I lived in LA and commuted to Berkeley by plane to save on rent

[akiselev]

Key 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 offer a valuable perk called same-day change. I always book the cheapest flight of that day and call them when the check-in window opened to change to other flights of that day free of charge.

> Spent 45972 minutes on my commute, equivalent to 31.93 24-hr days.

So basically, if you're rich and have already spent several times the cost of rent on travel in your gap year(s), willing to spend over 20 hours a week commuting for 3 days of class, and have literally no concept of the value of your time, you too can afford the miserable commute from LA to Berkeley for university!

[tbrake]

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.

[tempestn]

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.

[coding123]

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.

[bhl]

My takeaway from reading about the person's experience is that we need better high speed public transportation in California. It would unlock a lot of economic and non-economic opportunities if people can move across the state within an hour. Imagine if Berkeley was a commuter school for people in Los Angeles, or UCLA was a commuter school for people in Bay Area.

[labster]

I voted for California High Speed Rail when I was in university. I’m middle-aged now. I hope that one day, my grandchildren will be able to take that train.

[asdff]

This is the entire point of the high speed rail. It unlocks new labor markets. Now workers can live maybe not in LA and commute to berkeley, but further in the central valley and go either way. Cities like Fresno or Merced could see booms as these areas take on the housing demand brought on by labor.

[deepzn]

Yeah, the crazy part was the flying. But, people commute long distances for work or school all the time to save money on rents, especially all major cities. Having better subways definitely helps. For e.g. in NYC, where many commute from Jersey, or Long Island.

[ericmcer]

A high speed rail enabling people to commute to SF/LA from 100+ miles away in under an hour would immediately relieve a huge amount of housing issues while creating tons of jobs in low income areas. The whole central valley would become a valid place for people to commute from.

Too bad we are incapable of building one.

[et-al]

Have you seen Caltrain's service lately? To be realistic, I'd prefer our regional systems have more frequent headways and BART to circle the bay. SF-LA commuters are a drop compared to local commuters. I'll even settle for a 3am last BART train instead of the lone 800 bus or the 24 hour service we'll never get.

[echelon]

Build more density in the cities you want rather than bussing people in. That's the best answer.

[jnsaff2]

Here is an interesting take on California HSR.

TL;DR the physics is really hard and California might not be the best place for it.

https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2022/10/11/why-high-speed...

[kpw94]

> 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 $ savings. I feel a part time on-campus job or something would be less draining, more rewarding, and financially same...

[et-al]

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...

[auntienomen]

They were living rent free. So they'd have had to find a room for $559 near Cal. That was hard in 2005.

Otoh, they have missed out on the chance to build connections with their classmates, which is one of the main benefits of even a year at a good school.

[alwayslikethis]

Whatever part time job you have on campus, it sure isn't going to make you enough to rent anything close to a good location. You'd still have to commute quite far, just now you also have to work.

[deepzn]

Also they used a lot of miles. So real $ cost would be higher.

[aripickar]

For full context, this is someone with a wife and two kids[1] who had a couple of semesters and just needed a temporary solution, not a 20 year old kid. Different then the title might suggest.

[1] https://www.berkeleyside.org/2023/05/15/uc-berkeley-la-plane...

[limitedfrom]

Doesn't seem so. The article talks about a person getting a sociology degree, while the Reddit post talks about someone working on an MEng degree. Given the poster's extensive posts on Flyertalk and his comments saying that there are two of them[1], I think there actually might be two different folks doing this.

edit: Found an older post where the poster says they're doing an MEng Civil Engineering program[2]

[1] https://old.reddit.com/user/greateranglia [2] https://old.reddit.com/r/berkeley/comments/urcxua/is_it_poss...

[usui]

> actual psychos attend this school

LOL I read a good amount of r/berkeley but this plane-commute story has to be one of the funniest posts I've ever read.

So humbled to share space, living and interacting with the absolute most-fucking-insane students ever. I wish I could have that dedication for anything, as insane as it sounds. Wow. Inspirational.

[emrah]

> Total Cost: $5592.66

This is highly misleading since it doesn't include $ value of all the freq flyer miles used (as far as i can tell).

And I'm left wondering was it really cheaper? If yes, by how much?

[gruez]

>This is highly misleading since it doesn't include $ value of all the freq flyer miles used (as far as i can tell).

Yep. Here are the amounts with the value of the miles factored in[1]:

>$1366.06 on Alaska, 307500 Alaska miles

307500 Alaska miles * 1.2 cents/mile = $3690

>$380.86 on Southwest, 43732 Southwest points

43732 Southwest points * 1.5 cents/point = $655.98

>$42.80 on United, 5500 United miles

5500 United miles * 1.2 cents/mile = $66

>$15.60 on Avianca, 6500 Avianca miles

6500 Avianca miles * 1.2 cents/mile = $78

So for the fall semester it costed him $1805.32 in cash, but if you factor in the value of the points that rises to $6295.30. He also mentioned that he spent 45972 minutes on commuting. If you factor the value of time (eg. minimum wage), the "cost" rises further to $17,788.30.

[1] obtained from googling "[points program] value"

[alex_lav]

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.

[fuzzythinker]

Alternatively, drive to Bakersfield and take the Amtrack to there/Oakland. It's a much more eco-friendly and enjoyable ride. They sell 10-packs and monthly passes too.

https://www.amtrak.com/stations/bfd

[aidenn0]

Is that more reliable than the one that runs along the coast? Bay area to coastal SoCal Amtrak is notoriously late.

[tpmx]

That's a ~9 hour trip including the drive and 30 minutes safety margin.

[newyankee]

I never understand how NIMBYSM is considered environmentally correct or friendly. Every movement is taken over by vested interests. Average 4-8 floor height buildings with existing American infrastructure otherwise should be enough to flood market with 'cheap enough' homes.

[kevinventullo]

Does anyone consider NIMBYism environmentally friendly?

[SamvitJ]

An interesting story of someone who did something very similar last year: https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/05/11/thirty-years-and-100-fl....

From the article:

Twice a week, Parnell rises before 5 a.m. in Whittier, about 25 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. He takes a quick shower, hops in his car and drives 35 minutes to the Long Beach airport. He breezes through TSA precheck and, with coveted “A group” boarding status, claims a seat near the front of the morning Southwest Airlines flight bound for Oakland.

Parnell knocks out some course readings on the 45-minute flight before dashing off the plane and subjecting himself to the mercy of BART. If all goes according to plan, he steps onto the UC Berkeley campus just in time for his 10 a.m. discussion section on the future of nuclear energy.

“It’s a sprint,” Parnell said. “I use every minute.”

When — if — things are on time, he gets back home to his wife and two children around 10 p.m.

[jeandejean]

The fight for mitigating climate change has a long way to go. I understand the funnily absurd side of the story, but the obvious flip side hurts my eyes for not being mentioned: it's trivializing pollution to an extreme.

[IG_Semmelweiss]

This story reminded me of a story I heard in 2017, during a cocktail party.

Some entrepreneur had worked out a lease for living space, in the commercial heart of a large urban city....living in what during daytime is *literally* some VC office. He would come in at 8pm+ when the VC staff had left, and leave in the AM to work. And he paid a ridiculous low amount of rent to have what was effectively a 25K lease at market price.

Not sure what exactly was the motivation for the VC to agree to this (imagine having a bed in your office?) but , wondering if there is an underground network for this that im not aware of?

[fakedang]

> Not sure what exactly was the motivation for the VC to agree to this (imagine having a bed in your office?

That's just an Entrepreneur-"in-Residence".

[quickthrower2]

Sounds like it might be breaking some kind of building usage code.

But the VC might have a free nighttime security guard, and coffee machine warmed up for breakfast time.

[dilyevsky]

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

[atleastoptimal]

If a 4-5 hour each-way commute and 3:40 wake up times throughout an entire year of school is worth cheaper rent to a person, it's their choice.

[csa]

I assumed he would use Surf Air or something similar (AYCE commuter plane for $2000-$2500).

Makes sense if you have lots if FF miles and free rent somewhere else.

[vivegi]

It is creative. I'll give the writer that.

Can't say I have the stomach for such a grueling travel schedule and I have done my share of frequent travels, including intercontinental long-hauls.

Nevertheless, it solved a problem for the writer and made for interesting reading.

[lutorm]

And here I was thinking someone was commuting in their own plane...

[pengaru]

zero fucks given

[diversionfactor]

tl;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).

[jrochkind1]

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?