For my business trip last week, I decided to take my own plane to Orlando instead of flying commercially. There are lots of good reasons not to do this: it costs more, it takes longer, it is more work, it means more time away from my family. But there is one really good reason why I decided to fly myself. It was far more fun and interesting than sitting in cattle class once more. 

Taking my plane on this trip is 10-12 hours of flight time and three fuel stops along the way. It costs about $600 (round trip) in fuel, plus a few dollars here and there for airplane parking and the like.

Compare this to $300 for a commercial ticket, and about three hours of flight time. Of course, with the commercial ticket I would have had to spend an extra hour or so at the airport on departure, and and extra 30 minutes or so on arrival. I was also able to carry a number of packages of trade show gear (signs, booth backdrop, etc.) in my plane, which would have otherwise been shipped out UPS. So the time and money advantage for the commercial flight isn't quite as great as it appears on first glance.

But here's the best part. When I fly my own plane, I get to see a huge part of the country in a way I would never get to see it from the stratosphere. I don't have to wait in a security line anywhere. People smile, help me with my stuff, and go out of their way to make it a pleasant trip.

Rather than just being the guy in 37-B, I get to control my own journey. Instead of going out of my way to accommodate the airline and the TSA, I get to work with helpful people who genuinely want to make my travel a success. I've met plenty of uncaring, overwhelmed gate agents and flight attendants, but FBO [airplane equivalent of a gas station] employees and air traffic controllers are universally willing to go the extra mile.

The best part was returning home. I left early (about 5 AM) so I could get home at a reasonable hour. I called She Who Puts Up With Me from our home airport at about 6:30 PM, and convinced her I was still in Illinois. Then, I drove home to savor her reaction in finding me several hundred miles away from where I was supposed to be.

You just can't get away with that in the world of scheduled air travel.