Highly recommend this if possible. We are starting a HUGE trip next week, but are flying in and out of different airports at the start and finish of the tour.
Airfare and car rental prices are high this summer, but I got a large discount prepaying for the rental car and a special perk on my credit card. I’ve planned the trip where most of the driving is four hours or less, worked in a short beach vacation, and paid for the hotels using points.
Unless it’s convenient, I would definitely suggest flying in/out of different airports and doing a one-way car rental. We did one of these in the spring, and the cost was really not that bad, considering we saw all the schools of interest in that geographic area (quite large). We didn’t have to double-back to the first airport, which would be totally impractical given our tour.
In terms of posting tour schedules, the schools that D was interested in touring this summer only posted their schedules a couple of months before the date, so it pays to check EARLY and often. Until that happens, start planning your route, mode of transportation, and accommodations (BOOK EARLY), so that you have a rough sense of how you want to do the trip. Try to keep it cancellable/changeable at no cost (easy enough with car rentals and hotels). Then, if you speak to the school to get a sense of what days of the week they will have tours (assuming no pandemics etc), you should be well on your way to getting there.
DON’T leave air tix and car rental to the last moment.
Oh, and if the story is true and we are offered $10,000 per person to be involuntarily bumped off a flight (like the recent story about Delta on a flight from Grand Rapids, MI to DCA), D and I have TOTALLY agreed we’ll take it!