Four seats or one car

Thursday at 7:10 p.m. the group text has already named the airport. Four seats. Out Wednesday. Home Sunday. Nobody put a number on it, so the expensive plan is winning by default.

This week's tactic: text one plan, not three options for the thread to vote on. Hopper told CBS News on September 28 that the average domestic Thanksgiving round trip is $402, up $95 from last year. Four of those is $1,608 before a bag. Hopper economist Hayley Berg said the Sunday return, November 29, runs about $250 more per ticket. On four seats that gap is about $1,000. Any day but that Sunday: Black Friday, Saturday morning, Monday, or Tuesday.

If four seats do not fit, flip who moves. Two adult tickets at the same average are $804. Or write the miles. AAA's October 28 national average for regular was about $4.25 a gallon. At 25 mpg, a 1,000-mile round trip is about $170 in gas. A hotel on the way can erase that gap, so price the beds out loud before you announce the drive. The four seats or one car walkthrough has the short lines for the group text and for the kids.

This week: pick two tickets to your house, one car with the miles, or four seats that do not fly home Sunday. Send one of those. Leave the other two off the thread.

See you next Sunday.