Origins Update

[Thermodyne]

Columbus must be in another country or something. From DC it’s a six hour flight! I can fly to LA faster than that. Seriously, it only takes 7 hours to drive it, must not be much demand for flight from DC to Columbus. 3 hours or so and I was considering making a day trip of it, but 6 hours each way is not really doable..

They should move it to a city with good air conections, someplace like Atlanta.

[ June 28, 2003, 13:37: Message edited by: Thermodyne ]

[geoschmo]

Thermo, too late now but your best bet probably would have been to drive to Baltimore and fly southwest. They have a hop twice a day, a one hour flight and less then 100 bucks each way.

Colmbus is actually quite well known among air travellers as a good airport because of the large number of flights to and from and the relativly low fares. I guess direct between Columbus and DC is kind of sparse, but there are a bunch of airports around DC that do have direct flights to Columbus.

Geoschmo

[Thermodyne]

BWI, yek. I checked Dulles, Washington National, and Hagerstown. BWI is just awful for flying out of. No way to get to it by subway, and it’s a 90 minute drive. Not to mention what they charge to park within two miles of the terminal. I hate that airport, but what can you expect when a state like Maryland runs it. The security is a *****, less than two hours early and you could miss your flight. Dulles has the same security, but it takes half the time. Dulles is the closest one for me, twenty minutes by car. National is about an hour, but I can take the subway and not worry about parking the car. Hagerstown is the best, It’s about an hour by car, the parking is free and security knows me. I almost had a friend talked into taking me in his 182, but the Columbus forecast was not good for today and we both have to be at work on Monday. 182’s are good planes, but they are not the plane to be in when you have to work the weather. To small to go through it and to slow to go around. Oh well, such is life when you wait to the Last second to plan a day trip. I’ll just have to wait for the Geo report

[ June 29, 2003, 15:15: Message edited by: Thermodyne ]

[General Woundwort]

Originally posted by Thermodyne:
BWI, yek. I checked Dulles, Washington National, and Hagerstown. BWI is just awful for flying out of. No way to get to it by subway, and it’s a 90 minute drive. Not to mention what they charge to park within two miles of the terminal. I hate that airport, but what can you expect when a state like Maryland runs it.

But, on the average, a flight out of BWI is anywhere from 33% to 50% cheaper than National or Dulles. Have you ever taken MARCRail to BWI?

The security is a *****, less than two hours early and you could miss your flight. Dulles has the same security, but it takes half the time. Dulles is the closest one for me, twenty minutes by car. National is about an hour, but I can take the subway and not worry about parking the car. Hagerstown is the best, It’s about an hour by car, the parking is free and security knows me.

That's it, I'm turning you lot in to the TSA.

[Thermodyne]

LOL, The TSA! God save me from them. Being detained by a bunch of idiots who speak English as a second language is cruel and unusual punishment. They are really a pain in the butt.
It’s bad enough that I would set the detector off even if I was butt naked (Not to mention the mass blindness that would cause in the airport). I ran the battery down to zipp on my cell phone
while waiting out a delay in Atlanta. They wouldn’t let me take it on the plane because it
wouldn’t turn on, and my bags were already checked. Scratch one phone.

I could take the Marc, but it would be about a two and a half hour ride if the connections were
quick. BWI is on the Camden line and I’m on the Brunswick line. But I could walk to the train
from my house. I don’t know about the Camden line, But there is little if any weekend service
on the Brunswick side. And it’s all inbound in the AM and outbound in the PM.

Then again I could drive to the subway and take it to DC then take the train to from DC to
BWI and catch the plane. Hmmm....Sounds like a movie.

I think it all comes down to not waiting until Friday to decide to make the trip.

[geoschmo]

I also found some good flights on UsAirways from Reagan to Columbus. One hour nonstop flight. With UsAirways like most airlines though it's all about buying early and staying a couple days. No way I know of to get a fare in the hundred dollar range for a Last minute one day trip except Southwest.

Geoschmo

[Thermodyne]

I was thinking that I would find a flight on one of the commuter planes, but it looks like they
don’t do Columbus on the weekends. Two hours on a turbo prop is kinda of fun, the fly lower,
so you get to see a lot more of the country side.