Woot, it cost about the same to fly my Mooney from Houston to Dallas as it does to take the Vonlane

[McMooney]

It's way cheaper to fly myself and the wife to dallas than the Vonlane bus.

Woot, finally got a win.

 

17g @ $5.50  < 135$ one way bus ticket

 

Edited March 18, 2024 by McMooney

[A64Pilot]

What is a Vonlane Bus?

Its way cheaper to fly my Mooney fuel wise than drive my Motorhome.

In fact so far the Mooney has been WAY cheaper than the Motorhome.

 

I just looked it up, if it was going where I needed to I think I might take that Bus, I certainly would over Commercial flying

[bcg]

I do San Antonio, well Kerrville actually, to Dallas pretty regularly.  Typically burn 28 gallons round trip but, it turns what would be 13 hours of driving into less than 4 hours of flying.  I'm pretty sure I spend less flying than it would cost to make the drive.

[Jorge0272]

I used to fly a Grumman Tiger from Miami to Tampa. It was cheaper and a LOT quicker than driving my truck. Miss that plane!

[Pinecone]

GSA reimbursement rate for gov travel is 67 cents per mile for a car.  It is $1.76 per mile for your airplane.

The $1.76 per mile, works out to $354 per hour for my 252 at cruise (also converting to statute miles for cruise speed).  I need to figure out some trips I can take and fly.

But they do typically cap the payment to the cost of traveling by commercial air.  But that would include parking, driving to/from the airport (or taxi/Uber).

[McMooney]

17 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

What is a Vonlane Bus?

Its way cheaper to fly my Mooney fuel wise than drive my Motorhome.

In fact so far the Mooney has been WAY cheaper than the Motorhome.

 

I just looked it up, if it was going where I needed to I think I might take that Bus, I certainly would over Commercial flying

Vonlane is a bus service between texas cities,  i think houston-dallas-sat-austin, really nice

Vonlane - www.vonlane.com

 

 

[JayMatt]

3 hours ago, Pinecone said:

GSA reimbursement rate for gov travel is 67 cents per mile for a car.  It is $1.76 per mile for your airplane.

The $1.76 per mile, works out to $354 per hour for my 252 at cruise (also converting to statute miles for cruise speed).  I need to figure out some trips I can take and fly.

But they do typically cap the payment to the cost of traveling by commercial air.  But that would include parking, driving to/from the airport (or taxi/Uber).

First class or the cheapest ticket you can find? And how would they back that up or accuse you of wrong doing? Maybe take a snap shot of the flight cost when you take your own plane? 

I was talking to my CPA about using my plane to pick up some product for our business. She was saying I could even claim depreciating value on my plane now. I am also very curious how the mileage works. 

[A64Pilot]

I think but am not sure it’s Statute miles not Nautical and possibly you get the milage from a driving App.

I never did the milage thing with my aircraft though so unsure

[A64Pilot]

8 hours ago, McMooney said:

Vonlane is a bus service between texas cities,  i think houston-dallas-sat-austin, really nice

Vonlane - www.vonlane.com

 

 

Yeah I looked it up, looks like a deal to me. I won’t fly Commercial unless I have to, sure Business class is fine once you get on the airplane but all the drama and hassle you have to go through before hand makes it where I don’t want to go, yiu skip all that with that bus and I bet the bus is actually faster.

Public transportation when I was in Germany was exceptional, mostly because of the people that took the bus were middle class, not what we have in the US.

I had a Crew Chief that worked for me that built City Busses as a Civilian, he told me that they built the entry steps from fiberglass because urine rotted out steel.

Think about that for a second

 

 

[Pinecone]

9 hours ago, JayMatt said:

First class or the cheapest ticket you can find? And how would they back that up or accuse you of wrong doing? Maybe take a snap shot of the flight cost when you take your own plane? 

I was talking to my CPA about using my plane to pick up some product for our business. She was saying I could even claim depreciating value on my plane now. I am also very curious how the mileage works. 

You do a cost construct.  It is a form where you list the costs of the "normally way of traveling" and what you are doing.  They will only pay the lower of the two numbers.

This would include if you wanted to drive a very long distance that was not for a relocation.

The reimbursement rates are what the General Services Administration sets as the full cost of that means of travel.  So the $1.76 includes fuel, oil, insurance, maintenance, wear and tear, and depreciation.

The air fare is based on economy for domestic travel.  There are provisions for business class for long flights, but not all agencies or even all parts of some agencies will send you business class.  Although, if the trip meets the requirements to be business class, if you are flying economy, you get a 24 hour rest stop along the way.  So you get overnights in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore and other horrible places.

On top of that, there are contract fares, which are negotiated for the entire year.  And those are the fare basis for cost constuct.

[Danb]

Going from Delaware to Texas in my Mooney going home commercial I can’t stomach going back commercial so I’m looking at a one way car rental which I did last year, they gouge us on one way renting but considering I don’t want to do both so  I’m driving one way, I guess dumb can’t always make decisions based on cost. Anyone want to fly me down I’m in..

[McMooney]

23 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

Yeah I looked it up, looks like a deal to me. I won’t fly Commercial unless I have to, sure Business class is fine once you get on the airplane but all the drama and hassle you have to go through before hand makes it where I don’t want to go, yiu skip all that with that bus and I bet the bus is actually faster.

Public transportation when I was in Germany was exceptional, mostly because of the people that took the bus were middle class, not what we have in the US.

I had a Crew Chief that worked for me that built City Busses as a Civilian, he told me that they built the entry steps from fiberglass because urine rotted out steel.

Think about that for a second

 

 

Houston - Dallas is that perfect range  4ish hours where commercial flying/driving/busses etc.. all take the same time, it's all about which mode of travel you can stomach

Edited March 20, 2024 by McMooney

[A64Pilot]

It’s been years but just to get through the Atl airport by the time you include traffic, parking etc was sometimes three hours or more depending how backed up the lines were but to make your flight you had to plan worst case, then add in whatever it’s going to take to clear the arrival airport if you had checked bags is over an hour, so that’s four hours without flight time, if you have a connecting flight that could add hours more. Then all the fat people bringing their bags of Mcdonald’s food on the airplane, crying babies and the freaks, people who immediately on coming onto the airplane that stuff their bags in the overhead up front, not where they are seated etc., makes that Bus look awful good to me, one assumes you skip all that and if you have bags they are in the basement of the Bus, so they don’t get lost.

I’m assuming the Bus leaves some kind of small terminal and yiu don’t have to be X-rayed etc?

Back in the day you went straight to your gate, then flying Commercial was OK and the Walmart shoppers took the Bus, seems like that’s flipping now in some cases.

 

[bcg]

17 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

It’s been years but just to get through the Atl airport by the time you include traffic, parking etc was sometimes three hours or more depending how backed up the lines were but to make your flight you had to plan worst case, then add in whatever it’s going to take to clear the arrival airport if you had checked bags is over an hour, so that’s four hours without flight time, if you have a connecting flight that could add hours more. Then all the fat people bringing their bags of Mcdonald’s food on the airplane, crying babies and the freaks, people who immediately on coming onto the airplane that stuff their bags in the overhead up front, not where they are seated etc., makes that Bus look awful good to me, one assumes you skip all that and if you have bags they are in the basement of the Bus, so they don’t get lost.

I’m assuming the Bus leaves some kind of small terminal and yiu don’t have to be X-rayed etc?

Back in the day you went straight to your gate, then flying Commercial was OK and the Walmart shoppers took the Bus, seems like that’s flipping now in some cases.

 

When I still lived in Houston, I dropped someone off to catch that bus once.  They just picked you up in a parking lot downtown, no terminal or anything.  That was probably 10 years ago though, it may have changed since then.

[McMooney]

18 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

It’s been years but just to get through the Atl airport by the time you include traffic, parking etc was sometimes three hours or more depending how backed up the lines were but to make your flight you had to plan worst case, then add in whatever it’s going to take to clear the arrival airport if you had checked bags is over an hour, so that’s four hours without flight time, if you have a connecting flight that could add hours more. Then all the fat people bringing their bags of Mcdonald’s food on the airplane, crying babies and the freaks, people who immediately on coming onto the airplane that stuff their bags in the overhead up front, not where they are seated etc., makes that Bus look awful good to me, one assumes you skip all that and if you have bags they are in the basement of the Bus, so they don’t get lost.

I’m assuming the Bus leaves some kind of small terminal and yiu don’t have to be X-rayed etc?

Back in the day you went straight to your gate, then flying Commercial was OK and the Walmart shoppers took the Bus, seems like that’s flipping now in some cases.

 

They Pick you up at the entrance to the Hyatt Regency and drop you off at a Hyatt or Hilton, no security, no lines

 

Personally, my favorite mode of travel is trains,  all the room you could need, beds, people bringing you food and drinks.

I travel almost exclusively by train when i go to europe, wish we had more here

Edited March 21, 2024 by McMooney