Houston to Cozumel flights?

[ggunn]

I paid $486 for a United flight back in June of this year. I don't know whether United's cost will ever come down to $400 or not, but I will really be glad when the international terminal opens at Hobby Airport this fall. I suspect that with Southwest entering the international market out of Houston all Caribbean destinations will be a little more affordable.

Remember when gasoline was $4/gallon and the poor airlines had to raise fares and start charging for bags and snacks and stuff just to stay in business? Remember?

Well, crude is down to under $50/bbl now and airline profits are through the roof.

 

[DiverG]

I paid $486 for a United flight back in June of this year. I don't know whether United's cost will ever come down to $400 or not, but I will really be glad when the international terminal opens at Hobby Airport this fall. I suspect that with Southwest entering the international market out of Houston all Caribbean destinations will be a little more affordable.

If I was confident that United would get me to Cozumel direct for $450 I might have waited. I used to be loyal yo Continental since they had the best deals for me on direct flights. Since the merger and probably before that they have gone downhill for me.

 

[DiverG]

Well, I went to see a diving medicine doctor yesterday. The doctor wants me to get a chest ct scan done, and if that is good I'll be good to dive. Scheduled for the CT next Saturday, but hoping to be able to squeeze it in sooner. Wish me luck on the results.

The doctor has review the results of the scan.

 

[DandyDon]

The doctor has review the results of the scan.

Did Siri write that for you? Missing some I think. So, you good to go - I hope.

 

[DiverG]

Yes, I can still dive. I got a call from the doctors office telling me he wanted to see me. I thought for sure that meant my diving days were done as he had told me earlier that if I was good to dive he would tell me over the phone. Get there, and he tells me there are some things that I need to keep an eye on, but I was good to dive.

 

[captnpat1982]

It's been my experience, that the further out you look the more expensive it is. If you look for February flights in December, you should see the flights are less expensive.

 

[DjDiverDan]

It's been my experience, that the further out you look the more expensive it is. If you look for February flights in December, you should see the flights are less expensive.

Airlines practice what is referred to as yield management - trying to achieve optimum revenue from a flight while maintaining a profitable load factor. As such, flights are priced when the airline first allows bookings for that flight - typically 12 months in advance of the departure date. They look at anticipated fuel costs (typically the largest and most volatile of the variable costs), and price the seats so as to achieve an acceptable profit margin with the average historical load factor for that flight. They don't typically adjust the pricing until 3-5 months before departure, and adjust prices then to take into account changes in fuel costs as well as how much of the required load factor they've already booked. If they've already booked more than the required load factor to be profitable, that's an indication of high demand, so they may not cut prices at all, or may even raise prices; if they are behind historical norms in filling up the plane, you might see a "flash sale" that only lasts 1-3 days, just to fill up enough empty seats to get the plane to a better load factor. I benefitted from one of these last year, when a trip to Cozumel in the first week of December, DFW to CZM round trip, had a big drop in price about mid-July - on a Saturday morning the round trip price dropped from $542 to $362. By Sunday P.M., the price was back up to $542. The Airplane will end the sale before completely filling the plane, leaving the last 5%-10% of the plane available for full fare tickets. Then, if the plane is not fully booked, it might offer more low-fare tickets in the last 21 days before departure.

If you need to firmly plan arrival and departure dates for a trip, and it is a popular destination and high season (i.e., Cozumel for the Christmas-New Years week, or Cozumel for Carnival), you might well risk the flight being fully booked at full fare prices as early as 6 months before departure; if you are looking at a more "off-season" trip, there is still some risk of a flight being fully booked, but you might save a lot of money by starting to check prices daily about 4-5 months out, hoping that you can get into a "flash sale", or even waiting until 3 weeks before departure hoping to snare a "last minute" deal. It's all a bit of a roll of the dice, taking the risk of a booked up flight (and no trip) vs. the possibility of potentially big savings.

 

[DandyDon]

Ever ask yourself: "Do I want to spend hours going 300+ mph at 35,000 feet with the cheapest bid...??" :silly:

 

[Skittl1321]

I benefitted from one of these last year, when a trip to Cozumel in the first week of December, DFW to CZM round trip, had a big drop in price about mid-July - on a Saturday morning the round trip price dropped from $542 to $362. By Sunday P.M., the price was back up to $542.

We were just talking about how glad we are that you posted about that awesome rate last year. You finding that was the only reason we got a trip in!

 

[ggunn]

Ever ask yourself: "Do I want to spend hours going 300+ mph at 35,000 feet with the cheapest bid...??" :silly:

All the time, and the answer is always "yes".