Upon reading title I thought it was some clever hack involving hitching a ride on a private plane or something. Flying commercial for school 3 times a week is bonkers
I lived in LA and commuted to Berkeley by plane to save on rent
31–40 of 123 posts
Re: I lived in LA and commuted to Berkeley by plane to save on rent
#32Key quotes: > I was living in LA, rent free. > I love flying and I have a lot of frequent flyer miles/points from credit card sign up bonus/flying over the past few years. > I booked all my tickets for Fall 2022 back in April and May 2022. Then I booked all my tickets for Spring 2023 back in Nov 2022. Most tickets were booked using Alaska miles or Southwest points > I have elite status with Alaska and Southwest, both…
I guess it's not necessarily a poor use of time if you can study in the airport and/or on the plane. Or if you just enjoy flying.
Re: I lived in LA and commuted to Berkeley by plane to save on rent
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
FTA: > I was living in LA, rent free. But also, FTA: > August 2022-May 2023 So 10 months. At the quoted amount of 5592, that's 559 dollars a month. Do you think you could find a reasonable, safe, clean place to live in the Berkely area for 560 / mo? A quick search says no.
>Do you think you could find a reasonable, safe, clean place to live in the Berkely area for 560 / mo? A quick search says no. But to get that low quoted amount, you need to ignore the value of the frequent flyer miles used, and the value of his time spent commuting. If you factor those in, the cost is about $17.8k for the fall semester alone, plenty of money to get a nice place to live. [1] https://news.ycombinator.…
And also ignore value of tim, and costs of travel to/from the airport.
Re: I lived in LA and commuted to Berkeley by plane to save on rent
#34> Total Cost: $5592.66 For 10 months. Even if true story, only make sense if you can find rent $559 cheaper in LA (and don't value your time & the environment of course). It was extra special for the OP as he'd live rent free in LA. > Typically, the door-to-door commute time between my home in LA and my classroom in Berkeley is 4-5hrs EACH WAY Waking up at 3:30am and wasting 9h every day doesn't seem worth the $ savi…
If you check out the OP's FlyerTalk thread, they were already doing LAX-MIA-LAX mileage runs before attending Cal. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/2093205-epic-co...
Yep. I would routinely fly weekend trips from the Midwest to Jakarta on my weekends in college just to get AA miles. The views of FT posters should be taken with a massive grain of salt - we’re not normal.
Re: I lived in LA and commuted to Berkeley by plane to save on rent
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry I'm not understanding the point you're trying to make. This person handed over the 5500 in cash, not the 17.8k you quoted, correct? It's not like they had a budget of 17.8k, because they wouldn't have gotten those miles had they not been flying in the first place.
The point is it wouldn't apply to most people without points. And the point they were trying to prove in the post is it was possible for others.
> And the point they were trying to prove in the post is it was possible for others.
Qualifying for sign up rewards is doable by almost anyone with decent credit. And if you didn't have the credit, you wouldn't be able to get the lease anyway.
Re: I lived in LA and commuted to Berkeley by plane to save on rent
#36Key quotes: > I was living in LA, rent free. > I love flying and I have a lot of frequent flyer miles/points from credit card sign up bonus/flying over the past few years. > I booked all my tickets for Fall 2022 back in April and May 2022. Then I booked all my tickets for Spring 2023 back in Nov 2022. Most tickets were booked using Alaska miles or Southwest points > I have elite status with Alaska and Southwest, both…
I guess it's not necessarily a poor use of time if you can study in the airport and/or on the plane. Or if you just enjoy flying.
The LAX-SFO flight averages to around an hour and a half one way. It sounds like he really liked commuting to and from the airport more than flying.
He would have been better off with a PPL and a Piper that takes off from the nearest small airport. It would have cost a little more but the bulk of it would have amortized better over the course of a four year degree (frequent flyer miles and elite status vs life time of PPL and resale value of the plane)
Re: I lived in LA and commuted to Berkeley by plane to save on rent
#37tl;dr student doesn’t appreciate the extreme privilege they live in (LA rent free?!?!?) and don’t realize this is totally untenable for someone scraping by trying to afford college (i.e. anyone in the USA not in the upper class).
From what I read I don't see how I'd make any conclusions about what they do or don't appreciate or think is tenable for anyone in particular else. Where do you see that?
Re: I lived in LA and commuted to Berkeley by plane to save on rent
#38Key quotes: > I was living in LA, rent free. > I love flying and I have a lot of frequent flyer miles/points from credit card sign up bonus/flying over the past few years. > I booked all my tickets for Fall 2022 back in April and May 2022. Then I booked all my tickets for Spring 2023 back in Nov 2022. Most tickets were booked using Alaska miles or Southwest points > I have elite status with Alaska and Southwest, both…
meh - it's not the destination, it's the journey.
Why is doing all the stuff any different than getting in your car and doing stuff. Just because it's different stuff than what you do during your day doesn't mean it's not an enjoyable life.
Re: I lived in LA and commuted to Berkeley by plane to save on rent
#39Key quotes: > I was living in LA, rent free. > I love flying and I have a lot of frequent flyer miles/points from credit card sign up bonus/flying over the past few years. > I booked all my tickets for Fall 2022 back in April and May 2022. Then I booked all my tickets for Spring 2023 back in Nov 2022. Most tickets were booked using Alaska miles or Southwest points > I have elite status with Alaska and Southwest, both…
What's with the indignation over this on HN? I didn't see them suggesting anyone/everyone would be able to do it, or that it was practical.
It was just a funny set of cirucmstances that allowed for an attention catching headline and a mildly amusing tale. Yeeeesh.
Re: I lived in LA and commuted to Berkeley by plane to save on rent
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess it's not necessarily a poor use of time if you can study in the airport and/or on the plane. Or if you just enjoy flying.
The LAX-SFO flight averages to around an hour and a half one way. It sounds like he really liked commuting to and from the airport more than flying. He would have been better off with a PPL and a Piper that takes off from the nearest small airport. It would have cost a little more but the bulk of it would have amortized better over the course of a four year degree (frequent flyer miles and elite status vs life time o…
Well you're still at the mercy of weather and airspace restrictions in your Piper. Flying IFR helps, but there's going to be days you'll need to scrap your flight because of winds or days you'll have to fly in pattern for a while waiting for clearance to land, potentially making you late for class.