See what flying really costs.
Every airport in driving range, priced all in: airfare, gas, parking, bags, and the hours you spend getting there.
You cannot run a comparison yet. So here is the arithmetic, run by the same engine that will run yours. Every figure below is published, measured, or an estimate, and the card says which.
Birmingham to Denver
Two travelers, a week away. Atlanta’s fare is $92.53 cheaper a seat than Birmingham’s, and Atlanta is 2h 0m further each way. Here is what happens to that gap once the drive, 8 days of parking, 1 checked bag each way, and the hours are counted.
Atlanta is cheaper if you count cash alone. Birmingham is cheaper once an hour of your time is worth more than $16.45. Set your time to zero and it is cash out of pocket alone.
These two are close enough that we would not call it.- BHM and ATL are $14.20 apart, which is 1.1 percent of the total and inside the error on our own inputs.
- The leading fare at BHM was checked 2 days ago, so it cannot settle the order on its own.
Birmingham BHM
5 miles · 15m drive each way · 5h 6m in the air · 1 stop
Lowest total, but close
$1,304.80
Total, all in
$652.40 per traveler
Airfare
$992.16
$496.08 each, 2 travelers
Driving
$2.64
10 miles round trip
Parking
$80.00
$10.00 a day, 8 days
Bags
$180.00
$45.00 a bag, 1 each traveler, both ways
Your time
$50.00
2h 30m at $20.00 an hour
Your closest airport wins, or close enough. The drive does not pay for itself.
Fare checked 2 days ago
Economy Lot · $10.00 a day, checked 31 July 2026
$0.26 per mile for fuel and wear. The IRS business reimbursement rate would make it $7.60.
- Atlanta’s fare advantage, 2 seats
- -$185.06
- The longer drive, both ways
- $71.26
- Parking, 8 days at the busier airport
- $48.00
- 4h 0m more of your time
- $80.00
What Atlanta costs you more$14.20
Every figure on that card is published, measured, or an estimate, and the card says which.
What the total counts
Counted
- Airfare. The lowest fare for your dates, passengers, and cabin.
- Driving. Round trip road miles at what driving costs you: fuel from the current gas price and your own fuel economy, plus an allowance per mile for tires and maintenance.
- Parking. The daily rate at that airport for the length of your trip. We name the lot and the date we checked it.
- Checked bags. The airline’s fees, times bags, times travelers, both ways.
- Your time, if you count it. Set it to zero and the ranking is cash alone.
Not counted, and why
- Flight time and connections. On every card, not in the total. Pricing it honestly means modeling your whole door to door journey, and half right is worse than absent.
- Tolls. Real on some corridors. No national source we trust is cheap enough.
- Someone dropping you off. Zeroes your parking, doubles your driving, and only you know whether it is on offer.
- A rental car at the other end. First thing on the list.
- Multi city and open jaw trips. Not supported.
The site is free. No link on it earns us anything today. When one does, it will carry the words Paid link beside it. You pay the same price either way, and it never changes the ranking.
How the ranking works
Commission is not an input to the ordering. We earn a referral fee on some bookings and nothing on others, and the ranking cannot tell the difference. No airport and no airline can buy a higher position.
Driving is priced at what the trip costs you out of pocket, not at the IRS business reimbursement rate. That rate bundles depreciation and insurance, which you pay whether or not you take this trip, so it overstates driving by roughly three times and favors whichever airport is closest to you. The IRS figure is shown alongside, because it is a real number for a different purpose.
Where the gap between the top two is smaller than the error in our own inputs, we say so rather than name a winner.