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Should You Fly Or Drive? Calculator Helps You Decide

BeFrugal.com's calculator adds up fuel costs, time spent flying or driving, and the environmental impact

Is it cheaper to fly or drive? A new calculator can help you find out (xlibber and danorth1, Flickr).

by: Sharon Silke Carty

from: http://autos.aol.com/

As someone who routinely has to take long car rides from Michigan to New Jersey to visit family, I often find myself somewhere on Route 80 in the middle of Pennsylvania wishing I'd flown.

We live right at the border of where driving home seems reasonable. If we lived in Chicago – or even two hours away in Grand Rapids -- I doubt we'd ever drive back to New Jersey.

But we do. With three antsy kids in the back, a husband resistant to bathroom breaks (because each stop adds a half hour on to our already 10-hour drive), and spotty cellphone coverage along the route, it's easy to think flying would be easier. If it weren't for that pesky TSA, the checked baggage fee, and having to pay for five airplane tickets, flying would be a no-brainer.

Thankfully, there is now a tool for people who often debate whether or not it makes sense to fly or drive. BeFrugal.com's Fly Or Drive Calculator compares the time and cost of flying versus driving. It asks you where you're going, when you're going, what you would drive if you were driving, and how much you'd pay for a hotel if you had to stay overnight. It also adds in the cost of parking at the airport if you're flying, plus car rental costs.

And for folks interested in their environmental impact, it calculates the carbon dioxide impact for each mode of travel. It also tells you how many hours you'll spend in the car or in the airport.

These days, it's hard to balance the cost of gas versus the hassle of flying. BeFrugal's calculator helped me plan an upcoming trip to New Jersey – I think I'll drive. But I've got another trip coming up, this time to Cape Cod. According to the calculator, that trip would take way too long to drive, and wouldn't save me much money if I figure in that I'll have to stop and sleep somewhere after 12 hours of driving.

I ran some of my upcoming trips through the calculator, and here's what I found:

To my mom's house in New Jersey: Flying would take 5 hours, 7 minutes door-to-door, and cost $1,595 for five people. Our carbon footprint would be 4,279 pounds. Driving would take 10 hours, 54 minutes (not sure if that includes rest stops), and would cost $306.57. Our carbon footprint would be 1,294 pounds. Verdict: We'll drive

To a wedding in Plymouth, Mass.: Flying would take 5 hours and 32 minutes, and cost $414. Carbon impact is 1,216 pounds. Driving, on the other hand, takes 14 hours and 14 minutes, and would cost $389.78. Carbon impact is higher, given my car is a 2005 Buick Rendezvous, at 1,698 pounds. Verdict: That's easy. My plane ticket is already booked.

To visit a friend in Marietta, Ga.: Flying would take 5 hours, 23 minutes, and would cost $1,320 for five people (and no checked luggage). Carbon impact is 5,186 pounds. Driving would take 11 hours, 15 minutes, and would cost $327.30. Carbon footprint would be 1,395. Verdict: Again, the cost makes this a no-brainer. We'll drive.

To go skiing in Colorado: My husband sometimes entertains the idea that we'll all drive to our annual ski trip, instead of fly. Flying takes the whole day: The calculator says it takes 7 hours, 57 minutes door to door, and costs $1,755. Carbon footprint of 8,564 pounds. Driving, on the other hand, takes 1 14-hour day of driving, plus another 7 hours and 17 minutes on the road. Driving would cost $1,033, and gives us a carbon impact of 2,640 pounds. Verdict: Flying would be the best option for my marriage.

The New Way to Find the Best Airfare Deals

By: Aleksandra Todorova
From: http://www.mint.com/
 


If you’re like most bargain airfare seekers, chances are your flight shopping goes something like this:
1. Go to Kayak.com or Orbitz.com. Or Priceline.com, Hotwire.com, or Travelocity.com. Or all of the above.
2. Search for the lowest fares for your desired travel dates and destination.
3. Repeat.

Please. That is so 2001. Allow us to fly you into 2010 and beyond, with some new tricks for scoring airfare deals.

These days, websites alert you when particularly great deals become available out of your local airport to your desired destinations — not to mention the ones that actually predict what airfares will look like in the near future so you can adjust your travel plans accordingly. There are even services that enable you to get some cash back if prices fall after you’ve purchased your tickets.
Interested?

In the video above, WalletPop.com editor at large Jason Cochran walks you through the details, with specific advice on which websites to visit in order to get the best travel deals.

Instead of starting off your search at the sites we mentioned above, for example, Cochran’s advice is to sign up for the free email alerts from AirfareWatchdog.com and all airlines that fly out of your home airport: this way you’ll know when tickets go on sale and can even create your vacation’s itinerary around the most affordable airfare routes.

Next, swing by Bing Travel and Momondo.com: those websites try to predict airfares based on historical data.

Finally, these days your search for deals doesn’t end with the ticket purchase. If the price of your flight falls any time after that, you can get some of your money back thanks to new websites that alert you to those changes.

For more details, watch the video above, or on WalletPop.com.

Ryanair introduces toilet tax and family tax. Has it gone too far?

Sarah Coles

From: http://www.walletpop.co.uk/ 

Ryanair is the ultimate test of the power of irritation. The stealth charges, the obnoxious announcements and the cheek with which they consider things like luggage and a sip of water as optional extras people should be forced to pay for. They are enough to bring out the fury in even the most mild-mannered traveller.

However, at the same time, the airline remains competitive - forcing us to choose whether to opt for cheap and cheerless and live with the irritation, or pay more for the flight.

It's a tough call, but Ryanair has just announced new stealth charges which could tip the balance.

It will introduce a charge for using the toilet. It'll cost you £1 or 1 euro to spend a penny, and the toilets will be coin operated. To add insult to injury they are also cutting the number of onboard toilets, to just one. So if you're caught short not only will you have to pay for the privilege of using the loo, but you'll also have to queue with the other 180 odd passengers first.

The charge will be introduced after the summer holiday rush.

This charge particularly rankles, because unlike other stealth charges, like the overpriced food or paying with a credit card, you can hardly avoid paying this tax through taking extra care. You could dehydrate yourself, or bring a small bottle and a blanket, but you run the risk of serious illness or arrest for indecency - neither of which seem worth it in order to save £1.

Ryanair has also announced it will boost the charge for checking in luggage from £15 to £20 during the summer holidays. Spokesman Stephen McNamara said: 'We are determined to incentivise passengers to travel light this summer by increasing our checked-in baggage fees for the months of July and August only."

This is just charming. Clearly the families travelling at this time are the ones who need luggage. You can hardly go away with young kids toting a small handbag and a change of clothes. They'll get through the first change of clothes rolling around the floor in the departure lounge.

So what can you do about it?

Same as always. Shop around for your flights and be sure to factor in all these charges when you do. Then you have a decision to make. Do you live with the irritation in the hunt for a bargain, or do you vote with your feet?

Personally I walked away from Ryanair years ago, opting to fly less rather than allow irritation to destroy the first day of the break, and finish a holiday on a low note. But what do you think? Has it gone too far this time?

Airline appears serious about pay toilets

by Karen Datko

Travelers on European budget carrier Ryanair will likely have to start paying for bathroom use, and may wish they had a wooden (think hollow) leg.

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary told the Guardian newspaper in England that he's serious about charging for toilet access -- an idea he had earlier bandied about -- and also plans to reduce the number of bathrooms on his Boeing 737-800 jets from three to one.

Those bathrooms will be replaced with six more seats -- "which means more passengers will stand in line longer for the privilege of paying to potty. This can't be good for beverage cart sales," wrote Rob Manker at ChicagoTribune.com.

O'Leary said he's asked Boeing to look into placing credit card readers on bathroom locks in new Ryanair planes and making that seat adjustment. The price to potty would be £1, or about $1.60, when it takes effect within two years.

"We are flying aircraft on an average flight time of one hour around Europe," O'Leary said. "What the hell do we need three toilets for?"

Hmm. Perhaps because the 737-800 seats 162 to 189 passengers, depending on the seat configuration, not including O'Leary's extra seats.

Carl Unger at Smarter Travel commented, "To be fair, I can see his point. Ryanair essentially acts as a bus service in the sky .... Of course, your average 737 carries three times as many passengers as your average long-distance bus."

Seeing may be believing when it comes to O'Leary, who the Guardian says is known as "O'Really" because he doesn't always mean what he says. However, it's true that O'Leary has never met an airline fee he didn't like.

In fact, ChicagoTribune.com says, "There are reports O'Leary is also tossing around the idea of requiring passengers to load their own luggage onto jets, so that the airline can cut costs by not having baggage handlers."

Stateside travelers aren't immune from rising fees. Starting Wednesday, June 10, United Airlines customers who don't pay their checked-baggage fees online will start paying an extra $5 at the airport, ChicagoTribune.com says. That will amount to $20 for the first bag and $30 for the second. US Airways will follow suit in July.