It aired on ABC on May 2, 2012 and was written by Paul Corrigan & Brad Walsh and directed by Michael Spiller.
Gloria though, is afraid to travel on a small private plane and Jay is forced to drive them to the reunion.
Surprisingly Claire does not criticize Phil's decision and hopes he will realize buying the convertible was a mistake on his own.
Phil is mad at the fact he had to switch cars with Claire but he soon realizes that driving the kids to school and picking them up, leads to learning things about them.
Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) decide to take Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) on a ride on the subway to Chinatown but they lose her favorite stuffed rabbit.
Cameron and Mitchell are therefore forced to go to desperate lengths to get the stuffed rabbit back, including putting up flyers in the subway and offering a reward for its safe return.
Meanwhile, Jay (Ed O'Neill) is ecstatic to take Gloria (Sofía Vergara) and Manny (Rico Rodriguez) on a trip to his college reunion as he claims he was considered somewhat of a legend by his fellow students.
Jay is irritated when he is forced to drive them there due to Gloria's refusal to ride in a small airplane.
In its original American broadcast, "Planes, Trains and Cars" was watched by 10.06 million; slightly down from the previous episode, with an adult 18-49 rating/share of 4.0/11.
Club gave the episode a C rate, bemoaning the lack of a unifying theme between the three stories, and called the Mitchell and Cameron storyline "horrifyingly realistic".