My dad and his wife are flying internationally out of LAX in May. They live in Ventura, CA, and I live on the east side of Los Angeles—about an hour from LAX without traffic, closer to 1.5 hours during rush hour. He texted me and my girlfriend asking if we could drive them to the airport the morning of their flight (their flight is at 11:51am, and they want to be there by 9am). Not a huge ask on its own.

But then they added a second layer: they want to leave their car at our house, and at some point while they’re gone, they want us to drive their car to LAX so that when they return in June, it’s waiting for them.

When we actually talked about the logistics, we realized this would require 5 separate car trips: 1. We drive them to LAX 2. We return home from LAX 3. I drive their car back to LAX before their return 5. My girlfriend also drives to LAX separately to pick me up 5. Then we get home again

We suggested a simpler plan: they could still park their car at our house, and either we’d drive them to LAX or they could Uber. Way less complicated and disruptive for us.

During that conversation, they mentioned they had looked into taking a shuttle from Ventura to LAX, which wouldn’t have required any help from us at all. But they said the timing for the return trip didn’t work out, and they would’ve had to wait two extra hours after landing. Totally get not wanting to wait after a long international flight—but it felt a bit weird that their solution was to shift the burden onto us instead, without really considering how much they were asking.

So now things feel a little tense. I don’t think we were rude, but we were honest about the number of trips involved and what we’re realistically up for.

AITA for not wanting to do the 5-trip plan and offering a simpler alternative instead?