I know that when we hit Mpls and KC that we might actually be driving distance for a lot of folks. I'm not sure how many folks are driving distance to NO.

Off the top of my head Dana, me, Astarte, hayden, probably askye.

Here's current ranges for MSP from a variety of cities, using Friday morning arrival and Sunday evening departure:

LA - $250-300
NYC - $295-395
Dallas - $230-300
Seattle - $250-340
Raleigh - $230-300
Cleveland - $320-390
Boston - $355-450
SF - $220-340
Chicago - $231
Baltimore/DC area - $312-500

It's the East Coast that gets hit hardest, which also explains why I haven't visited anyone out there yet....

Yeah, if you're on the East coast, or at least Boston, and you want to fly into Minneapolis, you want to buy your tickets *quite* a bit in advance. If you do, it's not so bad. If you wait till 4-6 weeks before the event, though, expect to pay through the nose...and don't expect a non-stop flight.

The thing about airfare is that we've got such a huge group flying in from all corners of the country (and beyond), and everywhere is expensive to fly to from somewhere. So I'm not sure it's the best guage for expense.

[eta: DH and I flew from NYC to Minneapolis for pretty cheap last June. It wasn't direct, but it was under $200 each. Northwest flies direct for a little more money.]

Yep - I think Jess is quite right. Knowing the likely range of fares is extremely useful as a reference, but in the end, it's likely going to be just one of the factors.

It's for reference. I'm also trying to get a bead on which cities cause a lot of folks to have to fly as opposed to which cities are within driving distance for a lot of folks.

I'm with Jess. I think that we can't take airfare into account. Also, I'd like to cast my vote for price as a consideration, but not the deciding faction.

It's for reference. I'm also trying to get a bead on which cities cause a lot of folks to have to fly as opposed to which cities are within driving distance for a lot of folks.

I don't know that this is a good indicator either. we're all over the place anyway, and people have different tolerances for driving, i.e. before i got my new car, anything over 3 hours was a huge pain (literally in the lack of cruise control and poor lumbar support)

Is there some reason why driving distances, airfares, etc. shouldn't be researched for those interested? Those that aren't interested could just skim, right?

The deciding factor is the vote. I'm trying to gather information and put it in front of everyone.

How each person wants to apply that information will be what determines their vote.

For me I know that cost is a lower consideration so it won't play into my vote as much, but for others that will be different.

I think that we can't take airfare into account.

I agree that it's difficult to take into account if you want to vote based on whether you think other people will be able to make it. But it could certainly be a factor if you're trying to decide for yourself whether you can make it.

That's why I like the a) b) c) d) options for voting I listed above. It makes clear whether the voter might attend, as opposed to what the voter thinks others might want.