Commuting is a hassle — but how far would you travel to save money? According to one TikToker, taking weekly plane flights to her office is cheaper than living near her job.
In a video by @sophiacelentano48, the TikToker shared that she has a corporate marketing internship in New Jersey for the summer. The catch? She lives in South Carolina. Rather than paying rent to live near her company's office, she wakes up at 3 a.m. once a week to catch a flight to Newark. She spends the day in the office, then flies back home that evening.
@sophiacelentano48 day 2 commuting from charleston to new jersey🫶 #fyp #foryou #commuter #corporateintern #adagencyintern ♬ original sound - Sophia Celentano
The intern claims that it saves her money to fly roundtrip instead of living local. She broke down her 10-week internship as costing a little over $2,000 total, including $100 per week on flights, $100 on Ubers, and around $25 for food. She says a summer-length lease and accompanying expenses would cost her double that amount if she relocated — and not only that, she'd be paying a fortune for somewhere she doesn't want to live anyway.
“I honestly just didn’t want to live there for the summer,” she says of Parsippany, New Jersey, the town the internship is located in. “I knew if I lived in New York City, I was already going to have to commute at least an hour to an hour and half,” she adds.
@sophiacelentano48 Replying to @Maresa ♬ original sound - Sophia Celentano
Viewers had serious thoughts about all of this.
TikToker user @mircasrue says, "I'd rather pay the extra $3K to avoid having to get up early to make it to a flight every week."
"Seeing the price breakdown makes a lot more sense," says @blckmrktbaklava.
Weekly commuting by plane may be more common than you realize. One look at Reddit shows how many people consider it.
In a recent r/unitedairlines thread, Redditor u/crimsonchin47 says, "Have a job offer in NYC but I live in Chicago. Pay is higher than my previous role but would effectively be a pay cut if I move to and pay NY/NJ rent. Thinking it may be cheaper to fly in once a week instead of paying an additional $22k in rent yearly."
"I’ve been commuting back and forth from Denver to NYC — it’s doable and I pay on my own dime. I noticed tickets on Tuesdays are the cheapest! One thing to look forward to is the upgraded status for next year. Good luck!" says u/some-Imagination9782.
In 2022, there were over 460 million business travelers in the air, and approximately 26% of those business trips were only one day long. Clearly it's doable — if you don't mind standing in airport security lines to earn your next paycheck.
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