Please support more flights to Cozumel

[DandyDon]

I have to leave the house around 2am to make a 5am flight that connects into Coz by noon so my first day is generally devoted to siesta time. :sleeping2:

 

[DiverG]

Ok this thread was started yesterday then disappeared sometime this morning. Now it is back. Why did it leave in the first place?

 

[iztok]

You guys might want to see the list of all direct flights to/from Cozumel from Star Alliance.

It seems there are direct flights on Continental from Houston, United from Chicago, US Airways from Charlotte, and Air Canada from Toronto.

You can see when certain flights start and stop as current plan:

http://www.staralliance.com/assets/doc/en/services/tools-and-downloads/pdf/StarAlliance.pdf


Cozumel MX (CZM)
To Charlotte NC US (CLT) 1079 miles
1240 1638 US1234 319 7 0
Above Disc. 5/30
1430 1828 US1236 319 67 0
Above Eff. 6/5
1440 1829 US1236 319 6 0
Above Disc. 5/29
To Chicago O'Hare IL US (ORD) 1485 miles
1250 1645 UA564 320 6 0 F
Above Disc. 5/22
1252 1647 UA564 320 6 0 F
Above Eff. 6/12
To Houston Bush TX US (IAH) 839 miles
1220 1434 CO1698 757 6 0 S
Above Disc. 6/5
1220 1436 CO1698 738 X6 0 S
Above Disc. 6/9, Exc. 6/3 - 6/4, 6/7
1222 1436 CO1698 739 6 0 S
Above 6/12 - 6/26
1222 1438 CO1698 739 X6 0 S
Above 6/10 - 6/30
1224 1440 CO1698 757 45 0 S
Above 6/3 - 6/4
1230 1444 CO1698 739 6 0 S
Above Eff. 7/3
1230 1445 CO1698 739 X6 0 S
Above Eff. 7/1
1340 1554 CO1668 738 6 0 S
Above Eff. 6/12
1502 1715 CO1498 738 6 0 S
Above Disc. 6/5
1505 1720 CO1498 738 7 0 S
Above Disc. 6/6
1505 1721 CO1498 738 15 0 S
Above Disc. 6/7
1510 1724 CO1498 738 7 0 S
Above 6/13 - 6/27
1524 1739 CO1498 738 X6 0 S
Above Eff. 7/1
1525 1739 CO1498 738 6 0 S
Above 6/12 - 6/26
1525 1740 CO1498 739 X67 0 S
Above 6/10 - 6/30
To Toronto Pearson ON CA (YYZ) 1656 miles
2030 0125+1 AC1845 319 6 0 F

 

[DandyDon]

Well, the airlines will fly more flights if they sell more tickets at high enough fares, won't if they don't no matter how much we spam their email boxes. Other factors like subsidies, freight, flying enough to keep the gate slots can come into play on the side.

What they will actually fly month to month boils down to that, but the missive in post one seems to be just wrong.

 

[iztok]

Well, the airlines will fly more flights if they sell more tickets at high enough fares, won't if they don't no matter how much we spam their email boxes. Other factors like subsidies, freight, flying enough to keep the gate slots can come into play on the side.

What they will actually fly month to month boils down to that, but the missive in post one seems to be just wrong.

Totally agree! Not to mention that one can easily charter a flight to fly as well. If dive shops in Cozumel think they need daily service they can pitch together and offer a direct flight from wherever to the divers. It is not unheard of, some casinos in Las Vegas do this for their customers and in most cases even don't charge customers (directly) for it.

 

[iztok]

My name is Edward Luedtke. I am the owner of Divetech, Inc. in Houston, Texas, and I am trying to organize a collective response from all the dive shops in our area that travel to Cozumel. /QUOTE]

Dear Edward Luedtke, best response is to show airlines your money. As you can charter a dive boat you can charter a flight. If you think chartering a daily flight from Huston to Cozumen will not bring you money why would you think air carrier flight would be profitable for them? If you think you have enough divers not only to email but to actually pay and fly, get them on your chartered flights.

 

[ggunn]

Totally agree! Not to mention that one can easily charter a flight to fly as well. If dive shops in Cozumel think they need daily service they can pitch together and offer a direct flight from wherever to the divers. It is not unheard of, some casinos in Las Vegas do this for their customers and in most cases even don't charge customers (directly) for it.

Casinos have a lot more money than dive ops, and Las Vegas high rollers spend a lot more than divers do.

OTOH, divers have better risk management skills than gamblers do.

 

[ggunn]

I would fly Continental from Dallas (connecting through Houston) if the flights were earlier in the day.

If we arrived in Coz by 10am, we could go on the afternoon dives on the first day. With current arrival times at 12:00 or after, the entire first day is lost to travel with no opportunity to dive (except limited shore or night time).

Funjet used to fly out of DFW pretty much at the crack of dawn; are they still around?

 

[parrotheaddiver]

Funjet used to fly out of DFW pretty much at the crack of dawn; are they still around?

yes but they use the major carriers like Co AA Delta...when I used to fly them they would use Ryan Air Aero Mexico and Champion...and their flt times are not very good from Austin any more....very limited now I remember we used to take them fm Austin non stop to CZM....the only nonstop fm Texas now is AA fm DFW and I think they only run it in the summer months unless that has been canceled as well

 

[iztok]

Casinos have a lot more money than dive ops, and Las Vegas high rollers spend a lot more than divers do.

OTOH, divers have better risk management skills than gamblers do.

I agree on both counts. But to expect airlines to sponsor divers on unprofitable routes is not reasonable.

Basically the premise is that if dive operators/shops think that flights are profitable for an airline to run on a daily basis and airlines don't run it they are free to charter flights. If they are correct they will make money, if they are wrong they will lose money. But for dive operator/shop to expect others to run that risk is not fair.