I'm currently in Austin and like to go home when I'm not too busy with school. The cheapest roundtrip ticket I could find is $150, but I've heard of roundtrip tickets costing $70. Any help would be appreciated.
ive heard somewhere in the middle of those two prices. you could have go $70 15 years ago probably. or these days maybe if you had a friend that worked for an airline and could get you a discounted ticket.
Southwest Airlines has flights between Austin and Houston for $29 each way if you book 21 days in advance. http://www.southwest.com/hotfares/?ref=spcofrs_gn
When I used to fly between Houston and Dallas, Southwest had great deals when you booked 3 weeks in advance. I used to do a round-trip for something like $60. Then it went up to around $90 I think. If you want an interesting way to "go home", try Amtrak. The round trip prices are probably $60-$90, but the only problem is it'll take several hours to get there... probably longer than if you drove. I'm guessing something like 4-6 hours each way.
It takes more time to fly than it takes to drive unless you live right next to the airport and you are going somewhere right next to IAH or Hobby. Its also cheaper to rent a car to drive home. You can get a car from 20-30 a day in most cases as long as you aren't picking it up or dropping it off at the airport.
Renting a car and then paying for the gas for the car comes out to be pretty expensive as well. 30+50(tank of gas)=80 bucks approx compared to the 29+29 RT from austin to houston on Southwest for 21 days in advance. Looks to me you're saving or paying almost the same amount. 2.5 hour drive or 30 minute flight + 15-20 minute drive to airport. The choice is yours.
its a 30 minute flight + the hour before boarding you're supposed to be there to get through check-in plus the 30 minutes it takes to takeoff and disboard. so it ends up being pretty much the same total amount of time. cost and time are roughly the same. the real difference is in comfort, and that can go either way depending on how comfortable someone is with driving 2.5 hours versus not having to concentrate on driving but being crammed into about 2 feet of space.
yeah right.... i've arrived at the airport 15 minutes before departure and made it no problem. i just bought my tickets to austin and it came out to 77.30 everything included.... renting a car + gas would most definitely be more expensive than that, and driving there and back costs me about $60 to fill up... so it's pretty much a wash cost wise. but i can leave my house, make it to the airport, arrive in austin, and get picked up in about an hour's less time than just driving.
I've arrived at the airport 10 minutes before my flight and was able to board the plane with no problem, but this only happens if you don't have to board luggage. I'm at UT, so the trip to the airport is about 10-15 minutes, fly back to Houston in about 40 minutes, and make the trip home from the airport. I'm pretty much saving an hour and half while paying close to what it would have been to drive to and back. Thanks yc234 for the link. Now I'm gonna be home for the weekend after the 4th of July.
Flying is a ridiculous hassle for me, you have to factor in all the costs of parking and/or taxi fares to. I just got done driving from Lompoc California to Dallas (took about 26 hours with 3 of us trading the duties) 3 hours in a car is nothing believe me.
I'm with the aforementioned driving suggestion. IMO, Flying is a hassle. I could ride my motorcycle to Austin and back for less than 50, including meals.
For some people it's cheaper to "let someone else do the driving". When a tank of gas costs $40 or more you have to add that to the 2.5-3 hour drive when you consider which way you want to go. For some, paying $50-$60 for the trip is a lot better way to travel than paying $40+ for gas and driving for 3 hours.
Man, I've always wanted to ask somebody who rode a motorcycle long distance this : 1) I drive late at night, so it may not be as bad in the daytime, but I know what my windshield looks like after driving from Dallas to Houston and vice versa - bug graveyard. Don't y'all get hit by this stuff, too??? lol. 2) When it's 100 degrees outside, does it feel like you're piloting your way through a blow dryer? I mean, I know the wind is blowing through your hair, yada yada, but that's hot/humid air! 3) Do you ever get pelted by rocks? I swear my car gets pelted all the time, but then it's a larger target, too.
