My daughter was flying last week from Charleston to Vegas to Nashville - to see grandpa. It just so happens that her connection was in our hometown - which like MDW, is a Southwest hub.
The Charleston to Nashville flight was late - their fault obviously - because the gave a hotel to everyone who missed and she was on a 6A the next morning to Vegas - bonus for us, we got to see her
I think - air transportation when going far away is certainly something to think about. But it could be a non-stop flight and still get cancelled.
And I think the reality is - you only go home (hopefully) x times per year - so for me personally, it would be lower down the list.
Cost would also be lower down the list - in this sense. If Rhodes was highly affordable, and that was one reason you chose it - even if you end up spending $1K or $1.500 more during the course of the year overpaying, given the discount at Rhodes you got, the school would still be affordable vs. others.
Obviously, each family has to decide how important this is to them - but for me personally, I wouldnât choose a school based on transportation difficulty. Or typically overpriced transport routes.
This wonât be the last time in life this happens to her - so itâs a good lesson - and it sounds like sheâd handled it well.
And it sounds like she loves Rhodes and has a great friend group - so this will bad trip likely be out of mind in a week when sheâs back on campus.
As an FYI. When our kid started college at Santa Clara, there was a direct flightâŠ$99 each way from San Jose to our airport near here.
By the time she graduated, round trip was over $400 and all had one stop.
But getting to the airport was easy peasy from Santa Clara. The Caltrain station is across from the main entrance to the school. There is a FREE bus that takes all of 10 minutes between the San Jose airport and the Caltrain station.
I think in our case stress issue is a big one, money is secondary. DD had full week of midterms, just had Org Chem test at 8 am and was not ready for this. SW agent said that this was the last ticket out of Memphis to DC for the weekend so if she is interested she has to be in the airport with flight leaving in less than 2 hoursâŠSo without breakfast (could not eat before 8am Org), she packed in less than 10 minutes and jumped into Uber.
I am not sure that anyone could handle it better. She is still shaking but watching movie in Houston (next flight is delayed again)
Our kid attended Middlebury, and itâs 45 minutes to the airport in Burlington and only a few buses a day. There were a few direct flight a day from Chicagoland, but that ended when we moved. So from here to Boston, and from Boston to Burlington, and then figuring out how to get from Burlington to Middlebury. Luckily, by Junior year a very very good friend had a car, and was happy to drive to Burlington to pick her up if my kid missed the bus (there were four a day I think).
Itâs difficult to get to any of the small rural LACs. Of course, getting to and from Champaign-Urbana wasnât all that much easier.
My kid goes to a school where there are 2 flights in a day and 2 flights out. One airline. When things work smoothly, itâs about 5-6 hours travel time. During the snow storm that pummeled the south this year, kid was stuck in Atlanta for 4 days because the destination airport runway wasnât cleared. Flights can be anywhere from 800-1500, because Delta is the only option.
But not unique. Kid at Syracuse had trouble driving to/from sometimes. Kid at UMD had easier travel, but still about 4 hours driving. Time spent traveling wasnât a big concern for any of them and since I wasnât the one getting them to or from, it was not a big deal. None of them ever complained except in the moment. But none of them were interested in coming home except on school breaks.
Definitely something to consider. S22 does attend a school near an airport with direct flights. He did a summer program at Colby once. On his way home his flight was cancelled and the program was over. He ended up taking a bus from Portland to Boston and getting a flight from there. It was a little stressful because there was a chance that he wouldnât have a flight until the next day and most hotels wouldnât let an 18 yo stay alone. It all worked out though, and I was impressed with how he handled the situation.
When we toured VA schools we landed in DC and worked our way from NoVa down to Virginia Tech. That the closest large airport to VT was Charlotte was an eye opener. On the drive from JMU to VT I asked my son if VT was actually in VA because it was taking so long.
While I think itâs fine to have âinconvenientâ schools on an initial list, once things become more ârealâ, looking at travel times and prices is definitely something to take into consideration.
We took off one âcanât get to from hereâ school when we tried to make plans to attend a competition for a full scholarship. It became such a hassle and so expensive that, despite the promise of $$$, we just couldnât see doing that for 4 years. S23 really thought he was going to love that school, so we put it on his âmaybe for grad schoolâ list.
After visiting the school he is currently attending, he did realize that time changes, airport hassles and hour long shuttles to school werenât much fun. He weighed that into the decision and still decided to attend. But, he did it with his eyes wide open and might have gone with choice #2 (still a flight, but closer, no time change, and a quick uber or public transportation to campus) if there were no direct flights available from our city.
Edited to say: The college crossed off the list involved flying to a major hub and staying over as there was only 1 flight a day to this college and it left early in the morning (Iâm not sure if it even went daily. It might have just been a few times a week). It was a very expensive flight and completely dependent on the weather to even be able to land at the nearby airport. So, a round trip was going to be 4 days of travel if nothing went wrong and the weather cooperated.
And it depends on your family and kid. Son is 2 hours from a major airport with cheap flights home. We gave him a car and in 7 years there has never been an issue.
Yesterday he drove to a larger city where his wife goes to school to get a convenient flight to England for an externship. After 5 hour delay at connecting airport, missing his connection in New York and train to destination he may be late for his first day. I havenât heard from him since last night so Iâm hoping he has navigated it all! Messes can come anywhere!
Totally agree. DD has a mess every time when she is not flying direct. The problem is that direct sometimes do not exist at all on some days or not at the time she can travel (after classes).
It is stressful and the airlines seem to be constantly making adjustments to flight times.
I always recommend to those looking at colleges far from home the need to include proximity of an airport (or even airports) and how many ways to get to the airport.
In the end we ruled out ones that would require 3 to 4 hour bus rides to a major airport or trains going in the wrong directions from where we can get direct flights.
We have had a few stressful rebookings where we have had to just buy another ticket from another airline and get a credit/refund on the original flight. We have driven 200 miles in one direction to pick up at a major airport I could get her to that was not going to get a connecting flight home⊠and booked a hotel for us at an added cost. And she has had to crash with family friends coming or going to save several thousand dollars and fly the next day or the day before the form reopen. But she has made the best of it.
Families need to understand the Shuttles, buses, and trains from campus can add hours to trips due to the timing. The 1.5 hour train may be cheaper, but it might get her to the airport 5 hours before her flightâŠso she is leaving 6 to 7 hours before the flight and the money saved is literally consumed at the airport - at Jamba Juice, Wahlburgers, etcâŠlol!
Luckily, for OPâs DD, she can Uber to an airport and has multiple airports to fly into near home. Though it is painful to go West become coming East.
Yep. We got very lucky. Only $20 Uber and $10 extra sandwich (she was smart to grab some snacks and bagel that she had in her room.) So really no financial damage from change of plans.
BTW many of DDâs friends had problems to get out of Memphis this time. There were no problems with weatherâŠ
Yes, we have had the same issue with Boston the past year. Much more so than previous years - I think they are struggling adding the additional flights back in. Weather fine across the entire country and flight changes randomly.
If your kids can either drive (at all) or get home on a single flight, you are basically winning at life. We live off the road system in Alaska, and my kids are at schools in Washington and NYC. Travel complications are just a fact of life. They know how to handle them. You can get weathered out of our town for days at a time. It happens. This winter, one of my kids texted that she was stalled in Palm Springs, a location not on her itinerary. She got home eventually.
Somehow I never get stalled in Palm SpringsâŠit is always that terminal in LaGuardia with the poor birds flying up in the domes that canât figure out how to get out - lol!
I think my kids would panic in that situation. Good for her to keep her cool!
Wow thatâs tight. I like at least 2 hrs. Last flight I booked that had a connection we had about a 2.5 hr layover in the connecting airport which was great because our first flight got delayed by about 1.5 hrs. Everybody else was scrambling to rebook their flights. We were concerned but we were fine. We got to the connecting airport before they had started boarding the next flight which was all we needed.
I just take a longer connection if possible. Itâs pretty much always possible in my area. Sometimes itâs 3 or 4 hours instead of 1 and you think what am I going to do all that time in the airport but itâs a nice buffer to have when the first flight gets canceled.
Glad she was resourceful and was able to roll with what the airlines threw at her!
