American Airlines Monopoly on Cozumel

[DandyDon]

For a multitude of reasons I would far and away rather change planes in Houston than deal with ground and water transportation hauling myself and all my stuff back and forth between Cancun and Cozumel even when my layovers were longer than the surface transit time would have been.

Yeah, I've done many four-hour layovers and a few bag drags, both ways with both, and Cancun is to be avoided. I've never been delayed by the frequent highway closures or ferry closures, but those extra risks.

 

[ggunn]

Yeah, I've done many four-hour layovers and a few bag drags, both ways with both, and Cancun is to be avoided. I've never been delayed by the frequent highway closures or ferry closures, but those extra risks.

I's not just the time spent; it's also the having to travel the 50 miles each way between the CUN airport and Cozumel schlepping and keeping track of all my luggage. It's also the not knowing if I have allowed enough travel time getting back to the airport in order to make my flight; a wreck on the road from Playa could wreck my plans.

YMMV but it's not for me.

 

[Bookworm11]

I have no issue changing in Houston or Dallas. It's just I am not going to do connections under an hour, but I also don't want to be doing 18-22 hour trips either. Choices seem to be connecting in Miami or Dallas if I fly out of Bradley on AA. I have no loyalty to any airline. I do prefer avoiding flying back through Miami as clearing customs there, even with Global Entry, and reclaiming luggage, and going thru security and having to change terminals seems to take three hours to do it safely. I think my best plan if connections continue to be more dreadful for Cozumel is fly RT thru Cancun and just plan to do some cenote diving on the way back so I stay in Playa for 3-4 nights, and then only have to get to Cancun from Playa instead of having to worry about the ferry as well.

 

[DandyDon]

I have no issue changing in Houston or Dallas. It's just I am not going to do connections under an hour, but I also don't want to be doing 18-22 hour trips either. Choices seem to be connecting in Miami or Dallas if I fly out of Bradley on AA. I have no loyalty to any airline. I do prefer avoiding flying back through Miami as clearing customs there, even with Global Entry, and reclaiming luggage, and going thru security and having to change terminals seems to take three hours to do it safely.

Yeah, I like to try to help folks find better flights, but your choices all suck. Either too tight connections going or 12 hours in DFW. Returning thru DFW connections under 2 hours is too tight, altho you could return thru MIA with a 4+ hour connection, but I really hate MIA. Your choices do look better thru CUN and it can be done reasonably.

 

[nanches]

I have no issue changing in Houston or Dallas. It's just I am not going to do connections under an hour, but I also don't want to be doing 18-22 hour trips either. Choices seem to be connecting in Miami or Dallas if I fly out of Bradley on AA. I have no loyalty to any airline. I do prefer avoiding flying back through Miami as clearing customs there, even with Global Entry, and reclaiming luggage, and going thru security and having to change terminals seems to take three hours to do it safely. I think my best plan if connections continue to be more dreadful for Cozumel is fly RT thru Cancun and just plan to do some cenote diving on the way back so I stay in Playa for 3-4 nights, and then only have to get to Cancun from Playa instead of having to worry about the ferry as well.

We flew Logan to Cozumel with a 2-hourish layover in Miami on 8/7. But the flight left Logan at 7:30 am. That would definitely be an early departure from your home in Hartford
On the return flight this past Tuesday, we also connected through Miami, leaving Cozumel at 2:40. There were tons of international flights arriving into Miami at the same time and a long line at immigration, but the line went super fast. The line at customs was backed up, so they just sent us out the flight crew door. We had to recheck our bags at the counter, but there was no line. We also had to go through the TSA checkpoint again, but that happens at a lot of airports. No terminal change was needed on the way down or back.
Our 8:15 flight back to Logan (this would also be a late drive back to Hartford, I know) didn’t take off until about 10:20, but that was because they needed to pull another airplane because ours had some equipment issues. This could happen anywhere, so I don’t fault Miami airport for this. Also, this flight was cheaper than flying through Cancun.
Last summer we connected through Ft Lauderdale from Cancun. I’ll never do that again! Connecting through Austin is also a huge PITA. All in all, I don’t have any complaints about the Miami airport.

 

[Bookworm11]

I am flying out of Logan this November because I managed to find non-stops to Cancun on Delta. And yes, my choices suck. The problem with Logan is I travel alone. There are no good mass transit options. You can't take Amtrak from Springfield because the local bus company has blocked it. If your flight leaves early or late, you can't take the bus. And airport parking for 13 days is crazy priced! So I am having to drive to outside of Boston, and take a shuttle from there. Or sit at the airport overnight. And yes, I have no good options. Its crazy that I have better options to go overseas than closer.

 

[Racer_X]

Just booked for Chicago Spring Break '25. Naturally, my options were....limited. However, AA was quite a bit cheaper than UAL which was 4k for 2 people. CUN wasn't any better price wise than Cozumel direct and I just don't fly Delta.

We got back from the Galapagos last week, and 90-day non prime time flights to Quito were around a grand each - just the cost of flying international these days.

 

[dflaher]

I think my best plan if connections continue to be more dreadful for Cozumel is fly RT thru Cancun and just plan to do some cenote diving on the way back...

Two benefits of that plan:
-You only do the (full) bag drag once, on the way in when timing isn't as critical
-You get a free fresh-water gear rinse before traveling home.

 

[gopbroek]

AA has a very lean schedule into CZM this month. Miami and DFW go back to a daily schedule about a week into October. The weekly CLT flights also return in October. A really good website for seeing available direct routes is https://www.flightsfrom.com/CZM