4 ms·

This isn't limited to the US. For the trip distances we're talking about here European trains are often just as expensive as flying if not more so.

hadlock 3y ago
European trains will take you from city center to city center with little to no security line. If you go by air, first you need to leave the city to go to the airport, hand off your luggage to a stranger with the promise it will be reunited with you, go through dense security, wait an hour for your plane to arrive, funnel through a single door, sit in a tiny cramped seat, then wait for the whole plane to exit through a single door, go find your luggage, then find ground transportation to the city center. Any trip that involves air travel instantly adds 3 hours to the process. More if you are planning to go to the airport during rush hour.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > Any trip that involves air travel instantly adds 3 hours to the process I show up 30 minutes before boarding at my small American airport. Add 20 minutes for travel to the airport and 45 for getting out and you’re sitting comfortably at 90 minutes + flight time door to door to anywhere in the world. In Europe, I agree, it was closed to 90 minutes pre and post flight plus travel time to and from the airport.
  - hadlock 3y ago
    How true is your experience at a major international airport, which most travelers use.
    - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      > How true is your experience at a major international airport, which most travelers use I show up to JFK about 45 minutes before boarding in the early weekday AM, or, if I have the misfortune of having to check a bag, about 75 minutes before. (Same for SFO, PHX and IAD.) American airports are far more efficient, for frequent fliers, than European ones are for Europeans. For good measure. They get it right. If you're rich in Europe, take the train.
    - devilbunny 3y ago
      Depends on the major international airport, but DFW and BOS (Dallas-Fort Worth and Boston) are both fine. My wife flies to DFW from a small airport and back frequently, to see her parents. It's really not much different in terms of time to check in and clear security if you have Precheck (though at airports with multiple security screening areas, do notice which ones offer Precheck at what hours so you don't have to do the slow screen), though the small airport will sometimes let things slide that big airports won't [0], especially if the TSA agents recognize you personally. Her parents even live a shorter drive away from DFW than we do from our small airport. [0] American Airlines at my small airport, for two early-morning flights to different destinations, had all checked baggage going through one agent whose intervention was required for every. single. bag. even if checked in with a kiosk. Of course there was no way we could get the bags on, so we were going to miss the flight. But we went through TSA (both Global Entry/Precheck) with obviously too-big bags and liquids, and they said "no way that's a carry-on", and we said we were going to have the gate agent check it for us, and they said good luck. We made the flight.
- xboxnolifes 3y ago
  3 hours maybe for international travel. Nearly all of my airport door-to-gate times have been under an hour, with very few exceptions. No TSA-PreCheck either. This includes international airports.

hadlock 3y ago

European trains will take you from city center to city center with little to no security line. If you go by air, first you need to leave the city to go to the airport, hand off your luggage to a stranger with the promise it will be reunited with you, go through dense security, wait an hour for your plane to arrive, funnel through a single door, sit in a tiny cramped seat, then wait for the whole plane to exit through a single door, go find your luggage, then find ground transportation to the city center. Any trip that involves air travel instantly adds 3 hours to the process. More if you are planning to go to the airport during rush hour.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> Any trip that involves air travel instantly adds 3 hours to the process I show up 30 minutes before boarding at my small American airport. Add 20 minutes for travel to the airport and 45 for getting out and you’re sitting comfortably at 90 minutes + flight time door to door to anywhere in the world. In Europe, I agree, it was closed to 90 minutes pre and post flight plus travel time to and from the airport.
- hadlock 3y ago
  How true is your experience at a major international airport, which most travelers use.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > How true is your experience at a major international airport, which most travelers use I show up to JFK about 45 minutes before boarding in the early weekday AM, or, if I have the misfortune of having to check a bag, about 75 minutes before. (Same for SFO, PHX and IAD.) American airports are far more efficient, for frequent fliers, than European ones are for Europeans. For good measure. They get it right. If you're rich in Europe, take the train.
  - devilbunny 3y ago
    Depends on the major international airport, but DFW and BOS (Dallas-Fort Worth and Boston) are both fine. My wife flies to DFW from a small airport and back frequently, to see her parents. It's really not much different in terms of time to check in and clear security if you have Precheck (though at airports with multiple security screening areas, do notice which ones offer Precheck at what hours so you don't have to do the slow screen), though the small airport will sometimes let things slide that big airports won't [0], especially if the TSA agents recognize you personally. Her parents even live a shorter drive away from DFW than we do from our small airport. [0] American Airlines at my small airport, for two early-morning flights to different destinations, had all checked baggage going through one agent whose intervention was required for every. single. bag. even if checked in with a kiosk. Of course there was no way we could get the bags on, so we were going to miss the flight. But we went through TSA (both Global Entry/Precheck) with obviously too-big bags and liquids, and they said "no way that's a carry-on", and we said we were going to have the gate agent check it for us, and they said good luck. We made the flight.
xboxnolifes 3y ago
3 hours maybe for international travel. Nearly all of my airport door-to-gate times have been under an hour, with very few exceptions. No TSA-PreCheck either. This includes international airports.