If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

A chance to meet up with friends and have a chat - a general space with the freedom to talk about anything.
jacksprarrow
margo - newbie
margo - newbie
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue May 15, 2018 11:01 am

If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291251Post jacksprarrow »

I just got back from a flight with Easyjet last night, and boy, I swear the waiting times get longer every trip! queues here, there, and everywhere :( I seriously wonder how much happier people are when they fly privately, even if it costs more. After all, can you really put a price on not feeling stressed and anxious all the way from your home to your destination... I can't stand taking normal planes and airports anymore :/ 100% feel that if I could fly privately, my life would be so much better.

User avatar
Flo
A selfsufficientish Regular
A selfsufficientish Regular
Posts: 2188
Joined: Sun Mar 30, 2008 10:12 am
Location: Northumberland

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291256Post Flo »

Nope. By the time you get to the airport (and back from it) as a non driver it's a total waste of time and energy. Flying is something you do for a living (armed forces, air crew) or purely for pleasure (gliding, paragliding, microlight) not as a reason to go anywhere.

Skippy
Living the good life
Living the good life
Posts: 493
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2012 5:13 pm
Location: south staffordshire

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291257Post Skippy »

Frankly no I wouldn't. I try not to fly at all if I can , I just see no real need for it. Burn tons of fuel just to sit around with a load of strangers in their underwear drinking far too much cheap plonk and eating far too much .
Always makes me wonder just how many people are travelling at any time , surely we can't all be in the wrong place? :icon_smile:

User avatar
Green Aura
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9313
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:16 pm
latitude: 58.569279
longitude: -4.762620
Location: North West Highlands

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291258Post Green Aura »

I've only flown to see family, in Finland, twice in the last 10 years or so. I have to fly from Inverness to London (after a 3 hour drive plus long stay parking fees), then fly to Helsinki, then get a bus to Turku - all of which takes at least two days, with stopovers in hotels, each way.

So if a private charter from Inverness to Turku costs less than all that lot I'd take it gladly.
Maggie

Never doubt that you can change history. You already have. Marge Piercy

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. Anais Nin

User avatar
Weedo
A selfsufficientish Regular
A selfsufficientish Regular
Posts: 605
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2016 4:47 am
latitude: 35.0886S
longitude: 147.1289E
Location: Collingullie Australia

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291260Post Weedo »

I fly across Oz regularly for work and I agree that the airports get busier and slower every day. Flight windows (takeoff and landing times) are getting narrower as airports get busier and even a smalll delay with the palne can set you back hours while they wait for another window. I did charter a flight a few years ago for work (and got reprimanded for it). I had a 1 day meeting at a place about 10 hours drive away along with two other staff from different locations. The drive costs was huge, 3days each for staff time (9 days) car costs about 2000km and accomodation / meal costs for 6 person nights. Chartered the plane, left base at 7.30 am, picked up others enroute, held the meeting, reversed the flight path and landed back at base at 7.00pm the same day and at about 30% drive cost.

Yes, if the cost and time figures balanced I would cahrter every time.
Don't let your vision cloud your sight

Skippy
Living the good life
Living the good life
Posts: 493
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2012 5:13 pm
Location: south staffordshire

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291281Post Skippy »

I'm getting a little worried about this forum. For a forum with a whole section devoted to envoiromental issues it seems to go against the grain to even suggest flying let alone chartering private jets and then to have answers going along with the idea just seem so out of place . Then there was renewablecandy's thread about shifting gravel where there were posts ( I'm guilty here , sorry😡) linking to fossil fuel guzzling mini diggers and not one saying the gravel idea should be dumped and the area planted with at least something green if not edible.
Time for a lemon balm tea and a lie down I think...

User avatar
Green Aura
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 9313
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:16 pm
latitude: 58.569279
longitude: -4.762620
Location: North West Highlands

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291291Post Green Aura »

I took it as purely wishful thinking. You don't have to actually do something to think it might be useful. I must confess I'd remove the word everywhere from the thread title, as I literally only fly to Finland every five years or so.

I also think those mini diggers are really cute. Wouldn't want one though.

Don't forget we're Ish, Skippy. Enjoy your lie down. I suggest a lavender eye mask. :lol:
Maggie

Never doubt that you can change history. You already have. Marge Piercy

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. Anais Nin

ina
A selfsufficientish Regular
A selfsufficientish Regular
Posts: 8241
Joined: Sun May 22, 2005 9:16 pm
Location: Kincardineshire, Scotland

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291299Post ina »

The last time I took a plane it was because the coaches couldn't go, due to snow in the south... That was going to Germany, for a solicitors' appointment during the sale of the family home. Years ago now. I tend to stay put these days. There's no holidays on offer for single people, anyway - hardly anything worth considering. You pay the same (almost) as for two people, and I don't earn double!
Ina
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)

User avatar
KathyLauren
Living the good life
Living the good life
Posts: 447
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2009 11:57 pm
latitude: 44.5
longitude: -66
Location: Nova Scotia

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291303Post KathyLauren »

As a former military pilot, I love flying. But I really can't justify it, especially not for recreational purposes. The last time I flew, it was for a move across the country. We'd thought about driving, but that would have been too hard on the dog and cat. Time before that, it was to see my dad on his deathbed.

Skippy
Living the good life
Living the good life
Posts: 493
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2012 5:13 pm
Location: south staffordshire

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291305Post Skippy »

KathyLauren wrote: Tue May 22, 2018 11:52 am As a former military pilot, I love flying. But I really can't justify it, especially not for recreational purposes.
I fear you are truly in a minority . Most feel perfectly justified in taking flights just to sit on a beach achieving nothing except the reduction in world booze stocks " because I've worked hard and deserve it" .
Actually that does remind me of a conversation on another forum about what work any of us do. Most "work" as such is done by fossil fuels , whether it be the obvious like haulage or the work someone does at a computer screen . I personally use petrol engined and electric or battery powered tools and I use them to minimise the amount of actual physical work I do and to speed that work up but in purely technical terms it's the energy of FF that is doing the work. So once we've burned all that oil we can justify burning yet more because we deserve a holiday.

User avatar
KathyLauren
Living the good life
Living the good life
Posts: 447
Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2009 11:57 pm
latitude: 44.5
longitude: -66
Location: Nova Scotia

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291306Post KathyLauren »

Skippy wrote: Tue May 22, 2018 5:28 pm
KathyLauren wrote: Tue May 22, 2018 11:52 am As a former military pilot, I love flying. But I really can't justify it, especially not for recreational purposes.
I fear you are truly in a minority . Most feel perfectly justified in taking flights just to sit on a beach achieving nothing except the reduction in world booze stocks " because I've worked hard and deserve it" .
Sadly, true.

I used to live in a hippie haven on Canada's west coast. I was less of a minority there. One year, two couples wanted to see the country, visit relatives, etc. They didn't want to fly the whole way, because they felt strongly about the environment, but didn't feel they could handle driving the whole way. So they did a car exchange. One couple drove their Prius hybrid car across the country, seeing the sights, while the other couple flew out. At the other end, they switched: the other couple drove back, while the first couple flew home.

Not perfect, but better than flying the whole way.

User avatar
Weedo
A selfsufficientish Regular
A selfsufficientish Regular
Posts: 605
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2016 4:47 am
latitude: 35.0886S
longitude: 147.1289E
Location: Collingullie Australia

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291308Post Weedo »

Bit of a conundrum Skippy; In order to get things done (in any lifestyle) we either need to use the energy sources or employ help - probably highly skilled (craftsmen) help that can do the things manually the the machines allow anybody to do today.

The costs of hiring these days is beyond economical levels; for me to hire a farm labourer, semi skilled will cost about $60 per hour. The question is academic however as the risks of employing far exceed any benefit.

In most cases the components of what we need (a spade, its handle, the pin to hold the two together) are bought in, often imported, rather than made on site or locally by experts - all this requires energy consumption.

I think the best we can do, and still produce enough food, is to minimise usage.
Don't let your vision cloud your sight

Skippy
Living the good life
Living the good life
Posts: 493
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2012 5:13 pm
Location: south staffordshire

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291320Post Skippy »

Oh I agree there is a conundrum here and fully understand that we use energy in pretty much all that we do. Using energy to make tools or grow food for instance I have no real problem with . It's more the frivolous uses we make of the available energy that sits a bit uncomfortably with me. Jetting off to some unspectacular island to drink a gallon or more of awful beer and cop off with a gobby half dressed bird from Bolton with the loud techno music in the background just doesn't strike me as the best uses of what is a very finite resource. Another is motor racing , lots of energy expended and crap pumped into the atmosphere just to see blokes driving round in circles.
Your comment about the cost of hiring in labour does really highlight one thing and that is that petrol/diesel is ridiculously cheap considering what one can do with it. Your labourer at $60 per hour or $480 per day which if my maths is right equals a tad over £270 per day ( which sounds rather high by our standards but he ho ) should be able to dig out a cubic metre in that day but that $480 should get you ( @$1.40 to the litre) over 340 litres of fuel , enough to dig out considerably more than a single cube.
Actually talking of conundrums and energy usage and going slightly off topic I have looked at crypto currencies . I've seen the results of gold mining , and if you ever catch programmes about modern day gold miners on the TV it's still the same , whole areas ravaged , mountains dug away just to get a few kilos of sheet metal that will probably end up being buried in a vault somewhere else on the planet. So when cryptos started I thought much better ,less devastation but now I'm much less certain when it appears that bitcoin transactions and mining consume as much energy as Ireland and without continued energy inputs would disappear completely . Now that to me is a conundrum.

User avatar
Weedo
A selfsufficientish Regular
A selfsufficientish Regular
Posts: 605
Joined: Thu Jun 30, 2016 4:47 am
latitude: 35.0886S
longitude: 147.1289E
Location: Collingullie Australia

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291326Post Weedo »

The $60 per hour is the cost of employing the person using a minimum on cost of 40% on top of wages. Depending on the work performed etc. this could be as high as 70%
Don't let your vision cloud your sight

jacksprarrow
margo - newbie
margo - newbie
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue May 15, 2018 11:01 am

Re: If you could...would you private jet everywhere?

Post: # 291327Post jacksprarrow »

Okay, maybe not everywhere... but there are certainly times when flying privately would be so much more convenient than taking a commercial airliner. I just can't stand the long waiting times and the squished seating :? Plus all the loud, annoying folks who ride these planes! I'd love to go to more remote parts of the country that perhaps don't have a major airport, as some beautiful places are naturally hard to get to :( This seems alright for what I'm after, as I would hate to book anything through some hapless person over the phone or whatever! Thinking I'll do more of this when I retire, as I just want to travel more.

Post Reply