There comes a moment for many where the best approach for getting from point A to point B involves a pair of wings. Sometimes time can be the deciding factor in these choices, which is where short- and medium-haul flights come in. Provided below is an overview of consumer options for flights that can take anywhere from 30 minutes to six hours to complete.
Public Flights
One primary perk of public flights is that you can find discounted tickets if you are willing to thread the needle on the flight date, time, and circumstances. Unfortunately, severe discounts are often so frugal because of how uncomfortable the overall experience may be. Since public flights occur at an airport, you can at least kill time by shopping at various amenities like restaurants, gift shops, and so on.
Another reason why public flights can be severely discounted would be layovers. Because a direct flight is not always possible, some destinations require switching planes across airports. Depending on your tastes, some layovers can involve spending too much time or too little time waiting within the “holding area.”
One of the more obvious situations with a public flight is that you have no control over who else you will be flying with; unless you ensure that you have other people in your party to occupy seats adjacent to you, there is a very real chance of being seated close to a crying child or obnoxious passenger on a public flight.
Lastly, because public flights are operated within an airport and airports are always located within major metropolitan areas, there is a good chance that you can easily find transportation to and from an airport. The big time crunch is likely to come into play the moment you begin navigating the airport itself to reach the terminal of your flight.
Private Flights
Private aviation has several benefits, regardless of the duration of the flight.
- The entire experience goes as well as you would like, fully catering to your specific needs. This extends to special needs like wheelchair accessibility, tolerance for a nearby oxygen tank, or even bringing your pets without having to keep them in a separate compartment.
- Your flight takes off from wherever you’d like, whenever you’d like, in whatever aircraft you fancy.
- You have all the privacy you could desire since the only people who come along for the ride are the flight crew and whomever else you deign to bring.
- You do not need to worry about all of the time-costing red tapes of check-ins, security clearance, and the baggage carousel. Just show up, check in with the front desk, and head off to your chosen aircraft.
- There is less of a chance that the flight could get delayed than with a public flight.
- Private flights tend to be more accommodating to last-minute flight needs. It is not unheard of to put in a request with a private flight provider and be in the air with them just hours later
Air Freight/Cargo Flights
Sometimes the most important thing to place on a plane is not a person but an item. If you have a business and there is something crucial to send to another party, it may be best to send that item to be shipped off to the receiving customer or other business. Sometimes these sorts of flights can ensure that a product reaches its recipient on the same day of a transaction when logistics would otherwise prevent using wheeled forms of transportation like a cargo van to ensure same-day delivery.
This sort of flight may also be of use to anyone who regularly deals with animals that would be too cumbersome or challenging to transport within areas of a plane where travelers would be permitted, such as wildlife or horses, or when ground or sea freight would take far too long to be satisfying.
The Final Boarding Call
When it comes to short- and medium-haul flights, you have three options: public aviation, private aviation, and air freight. Consider your needs in a flight and what scenarios you can endure, and you should be able to discern your best possible choice.
