Is It Cheaper to Drive or Fly for Your Next Vacation? It’s Complicated

With gas prices hovering around $4 in most of the country and security lines at major airports snarled due to the partial government shutdown that has impacted the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), millions of Americans who normally travel for Spring Break and early summer trips are debating if they should drive or fly.

The average price of gas rose to $3.96 per gallon on March 23, up from an average of $3.72 per gallon a week ago on March 16, according to the AAA Auto Club.

The increase comes as the Trump administration is deploying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to several federal airports to help ease security lines that have snarled and caused some passengers to miss their flights. Many airports are now recommending that passengers arrive 3 hours ahead of their scheduled departure times for domestic flights, up from a prior recommendation of 2 hours for domestic travel and 3 hours for international travel.

With all of that in mind, the USA TODAY Cars team took a look at some factors you should consider while deciding if you should drive or fly for your next vacation and we included a Kayak.com calculator you can use to crunch the numbers yourself.

How to Decide Whether to Drive or Fly

The website ThePointsGuy.com says you should consider the following factors when deciding if you should drive or fly:

How many people are in your travel party? The cost of flying adds up quickly if you add in multiple family members like a spouse or children, even when you’re flying on carriers that are known as budget airlines. Remember that most airlines charge full price for all passengers who are over two-years-old!
What is the time commitment? Most Americans take road trips that averaged between six to 10 hours, based on 2024 data compiled by Statista.com. Meanwhile, TSA wait times at the busiest US airports averaged multiple hours on Monday, March 23.
Cost of gas and maybe hotels for longer road trips vs. cost of plane tickets? Road trips can require multiple fill ups and maybe an overnight hotel stay to break up longer drives. The cost of flying can involve more than just buying tickets. Most airlines charge for checked bags, and some budget airlines also charge for carry-on bags.

How to Calculate the Cost of Driving Versus Flying

Kayak has a calculator on their website that you can use to compare costs between driving and flying.

You can use that calculator to enter your point of origin and destination and which month you plan to travel and it will estimate your expected costs for flying and driving based on an analysis of current and historical minimum roundtrip flight prices for one traveler and average car rental prices in the past 31 days.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is it cheaper to drive or fly for your next vacation? It’s complicated

Reporting by Keith Laing, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect