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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
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 Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:34 pm Post subject: Airplane tickets out of Mexico |
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With the exception of charter flights, there are only two airlines that fly regularly out of Huatulco (HUX): Mexicana flies at least once a day (usually two or three times) to Mexico City, and Continental flies direct from here to Houston twice a week - but only during high season.
We have two weeks vacation in mid-July, so today I took a look on the internet to see about tickets from HUX to Vancouver (YVR). Sometimes tickets via Los Angeles are a bit cheaper, but I absolutely refuse to fly through LAX after all the past hassles I've had in that airport. As far as I'm concerned LAX is a hellhole.
Continental has round-trip from here to YVR, with just one stop of about four hours each way in Houston, for about $850 US. Mexicana has the same route with one stop in Mexico City - starting at $1400 US!
How in the world can that be? I can see a couple hundred bucks, but almost twice the price of the competition? That's nuts.  |
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Prof.Gringo
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2236
Location: Dang Cong San Viet Nam Quang Vinh Muon Nam!
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 4:39 pm Post subject: |
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| Why not fly out of Mexico City? You could also check out the airfares to Seattle, WA. It's only a few hours from Vancouver via Amtrak. |
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Samantha
Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 2038
Location: Mexican Riviera
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Japan Airlines from Mexico City non-stop to Vancouver used to be a great way to go so that might be worth looking into. I haven't checked their schedules or fares in awhile, but they used to operate twice a week between the two cities. |
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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Prof.Gringo wrote: |
| Why not fly out of Mexico City? You could also check out the airfares to Seattle, WA. It's only a few hours from Vancouver via Amtrak. |
From HUX to DF is 12 hours on the bus. The flights will take long enough; I don't want to add on another 24 hours in travel time to an already short vacation. |
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MikeySaid
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 509
Location: Torreon, Mexico
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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| ls650 wrote: |
| Prof.Gringo wrote: |
| Why not fly out of Mexico City? You could also check out the airfares to Seattle, WA. It's only a few hours from Vancouver via Amtrak. |
From HUX to DF is 12 hours on the bus. The flights will take long enough; I don't want to add on another 24 hours in travel time to an already short vacation. |
Yeah but you should be able to hop a cheap flight from huatulco to DF... no?
I've picked up a $100 flight from puerto escondido to mexico city one-way. |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Sounds like Aviacsa...Mexicana lists round-trip flights from DF to Vancouver in mid-July at 10,000+ pesos. I'd always though JAL was one of the most expensive too. |
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Samantha
Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 2038
Location: Mexican Riviera
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:38 pm Post subject: |
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There is a big ad in our newspaper this morning advertising a seat sale with Mexicana and Click. It doesn't specifically state that it is only good from Mazatlan, and it wouldn't make sense if it were, so check it out. It says you must book through a travel agent (which is odd) and travel must be completed by May 31st. This won't help you for summer but if you get 2 weeks at Semana Santa and the same rules apply from your airport then this is a great deal. $129.00 USD one way for all international destinations and $999.00 pesos for national destinations. These tickets must be purchased between and 7th and 10th of March.
Last edited by Samantha on Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:39 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:39 pm Post subject: |
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| MikeySaid wrote: |
| Yeah but you should be able to hop a cheap flight from huatulco to DF... no? |
The cheapest flights I find from DF to YVR are on Alaska Airlines for $6300 - and that's with a stop in LAX - which I refuse to do anymore. Plus HUX to MEX is usually about $3000, so Continental is still substantially cheaper.
I'm happy with the Continental price - my original point is this: why is there such a HUGE difference between Continental and Mexicana? I mean, 5000 pesos? 75% more? WTF? |
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danielita
Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 281
Location: SLP
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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| ls650 wrote: |
| why is there such a HUGE difference between Continental and Mexicana? I mean, 5000 pesos? 75% more? WTF? |
The flights are not exactly the same. Although the final destination is the same, the routing is different. So the comparison is more like granny smith apples to mac intosh apples. Rather than apples to apples If you checked into flights that had the exact same routing you may find more comparable pricing.
Other reasons for the ticket variance are:
Airport taxes. Airport taxes are different for each airport. Granted, this does not account for the price being double, but it is part of it.
Demand. Carriers lower ticket prices during the slow season. Not many people travel to Mexico (or Vancouver from Mexico) during this period so Continental will want to fill the seats. It is better to get have a paying body in the seat, no matter how much they paid, than an empty seat. Mexicana can likely fill the seat from HUX-DF better than Continental can fill the HUX-Houston leg, so they don't have to decrease their price.
Seat Sales You could have also hit a seat sale period for Continental for the leg from Houston to YVR.
These are all factors that may be part of the reason why you got a cheaper fare through Continental. It doesn't explain it all, but it is a start. Then again, I hear Continental has cut out free snacks and pillows on a lot of their flights...maybe that is where the difference comes in... |
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skratchmer
Joined: 04 Jan 2005
Posts: 10
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:15 am Post subject: |
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Here is my theory on the extreme price difference.... The more expensive flight with Mexicana is direct from Mexico to Canada. If a Mexican citizen needs to travel to Canada, a direct route is much, much simpler with regards to the required visas.
Last Christmas my friend and I found out the hard way that a Mexican citizen cannot have a stop over in the US without a visa already in place. Once we looked into what it would take to acquire the visa needed to have a stop over in the US, the more expensive direct flight was much more appealing!
If I remember correctly he would have had to go to the US embassy in Mexico City and be interviewed and then they would decide over a few months wait if they thought he would be able to get the visa! All of that for a 2 hour stop over at LAX! |
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MikeySaid
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 509
Location: Torreon, Mexico
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:44 am Post subject: |
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I guess the question then... is a little inconvenience worth 600 dollars? I hate the Houston airport... but I don't let it make my trips cost me an extra 500 bucks.
Guess you could just meet people somewhere in the middle? Houston's eh... pretty. |
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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:44 pm Post subject: |
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| MikeySaid wrote: |
| I hate the Houston airport... |
In this case, flying one stop through Houston is cheaper than flying two stops through MEX - LAX.
Besides, Houston is an order of magnitude better than LAX. What a horrible airport! When I've booked those 'cheap' flights through LAX, the flights from Canada are on Alaska Airlines. They fly into the domestic terminal, whereas Mexicana flies out of the international terminal. When you exit the Alaska flight, you have to pick up your bags from the carousel, carry them out of the domestic terminal and into the international terminal (which is about 250 meters away), and then check in again with Mexicana. You have to then go through all the extra security checks again - and this is the really excruciating part.
The last couple of times I've done this, the process has taken 2.5 to 3 hours due to LAX being congested and busy.
Never again. |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| When you exit the Alaska flight, you have to pick up your bags from the carousel, carry them out of the domestic terminal and into the international terminal (which is about 250 meters away), and then check in again with Mexicana. |
Not fun...I went through that at Dulles in DC this past Christmas...on crutches, and merely to switch to a plane with the same airline, going only to NYC. Absolute nightmare, even without considering unhelpful and somewhat-less-than-competent security officials.
Houston airport is nice and simple... |
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MELEE
Joined: 22 Jan 2003
Posts: 2583
Location: The Mexican Hinterland
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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I've actually had that happen to me in Houston LS, but it was my fault because I bought two separate tickets. I don't know about flying on to Canada, but for me to fly to the US, it's usually much cheaper if I buy a Mexico City/Houston ticket (I'm only 6 hours from Mexico City, and 3 hours from the Oaxaca airport, since I have to take a bus anyway to get to Oaxaca, I usually fly out of Mexico City and we even have a direct to the Mexico City airport bus from our town!) then buy Houston-US destination ticket separately. The second ticket is usually on Southwest, one of the US cheapo airlines. I also have the added plus that I imagine most of you don't have, I have an aunt in Houston who is always happy to take me if I have an overnight layover.  It's usually hundreds of dollars cheaper than buying direct tickets to my final destination. |
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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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| MELEE wrote: |
| usually hundreds of dollars cheaper than buying direct tickets to my final destination. |
Yeah, thousands of pesos. The trouble is that I've found sometimes getting the cheaper ticket is false economy.
Example: in December 2005 I flew to Vancouver to visit family. I could have spent $1300 US to make a flight all the way with Mexicana with just one short stop in DF. Instead I chose to save $300 by flying Mexicana to Las Vegas, then LV to Vancouver with Phillipine Airlines. Oh, big mistake.
The flight leaving HUX was an hour late, and there was congestion in DF, so once we landed we were delayed getting to the gate by another half an hour. I missed the flight to Vegas, and had to catch one later that night. Once I got to Vegas, I discovered that Phillipine only flies once a day, and I'd missed the connection. I had to overnight in Vegas, and Mexican refused to pay for the hotel, as they were responsible only for getting me as far as Vega. With taxi, hotel, and meals, the money I'd saved quickly went for extra expenses and lost time.
Oh, and my baggage DID make the connection and so I was stuck with just a change of clothes in my carry-on for the night. |
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