service.
Southwest Airlines operates flights to destinations throughout the United States, as well as to a number of international destinations in the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico. Some of the cities that Southwest Airlines serves in the United States include:
- Albuquerque
- Baltimore
- Chicago
- Dallas
- Denver
- Fort Lauderdale
- Houston
- Las Vegas
- Los Angeles
- New York
- Orlando
- Phoenix
- San Diego
- San Francisco
- Tampa
Southwest Airlines also serves a number of smaller airports and regional destinations. But let’s start with a couple of the bigger destinations.
Dallas:
Non-stop at an average speed of 60 miles per hour, it would take approximately 24 hours to drive from Dallas to Las Vegas.
It would take approximately 4 hours to drive from Dallas to Houston.
It would take approximately 25 hours to drive from Dallas to Los Angeles.
Chicago:
It takes about 18 hours to drive from Chicago to Denver.
Driving non-stop, it would take over 19 hours to drive from Chicago to Orlando.
To drive non-stop at an average speed of 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour), it would take approximately 47 hours to drive from Chicago to San Francisco. In a car full of drivers, that’s less than 12 hrs. driving per person.
Stack up the 4 to 48 hours in a car vs. what airline travel incurs:
- Frisking at the airport
- Baggage search
- Cancellations
- Waiting upto 4 days for another flight.
- Exorbitant fees for booking an alternative flight.
- Cramped seating on the plane.
- The ticket price compared to the gas prices. The above Chicago to San Fransisco trip would cost $700 in gas to get 4–5 people across country. Flights from Chicago to San Francisco run from $278 to almost $500 per seat. Stack that up next to splitting $700 4 ways to get $175 per passenger and driving ends of cheaper and maybe faster.
Look at what driving gives you:
- See some local scenes
- Check out small towns and maybe blow an hour on a cool detour.
Next holiday: don’t fly.
