Southwest Leaving Cozumel

[Shawn C]

That sometimes happens…just as often me and my Global Entry are long gone from the luggage carousel before the immigration line clears.
These days I rarely have trouble at the airport because I have the luxury of traveling during the week (not weekends). Not everyone has the opportunity, but if you can swing it, it takes a lot of stress out of air travel. That said, you still have to deal with the airlines prior to travel which I currently find more problematic. All IMHO, YMMV.

Agree

We avoid Saturday travel like the plague. Often flown on a Tuesday and it's been great.

 

[ggunn]

Agree

We avoid Saturday travel like the plague. Often flown on a Tuesday and it's been great.

This. On Saturday mornings the Austin airport is an absolute zoo.

 

[ReefHound]

Reading some post from a SWA flight crew member living in Cancun, its apparently a lot to do with the SW 700 aging out of service and those plane being the raft equipped planes. They can use non-raft planes, but it takes an hour longer costing more in time and fuel to hug the coast. He said that maybe in 2025 if we are lucky, SW may start getting MAX6 plane to replace the the 700s which maybe could change things.

We were Airtran BWI to CUN for a few years and then SW when they bought them out. We can go back to the non-stop BWI to CUN, however the new and expensive puddle jumper Aerus sucks for timing. LONG waits in CUN coming or going, so I guess it will be back to my van guy.

Has a plane ever ditched in the ocean where rafts made a difference?

 

[ReefHound]

Ugh, agree with Dave that the whole reentry process at IAH is a nightmare and it’s even worse when one needs to connect, like me. Two hours is a minimum based on my last trip. No precheck is ridiculous, even the customs line was ridiculous for anyone with global entry. Not to mention the line to pass by the dogs.
I am back to the bag drag. I use to fly maya air but can’t get any info on baggage fees for the new carrier.

You seem to be describing the departure not the re-entry process. I depart and re-enter at IAH bout three times a year. Departing, there absolutely is pre-check - I've used it twice so far this year - but it's usually not open after 9pm because the regular line is not that long. Perhaps you are talking about connections after re-entering? My wife has Global Entry and has never taken longer than five minutes to clear and be a baggage carousel. I use Mobile Passport Control, there is a special line for it and it has never taken me more than 15 minutes - usually 5 - 10 minutes - to be at baggage. The last time I passed by dogs was several years ago when departing in the regular lines before I had pre-check. But that didn't add any time since the bottleneck for the queue is the scanners. You could remove the dogs completely and it wouldn't shorten the wait by one second because after you pass the dogs you wait in line awhile for the scanners.

 

[ReefHound]

Just pick a date and look. Around 90 bucks one way with a backpack. More with a carry one and finally like 225 with a checked bag, rolly and back pack. Just 3 fares. AERUS - Tu nueva forma de viajar

It seems more like a commute for work thing. Morning and evening flights..

You have a house in Coz. Lucky you. We'll see if there are enough of you to keep them in business. I bet 95% of the people going there have checked bags. The Aerus flight is just not economical, in my opinion. It looked to me like Advantage fares CUN-CZM were 2000 pesos and from CZM-CUN were 3000 pesos. That's not even addressing the limited times.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

This. On Saturday mornings the Austin airport is an absolute zoo.

Forget it, Jake. It's AusTown.

 

[gopbroek]

With luck this will work out and spread to other airlines and airport pairs. I have had no actual interaction with customs or forms or questions at DFW for years now

Skip Baggage Claim: Delta To Eliminate Luggage Collection And Re-check For International Arrivals - View from the Wing

Delta Air Lines is working with the U.S. government so that connecting passengers arriving off of international flights won’t have to collect their checked baggage and drag it through customs themselves. Starting with flights arriving from Tokyo Haneda, and potentially by the end of the year...

viewfromthewing.com

 

[ggunn]

With luck this will work out and spread to other airlines and airport pairs. I have had no actual interaction with customs or forms or questions at DFW for years now

Skip Baggage Claim: Delta To Eliminate Luggage Collection And Re-check For International Arrivals - View from the Wing

Delta Air Lines is working with the U.S. government so that connecting passengers arriving off of international flights won’t have to collect their checked baggage and drag it through customs themselves. Starting with flights arriving from Tokyo Haneda, and potentially by the end of the year...

viewfromthewing.com

Please! Collecting bags and rechecking them, and then going out of the secure area and having to pass through TSA screening to get back in for connecting flights has never made any sense to me whatsoever. It adds at least an hour to the time I have to allow for making my connecting flight and it serves no purpose that I can see. If you fly into Europe from the US the airports there don't put you through this blsht; last summer we flew from Austin to Warsaw through Amsterdam on KLM; our luggage was checked the whole way and the passport check in Amsterdam took five minutes.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

You seem to be describing the departure not the re-entry process. I depart and re-enter at IAH bout three times a year. Departing, there absolutely is pre-check - I've used it twice so far this year - but it's usually not open after 9pm because the regular line is not that long. Perhaps you are talking about connections after re-entering? My wife has Global Entry and has never taken longer than five minutes to clear and be a baggage carousel. I use Mobile Passport Control, there is a special line for it and it has never taken me more than 15 minutes - usually 5 - 10 minutes - to be at baggage. The last time I passed by dogs was several years ago when departing in the regular lines before I had pre-check. But that didn't add any time since the bottleneck for the queue is the scanners. You could remove the dogs completely and it wouldn't shorten the wait by one second because after you pass the dogs you wait in line awhile for the scanners.

I think that I and Jackie were referring to the immigration process when returning from Coz. Hitting it monthly made me LOVE Hobby.

 

[cvchief]

Has a plane ever ditched in the ocean where rafts made a difference?

Maybe?