Travel to Cozumel got more difficult this year

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k4kafka

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My favorite air routes to Mexico have essentially dried up this year.
Until this year, I could easily book a direct flight from LAX into Cancun, where I would board the ADO bus to the ferry at Playa. Southwest was the preferred carrier which gave me two checked bags gratis. But now, since the Boeing 737 Max grounding, the current routing out of LA with SW now takes me north through Denver, which is not the direction I had planned on...or a connecting route via DWF. So what used to take about 4 1/2 hours by direct flight is now considerably longer....Aggggh !!!
 
It does really suck. My Austin to Cancun round trip last November was about $360.

This year, I was sitting on my laptop waiting for the November dates to get released. I booked just a few hours after they popped up and had to pay $206 for AUS-CUN and $500 for CUN-AUS. So almost double what I paid in 2018.

Until that MAX software upgrade gets implemented and those planes are cleared, SW and AA is gonna be expensive (outside of the off season).

I did get a round trip from AUS-CZM on AA connecting through DFW in Sep. for $452 ($512 with a checked bag).
 
Grab an air miles card and start playing the air miles game. Grab one, use it for a year or 2, burn up the sign up bonus miles plus what you rack up, close it out and grab another. Wash - Rinse - Repeat. I personally hold out for AA air miles cards when a bank offers 60,000 sign-up miles. Just grabbed the Citi card for my wife that offered 60,000 miles after running $3,000 of purchases through it in the first 3 months which is easy to do if you pay EVERYTHING YOU CAN with the card. Looks like that deal is now 50,000 miles with $2,500 in purchases the the first 3 months. That one replaces one of the Barclay's bank cards we each grabbed 2 years ago with 60,000 sign up miles each. Just be sure to use these cards like cash and PAY THEM OFF EVERY MONTH as the interest rates charged are crazy (which is what the banks are hoping you don't when they buy the air miles from AA to offer with the card).
 
This year, I was sitting on my laptop waiting for the November dates to get released. I booked just a few hours after they popped up and had to pay $206 for AUS-CUN and $500 for CUN-AUS. So almost double what I paid in 2018.
So, why did you book the $700 trip to Cancun if you can get Cozumel for $452 plus bag fees? Or did you actually reject that and opt for the other?
 
Grab an air miles card and start playing the air miles game. Grab one, use it for a year or 2, burn up the sign up bonus miles plus what you rack up, close it out and grab another. Wash - Rinse - Repeat. I personally hold out for AA air miles cards when a bank offers 60,000 sign-up miles. Just grabbed the Citi card for my wife that offered 60,000 miles after running $3,000 of purchases through it in the first 3 months which is easy to do if you pay EVERYTHING YOU CAN with the card. Looks like that deal is now 50,000 miles with $2,500 in purchases the the first 3 months. That one replaces one of the Barclay's bank cards we each grabbed 2 years ago with 60,000 sign up miles each. Just be sure to use these cards like cash and PAY THEM OFF EVERY MONTH as the interest rates charged are crazy (which is what the banks are hoping you don't when they buy the air miles from AA to offer with the card).
I am considering this strategy...as I have a heap of unused AA miles...
 
So, why did you book the $700 trip to Cancun if you can get Cozumel for $452 plus bag fees? Or did you actually reject that and opt for the other?
Maybe because November and September are different months?
 
Grab an air miles card and start playing the air miles game. Grab one, use it for a year or 2, burn up the sign up bonus miles plus what you rack up, close it out and grab another. Wash - Rinse - Repeat.
It looks like they are getting tougher: American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® account in the past 48 months.

I am considering this strategy...as I have a heap of unused AA miles...
They make it a pain to use miles at the lowest levels, but if you'll spend twice as many miles, then you can get good flights. Why aren't you using them?

Maybe because November and September are different months?
The cheaper fares are available in November, so I guess there is more to that?

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And I can pay even less than that if I want to fly on two random dates in November and I don't care about departure times or layovers.

Feel free to go search November 15th to December 1st.
 
I am considering this strategy...as I have a heap of unused AA miles...

Remember, just before you close out one card start another and don't close the card until the air miles have hit your AA account. The miles reside with AA, not the credit card... you just have to wait for them to be posted to your AA account. Then close that old card and run with the other - when yuo sign up for the next one they will ask you if you have an existing AA Awards account - you give them you AA account # and those new miles then hit your account about a month after you've reached the $ volume of purchases in the required time frame. You generally need to switch from one bank's AA card to another as the offering bank won't let you cancel one and then apply for another inside of 2 years but who cares? There's no shortage of banks out there offering air miles cards.
 
And I can pay even less than that if I want to fly on two random dates in November and I don't care about departure times or layovers.

Feel free to go search November 15th to December 1st.
Ok, specific dates desired is your reason, fine answer.

So your choices were $700 thru Cancun or $876 plus bag fees to Cozumel. I was just curious.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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