To Drive or Fly? Fuel Costs Predictions for October

[ksaubier]

It’s a tough choice. If vacation days are limited, flying saves time… but renting a vehicle and trying to get meat home on a plane with all your gear is a consideration. If I had the time… I’d always prefer to drive but it costs me too many days.

 

[GotDraw?]

I have flown a lot in past 2 mos.
Airfares during late Aug and Sept have DROPPED a lot in the past month (even for booking close to departure date).

Re-check flight costs if you have not looked in a while, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Best,
JL

 

[Mdfowlman2]

It’s a tough choice. If vacation days are limited, flying saves time… but renting a vehicle and trying to get meat home on a plane with all your gear is a consideration. If I had the time… I’d always prefer to drive but it costs me too many days.

Honestly flying meat home isn’t all that big of a deal, if you’ve done your planning.
A processed elk is 2-50 qt coolers packed at under 100lbs each.
If they’re extra bags your cost is $300 for the

I have flown a lot in past 2 mos.
Airfares during late Aug and Sept have DROPPED a lot in the past month (even for booking close to departure date).

Re-check flight costs if you have not looked in a while, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Best,
JL

whats been your experience with delays and cancellations?

 

[GotDraw?]

Honestly flying meat home isn’t all that big of a deal, if you’ve done your planning.
A processed elk is 2-50 qt coolers packed at under 100lbs each.
If they’re extra bags your cost is $300 for the

whats been your experience with delays and cancellations?

I have had BOTH delays and cancellations
AND
I have turned the tables and re-booked/rescheduled at the last minute with United (with either NO charge or a small fee of perhaps $50). They have been great.

RE Delays/Cancellations:

• Do NOT connect fly through O'Hare. They are the worst for weather. If you are flying when it is colder, then make your connections in the Southern US. Stick to DEN, DFW, IAD, Houston for connections. There is a list you can Google of airports with frequent delays.
  • 3x times I flew through O'hare in the past 2yrs= 1st time- slept on a cot in the airport, all outbound flights cancelled/weather and no hotels available, 2nd time- spent night in a hotel, flight cancelled, 3rd time- delayed 3hrs...
• Fly non-stop/direct if you can
• Make sure your cell number is associated with your reservation for every airline so you get updates
• If you cannot fly non-stop, fly early in the morning to beat thunderstorms if you're flying in early Sept (at least for your outbound leg to go hunt) Who cares if you're late getting home on that return leg?
• If you cannot fly early in the morning, leave a solid 2hrs minimum between your connecting flights in case of delay. This sucks, but it is CHEAP insurance. Actually, leaving a large window between flights on critical flights like HUNTING trips is always a good plan.
  • REMEMBER THIS- IF YOU MISS A CONNECTION, YOU HAVE ZERO PRIORITY ON THE NEXT FLIGHTS. EVERYONE ELSE THAT HAS SEATS BOOKED ON FUTURE FLIGHTS HAS THEIR SEATS AND YOU HAVE TO FIND A VACANT SEAT. Therefore, if a couple flights to a small airport in CO, etc get cancelled on one day due to storms then you might find yourself SOL for a couple days looking for an empty seat. This really impacts small airports, not a real problem for DEN.
  • Program your airline's ticket reservation phone number into your phone. Before you fly, make sure you have each airlines' app loaded on your phone so they can text you RE delays, gate changes, luggage carousels, etc.
• THE Instant you get any inkling your flight schedule may be getting delayed, get on the phone with the airline and move your next leg later. If you wait until a major delay is announced all the Platinum, Diamond, 100k milers, etc will have their flights automatically rebooked before you can open your mouth to say "oh-sh*t". And you will have no options because there may be no seats left.
• In rifle season, do NOT fly via high altitude airports that service ski areas. You are asking for weather/snow delays and perhaps multiple days to get out due to overbooking.

Them's my thoughts.

JL

 

[Mdfowlman2]

I have had BOTH delays and cancellations
AND
I have turned the tables and re-booked/rescheduled at the last minute with United (with either NO charge or a small fee of perhaps $50). They have been great.

RE Delays/Cancellations:

• Do NOT connect fly through O'Hare. They are the worst for weather. If you are flying when it is colder, then make your connections in the Southern US. Stick to DEN, DFW, IAD, Houston for connections. There is a list you can Google of airports with frequent delays.
  • 3x times I flew through O'hare in the past 2yrs= 1st time- slept on a cot in the airport, all outbound flights cancelled/weather and no hotels available, 2nd time- spent night in a hotel, flight cancelled, 3rd time- delayed 3hrs...
• Fly non-stop/direct if you can
• Make sure your cell number is associated with your reservation for every airline so you get updates
• If you cannot fly non-stop, fly early in the morning to beat thunderstorms if you're flying in early Sept (at least for your outbound leg to go hunt) Who cares if you're late getting home on that return leg?
• If you cannot fly early in the morning, leave a solid 2hrs minimum between your connecting flights in case of delay. This sucks, but it is CHEAP insurance. Actually, leaving a large window between flights on critical flights like HUNTING trips is always a good plan.
  • REMEMBER THIS- IF YOU MISS A CONNECTION, YOU HAVE ZERO PRIORITY ON THE NEXT FLIGHTS. EVERYONE ELSE THAT HAS SEATS BOOKED ON FUTURE FLIGHTS HAS THEIR SEATS AND YOU HAVE TO FIND A VACANT SEAT. Therefore, if a couple flights to a small airport in CO, etc get cancelled on one day due to storms then you might find yourself SOL for a couple days looking for an empty seat. This really impacts small airports, not a real problem for DEN.
  • Program your airline's ticket reservation phone number into your phone. Before you fly, make sure you have each airlines' app loaded on your phone so they can text you RE delays, gate changes, luggage carousels, etc.
• THE Instant you get any inkling your flight schedule may be getting delayed, get on the phone with the airline and move your next leg later. If you wait until a major delay is announced all the Platinum, Diamond, 100k milers, etc will have their flights automatically rebooked before you can open your mouth to say "oh-sh*t". And you will have no options because there may be no seats left.
• In rifle season, do NOT fly via high altitude airports that service ski areas. You are asking for weather/snow delays and perhaps multiple days to get out due to overbooking.

Them's my thoughts.

JL

Wow. All great advice.
We fly out of BWI into Denver then onto Bozeman, unfortunately it has to be a mid day flight due to getting my daughter onto the school bus. We do have a almost 4hr layover in Denver, went that route to help with a possible delay on the first leg of our flight.

 

[Indian Summer]

The very first elk hunt I ever did was a guided bow hunt in Montana. The weather in Missoula was terrible so they flew us to Kalispel and drove us to Missoula in a bus the next day. That didn’t work out too well.

One time I flew into Jackson Wyoming and a partner picked me up at the airport. That was awesome. But I knew all my gear was accounted for. Someone still had to drive.

 

[Indian Summer]

Wall tent, stove, chainsaws you sure your not doing the guided hunt?
I’m happy you love the idea of driving, your more comfortable with going that route. If I had unlimited hunting days I’d probably drive also.
We drove a 5k mile round trip last year, I thoroughly enjoyed the drive. We took far too much unnecessary gear with us burned 350ish gallons of diesel fuel (approx $2k at today’s price), spent $270ish in tolls and burned 3 total days driving and we drove straight through both ways. Once we weighed our options flying made more sense for “OUR” situation.
Same cost as driving, we pick up at minimum an extra full day of hunting.
Kill One the last day and we can just as easily drive the meat home if need be.

You don’t take tents and chainsaws and n guided hunts. Are you hunting with an outfitter or shipping gear?

 

[Mdfowlman2]

You don’t take tents and chainsaws and n guided hunts. Are you hunting with an outfitter or shipping gear?

We run a midsize tipi weighs 4lbs and takes up next to no space. We have come to realize, if you don’t need a big lavish camp setup, you can go with very little gear and still be comfortable. If I was on a late season rifle hunt I could see wanting the wall tent and stove.
We are early archery and we are gone all day, we leave camp before first light and don’t come
Back until after dark.
Everything we are taking can be flown out with us at no additional charge, he’ll we even have a 72qt cooler making the trip as on our our check bags packed with the tipi, sleeping pads, jetboils
And some other misc gear.
We will be hitting Walmart once we get there to grab butane for our small cooktop and jet boils, and some other small camp items (trash bags,paper plates, couple food items)

 

[Indian Summer]

We run a midsize tipi weighs 4lbs and takes up next to no space. We have come to realize, if you don’t need a big lavish camp setup, you can go with very little gear and still be comfortable. If I was on a late season rifle hunt I could see wanting the wall tent and stove.
We are early archery and we are gone all day, we leave camp before first light and don’t come
Back until after dark.
Everything we are taking can be flown out with us at no additional charge, he’ll we even have a 72qt cooler making the trip as on our our check bags packed with the tipi, sleeping pads, jetboils
And some other misc gear.
We will be hitting Walmart once we get there to grab butane for our small cooktop and jet boils, and some other small camp items (trash bags,paper plates, couple food items)

I see…. Minimalists. I did that. 35 years ago. I enjoy heat. It’s good for drying clothes and just to eliminate condensation. Standing up and being able to walk around inside is nice too. But yes I’m rife hunting.

 

[Mdfowlman2]

I see…. Minimalists. I did that. 35 years ago. I enjoy heat. It’s good for drying clothes and just to eliminate condensation. Standing up and being able to walk around inside is nice too. But yes I’m rife hunting.

That’s my one gripe, I’m 6’3” and cannot stand up in the tipi, those times I’m wishing for the wall tent

 

[isItFallYet]

I’ve done the flying thing and I’ve Fedex’d meat and freight mailed antlers/mounts home for a relatively cheap price $250 and $200 respectively. I prefer to drive, it’s part of the experience for me. I have as many days of PTO and I want and my company plans for me being out for most of September. I was always concerned about the airline losing my luggage, which has happened multiple times. What would one do in that situation? A buddy of mine had his luggage lost once on a snowboarding trip to Banff. Delta let him buy a new board and new gear but that would not work so well if you had to buy a new bow/gun.

 

[Mdfowlman2]

I had some time at work that was use it or lose it before April, so I took the opportunity to fly out to my hunt area with everything

I’ve done the flying thing and I’ve Fedex’d meat and freight mailed antlers/mounts home for a relatively cheap price $250 and $200 respectively. I prefer to drive, it’s part of the experience for me. I have as many days of PTO and I want and my company plans for me being out for most of September. I was always concerned about the airline losing my luggage, which has happened multiple times. What would one do in that situation? A buddy of mine had his luggage lost once on a snowboarding trip to Banff. Delta let him buy a new board and new gear but that would not work so well if you had to buy a new bow/gun.

You just have to wait until you stuff is found. There’s three of us so someone would have a weapon. Not saying I don’t believe everyone that says they lost luggage, with that said it’s not all that common for everyone on here to have had the issue. The airlines average 4ish delayed/mishandled bags per 1000.
That’s a .4% chance of having your luggage lost or delayed. Hell you have a better chance of drawing a sheep tag

 

[isItFallYet]

I had some time at work that was use it or lose it before April, so I took the opportunity to fly out to my hunt area with everything

You just have to wait until you stuff is found. There’s three of us so someone would have a weapon. Not saying I don’t believe everyone that says they lost luggage, with that said it’s not all that common for everyone on here to have had the issue. The airlines average 4ish delayed/mishandled bags per 1000.
That’s a .4% chance of having your luggage lost or delayed. Hell you have a better chance of drawing a sheep tag

Not sure where those statistics come from, but I’ve had my luggage lost a lot. So much that I started using carry-ons only. Maybe I was just lucky.

On a side note, I’m not looking forward to the diesel price this year.

I guess another pro for renting a vehicle is not having to put the wear and tear on your own vehicle. I rented an F150 in Billings one year to scout for an archery elk hunt in WY. The truck had obviously been through multiple scout/hunts trips before because it was already scratched to hell.

 

[Bolt]

I have a 31 hour drive each way, I don't care if gas is $10 a gallon its not worth the hassle of dealing with the airlines, lost luggage, damaged gun list goes on.
Im going to Alaska in 2025 and that is the only time I will fly again.

 

[joel_sledz]

I’m solo this year which is causing me to fly. Flying in to Denver and then a 3 hr ride from there. Any advice/options to get away from the $750 rental car? I only need the car to get there and get back. No moving spots or anything. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Mdfowlman2]

I’m solo this year which is causing me to fly. Flying in to Denver and then a 3 hr ride from there. Any advice/options to get away from the $750 rental car? I only need the car to get there and get back. No moving spots or anything. Any help would be appreciated!

Look at Turo, rentals are very reasonable

 

[Beaglegun]

Lets Go Brandon!

 

[Charlie Brown]

Flight got booked today. Southwest flight I was watching dropped $100 so it was time to pull the trigger. 3weeks in the mountains