Airfare

[daran]

I’m looking to fly from San Francisco or Sacramento to Cancun but pricing for October is about $200 more than normal... any insights to why pricing is so high? Should I book only a few months in advance? Thanks in advance.

 

[MMM]

Wat do you consider normal? I pay about $500-600 Canadian when local airlines are running seasonal flights (mid Nov - April). It is almost double that when they are not.

 

[horn34]

Try checking Southwest from Oakland. I see a bunch of roundtrip fares under $450.

 

[daran]

Wat do you consider normal? I pay about $500-600 Canadian when local airlines are running seasonal flights (mid Nov - April). It is almost double that when they are not.

In the past I’ve paid around $450 to Cancun. Right now they are about $100 cheaper than flying to Cozumel.

 

[DandyDon]

I’m looking to fly from San Francisco or Sacramento to Cancun but pricing for October is about $200 more than normal... any insights to why pricing is so high? Should I book only a few months in advance? Thanks in advance.

Airlines are going to charge whatever they can get, reason or not. Grounding all of the B-737 Max planes in the world has put pressure on the system.

I'd go Interjet from SFO. I don't know anything about the airline, but $370 Non-stop to Cancun instead of $557 with connections to Cozumel that could fail, I'd try it.

I pay about $500-600 Canadian when local airlines are running seasonal flights (mid Nov - April).

600 CND = $450 USD. I'd love to get that low from the Texas High Plains.

It is almost double that when they are not.

Yeah, that would hurt.

 

[horn34]

Interjet charges $53 each way for a checked bag, so unless you're not bringing any gear and you can limit yourself to 22 lbs of carry on, that $370 flight is $476.

Southwest isn't non-stop, but you're allowed two carry on pieces and two 50 lb checked bags free.

Between my two carry on pieces and my two checked bags, I regularly take 150 lbs of luggage back and forth from Cancun. Free.

 

[DandyDon]

Ok, Interjet does seem to charge a lot for checked bags. They'd hit me hard.

Should I book only a few months in advance?

That's my current plan, but that can backfire. Good luck.

 

[Christi]

Interjet WAS my favorite airline actually and I flew them any chance I could, especially within Mexico. But they are struggling financially and in the past few weeks have cancelled hundreds and hundreds of flights leaving passengers stranded and to book their own alternate flights. I have several Mexican friends still fighting for reimbursement of their purchases for flights that were cancelled without warning.

I would stay away from Interjet for NOW. Check into Volaris as well - they are a MX airline strengthening and now offering flights to Cozumel and to varioous cities in the US. They are a no frills airline with no first class cabin and they do charge for everything - but I just got a $98 RT flight from CZM to Mexico City a couple of weeks ago. They charge for every piece of luggage, but it's about 1/2 of United, etc.

Only $100 less to Cancun than Cozumel - if I was flying alone, which I am most of the time - I wouldn't even consider flying into Cancun vs CZM unless I was saving much more than that (my personal threshold is $250 including luggage) - my time and effort is worth more than that for the extra 2+ hours of travel and the various transfers (plane, bus, ferry). I fly into Cancun when it it is a significant savings (again $250 w/luggage for me) or if there is not a flight option that meets my timeline into CZM.

 

[keepdivin]

Christi,

I flew Interjet last year no problems from Tijuana to Cancun. I even read your post last year recommending them and was pleasantly surprised. They were on time, great service, extra leg room and when flying domestic no baggage fees.

Two days ago I just booked another RT for June with a ridiculous cheap air fare. Makes me wonder if they are selling tickets then just cancelling flights. I'll have to wait and see how this works out? I guess it would make sense to book with a Dive operation that would allow a 24 Hr. cancellation policy.

Personally If I could save $250 each way flying into Cancun instead of Cozumel I would take that deal everyday an extra 2 hours for 2 days of diving sign me up

 

[cvchief]

For us it is always faster non-stop to Cancun than connections to CZM. Usually the cheapest option, but always the fastest. Its all about the schedules. Of course we committed to Southwest and managed to get the companion pass and all, so it would be really hard to fly someone else.