Great news for Central Texas Divers

[cal776]

Some hopefully helpful info for prospective travelers . . .

New Mexican low cost carrier start-up VivaAerobus is offering $9 base fares each way on its nonstop flights between AUS (Austin) and Cancun (CUN) with a five-week advance purchase and, of course, subject to availability.

The taxes from AUS-CUN run $45.00 and taxes from CUN-AUS are $73.99. There is also a $8 credit card booking fee per reservation (not per person).

VB #920 from AUS-CUN departs at 8:45 a.m. and arrive at 11:00 a.m. VB #921 from CUN-AUS departs at 11:25 a.m. and arrives at 1:45 p.m.

Fair warning: VivaAerobus is partially owned by the founder of RyanAir. So expect the RyanAir travel experience, minus the hassle of a bus ride to a remote airport and minus the inability to talk to a human being, as VivaAerobus actually maintains a toll free number in the U.S. The flights are operated by 737-300 aircraft and feature open seating and drinks and snacks for sale. As for the baggage allowance, VivaAerobus apparently allows two free carry-ons and one checked bag not to exceed 25 kilos and 158 linear centimeters per passenger.

Trip reports can be found here and here.

 

[k-valve]

Speak for yourself you long haired hippie bleadin heart liberal left wing communist!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna book a trip on the new Austin Death Jet

Great! ...now I've labeled my own self as a liberal. I guess I'll have to vote for Hillary or Obama now too....NOT!!!

 

[ReefHound]

For the record, I'm not trying to discourage anyone just ensure everyone makes a well-informed decision. Here, according to Viva Aerobus, is their on-time performance record.

 

[Debraw]

>SNIP> Debra, I can see a hotel offering a deal to an airline selling a package but why would they offer anything to an airline simply transporting passengers who are probably not staying with them?

That's why I specifically said they may not make money on you....

"They make money somewhere, not necessarily on you but on another traveler who stays in one of the package hotels vacations they offer."

It is a big picture idea not a try and make money on everyone who walks through the door. Lots of heavily tourist areas have associations that they donate to and everyone helps each other out. I do not believe for one single solitary second that this airline is losing money on every flight. They make it up somewhere. I do not think they can do it for an extended period of time, look at FunJet, Adventure Tours, Apple Vacations, MLT (Worryfree) Vacations. I gave up travel this past year for good. It's all a bunch of horse**** now. I have a hard time booking anything for myself out of the country anymore, hell or for that matter I don't even like flying domestically anymore either! Late flights, overpriced, underpriced, gimmicks, tricks, frequent flyer miles, baggage restrictions, fuel surcharges disguised as price increases, etc. etc. It all sucks. Does anyone really believe American Airlines has lost as much money as they claim to lose every quarter and still manage to fly everyday for the last 7 years!!!!! Since 9/11!!! Ha what a joke. They blame it on 9/11 but it was happening for at least 2-3 years before that and several airlines were in financial distress.

Wow, what just happened??? I flipped out.

My advice take the cheap fare, buy some cheap 3rd party travel insurance and try and have a good time. I will be on the Spree boat this year.

 

[Timeliner]

Great! ...now I've labeled my own self as a liberal. I guess I'll have to vote for Hillary or Obama now too....NOT!!!

Well.... if you were willing to go the distance and be a Donkey then you would feel right at home flying with the Goats and Sheep I mentioned earlier.

There, You see... There is always a Positive side to everything.

I never have tested Positive though.

 

[ReefHound]

Wow, what just happened??? I flipped out.

That's OK, gotta vent now and then.

I could see the hotel packages reasoning for Cancun, but Monterrey?

They "explain" how they offer such low fares on their website, basically they are following the Southwest model except no free bag of peanuts. They also offer no connections, strictly point to point only which makes routing and baggage handling much simpler. When they only go from Austin to Cancun or Monterrey, if your bags aren't there in Cancun, well at least you know where they are...

One possibility I thought of is maybe the Mexican govt is subsidizing their fuel purchases. Fuel is 70% of an airline's operating costs so if they are getting aviation fuel from the state-owned Pemex at 50 cents per gallon, they could fly circles around their U.S. competition paying $3.50 / gallon.

My advice take the cheap fare, buy some cheap 3rd party travel insurance and try and have a good time. I will be on the Spree boat this year.

Good advice, I didn't think of that. The cheap flights plus trip insurance is still a lot cheaper than other fares. I will be on the Spree boat a few times this year, too.

 

[Debraw]

Somebody, somewhere is helping them. No one intentionally loses money out of the goodness of their heart. That's the only point I was really making. Monterrey is a locals flight. I still think the term Aerobus is funny. That's really what it is a "bus" that "flies". I keep thinking that one day they will hit the airstrip and you will see everyone's feet stick out and make a braking stop. When they finally do stop boxes tied with twine will roll out in front of the plane and a large plume of feathers and smoke will billow out the top and sides.

 

[ReefHound]

I still think the term Aerobus is funny. That's really what it is a "bus" that "flies".

Do you realize how right you are?

*****************
VivaAerobus.com is Mexico's low fares airline created with the expertise of two great companies: IAMSA and RyanMex.

IAMSA is the leading company in passenger transportation by bus in Mexico. IAMSA operates a modern fleet of 9,000 buses transporting more than 260 million passengers per year.

*****************
VivaAerobus.com - ABOUT US

 

[Debraw]

Get the **** outta here...Good grief....

Do you realize how right you are?

*****************
VivaAerobus.com is Mexico's low fares airline created with the expertise of two great companies: IAMSA and RyanMex.

IAMSA is the leading company in passenger transportation by bus in Mexico. IAMSA operates a modern fleet of 9,000 buses transporting more than 260 million passengers per year.

*****************
VivaAerobus.com - ABOUT US

 

[ReefHound]

I wonder if they will have chickens and roosters running loose in the aisle?