Airfare - Looking Ahead

[cvchief]

He's considering Cancun to save money. How much is that plane?

If his baggage isn't huge, I get my tickets by email for about 49 pp one way. (DO NOT buy them online. Email for best quote and negotiate.) That includes a shuttle from the CUN FBO to whichever international terminal.

As compared to 12.50 for the ferry? And what like 10 for the bus? And there is a 6 am ferry at the moment, I believe. If you look at a ferry company schedule, there will be two. One for certain days and one for other days. BOTH of those schedule run every day, it just means the other ferry company has that run.

 

[njones259]

Airfare is really crazy.Just booked a March trip from Allentown PA to Bali for $538 dollars.The flight from Philadelphia to Coz was $590 dollars.

 

[mstevens]

Concerning the "bag drag" from Cancun. The latest departure I see for most of the flights is 9:30 AM (unless I want to get home around midnight or pay significantly more money). AFAIK, the first ferry leaves Cozumel @ 7:00AM arriving PDC about 8:00AM. Approximately 1 hour bus ride from PDC to Cancun. Assuming everything goes right, I would only have 30 minutes to spare before my flight - not feasible. Is this correct?

I'm with Ron Lee (the acknowledged world expert on this particular subject) on this: not feasible other than in exceptional circumstances.

The ferry crossing is about 40 minutes. The bus ride is usually around 45 minutes. The bus counter at the Cozumel ferry pier can tell you with decent reliability which bus you will be able to catch and sell you tickets for it so you don't have to deal with it in Playa del Carmen. It's a few minutes' walk from the PdC pier to the Ado station, so thinking (as you say) of the ferry and bus each taking about an hour has always worked well for me. Departures at CUN can involve very long lines at the ticket counter (and although I nearly always travel to and from Cozumel with only carry-on luggage, one still must check in there and boarding passes printed elsewhere will not get you through security) and at security, following which it can be quite a hike to the gate area.

2 weeks ago we allowed 4 hours before our flight to get from the island to CUN. There were no delays, lines were impressively short, and we ended up killing about an hour in the gate area. That was really a "best-case" trip to the airport and 2 1/2 hours would have had us at the gate half an hour AFTER departure.

 

[cvchief]

As a side note to booking, I just grabbed the wife a non-stop from Baltimore to Cancun for like 380 on Southwest which includes 2 bags I think for December 3. That is less than 2 months out and better pricing than a month ago.

---------- Post added October 16th, 2014 at 03:42 PM ----------

from Allentown PA to Bali for $538 dollars.

From Allentown???? That's wild.

 

[krbailey]

I want to do this as economically as possible but I'm at a point in my life where comfort and piece of mind play a big part in any decision. Last August, I flew directly to CZM and got in around 12:30. Took my peak performance buoyancy (as a refresher) course followed by the nitrox course the same day. Over the course of the next 8 days, I did 34 dives (I may have a problem but that's another thread!). The ease of flying directly to/from CZM was definitely worth the money and allowed me to dive an additional day.

 

[njones259]

Still available as of 1 hour ago and must book 14 days.Flight is on Delta book abe to dps March 11 to 25th. I am diving with Crystal divers who I have used before and they are a very good shop.

---------- Post added October 16th, 2014 at 03:14 PM ----------

Forgot to say you must book on Orbitz as fare has dried up on most other sites.No longer shows up on ITA so is difficult to search other dates. Fare has been around for about 48 hours so won't be available much longer.So much for Bali and now must get ready for my trip to Coz next week.

 

[cvchief]

The ease of flying directly to/from CZM was definitely worth the money and allowed me to dive an additional day.

Well, it is all relative to your flight. If I want to fly 'direct' to Cozumel, it will cost me more and take LONGER. I can get to Cancun in 3.5, then 45 minutes on a private van, 45 minutes on ferry or 10 minutes on a van and 15 minutes on a plane. OR I could change planes somewhere and get direct to Cozumel in 6.5-9 hours and an extra $100 or so. And of that 4.5 hours, through Cancun the van from Cancun to Playa is way more comfortable than an airplane and the ferry hardly counts as travel time. I look at it like a nice boat ride with beer.

In full disclosure, if the ferry schedule doesn't line up correctly, you *might* have to sit in Senor Frogs and drink a beer and eat a quesadilla for an hour or so....

Now if I could jet into Cozumel in 4 hours or so for the a little more, sure I would be into it.

 

[krbailey]

Well, it is all relative to your flight. If I want to fly 'direct' to Cozumel, it will cost me more and take LONGER. I can get to Cancun in 3.5, then 45 minutes on a private van, 45 minutes on ferry or 10 minutes on a van and 15 minutes on a plane. OR I could change planes somewhere and get direct to Cozumel in 6.5-9 hours and an extra $100 or so. And of that 4.5 hours, through Cancun the van from Cancun to Playa is way more comfortable than an airplane and the ferry hardly counts as travel time. I look at it like a nice boat ride with beer.

In full disclosure, if the ferry schedule doesn't line up correctly, you *might* have to sit in Senor Frogs and drink a beer and eat a quesadilla for an hour or so....

Now if I could jet into Cozumel in 4 hours or so for the a little more, sure I would be into it.

Hmmm... now you have me thinking.

 

[cvchief]

Hmmm... now you have me thinking.

If money isn't tight, I can give you my van guy. (bus is cheaper and still not a bad way to go) Like 45-55 bucks for a van from the airport to the ferry. Tell him to hit the Oxxo for beer (and you can take the rest of the 6 pack on the ferry) and then stretch out for a comfortable ride. Be sure have an idea on the ferry time. They depart to Coz on the top of most hours during the day. If it is tight, skip the beer.....

 

[DandyDon]

Well, it is all relative to your flight. If I want to fly 'direct' to Cozumel, it will cost me more and take LONGER. I can get to Cancun in 3.5, then 45 minutes on a private van, 45 minutes on ferry or 10 minutes on a van and 15 minutes on a plane. OR I could change planes somewhere and get direct to Cozumel in 6.5-9 hours and an extra $100 or so. And of that 4.5 hours, through Cancun the van from Cancun to Playa is way more comfortable than an airplane and the ferry hardly counts as travel time. I look at it like a nice boat ride with beer.

So, how do you get from there to Cancun in 3½ hours? Non-stop? On SWA? They don't cooperate with other airlines or Matrix so hard to shop - they are ruthless in their business model, and they don't book fares that far in advance so I looked at one weekend in March: 8 hours going, 6 hours returning, one connection each way.

Spoiler

I tend to think in correct industry terms, like "non-stop" which is one flight vs "direct" which is same plane & flight number even tho it stops somewhere, so I can get confused when people use one term but mean the other.

It is good to keep SWA in mind tho. I so often forget them since they are a pain to shop.