Start with the journey you will make
For a general travel budget, write down the route from your actual starting point to each airport and the return arrangement. You may drive both ways, get a lift, take transit, or use different modes in each direction. Do not assume the same mileage, tolls or price for both journeys.
FliteMaster’s airport-comparison model is narrower: its reference point is the selected home airport. Added driving estimates compare that airport with an alternative; travel from your house to the home airport is excluded. Do not mistake that comparison for a complete door-to-terminal quote.
Use a simple worksheet
List each cost with its source and whether it is confirmed, estimated or still unknown. Keep shared vehicle costs separate from per-person charges.
- Fuel: total road miles ÷ vehicle miles per gallon × price per gallon. Use confirmed road mileage when you have it, and label a budget assumption when you do not.
- Parking: the applicable rate × the billed duration, plus any known charges. Check the operator’s billing rules rather than assuming that calendar days, nights and 24-hour periods are interchangeable.
- Tolls: list the outbound and return amounts separately. An unresearched toll amount is unknown, not proof that the route is toll-free.
- Other transport: add the full quoted transit, rideshare or transfer cost where it applies. Keep each journey and traveler count clear.
- Optional costs: note anything material that this worksheet does not yet cover, such as an overnight stay or an extra vehicle. These are not automatically included in FliteMaster’s ground estimate.
Worked example: ground costs only
This is an invented arithmetic example, not a fare, airport parking quote or current fuel price.
Assume a 100-mile total drive, a vehicle averaging 25 MPG, fuel at $4 per gallon, and four billed parking days at $12 per day. Fuel is 100 ÷ 25 × $4 = $16. Parking is 4 × $12 = $48. The known fuel-and-parking subtotal is $64.
That is not a complete trip total: tolls and other applicable costs still need to be checked. If four people share that one vehicle, the car’s $64 subtotal stays $64; it is not multiplied by four. A per-person transit ticket would be counted differently.
Example amounts illustrate the calculation only. Replace every assumption with information for your own trip.
One-way and round-trip need different assumptions
For a round-trip plan, consider both ground journeys and parking for the applicable stay. FliteMaster’s round-trip budget includes outbound and return driving and estimates parking from the selected date span, with a one-day minimum. Check the parking operator’s actual charging period independently.
The app’s one-way budget includes outbound airport access only; it excludes parking and later ground travel. That exclusion does not mean those costs will be zero in your real plans. Add anything relevant to your own worksheet.
Keep estimates and verified amounts separate
The app’s initial fuel, vehicle-efficiency, parking, speed and road-distance settings are planning assumptions, not observed local prices or verified directions. Replace them with information appropriate to your trip where the controls allow it.
Ground estimates alone cannot establish airfare savings. A meaningful overall comparison also needs comparable flight amounts and any selected extras that differ. Missing information should remain visible until you have it.