No more Mayan Air, any changes in Bag Drag

[Jackie]

Since we are in New York, there are no direct flights to CZM. A few weeks ago we experienced the hell that is Houston coming in from Roatan, transferring planes to NY. It took two hours with everything running smoothly. No TSAprecheck. Global entry wasnt working right. It’s less stress to just have one flight efen with the dreaded bag drag. I was checking my old posts on the forum and see I was talking about this as far back as 2011. dandydon even commented!
We used to fly Maya Air, but don’t see them anymore.
It’s my husbands 70th birthday present to do a long weekend in Cozumel and I’d like it to be as special as possible. Not looking to pinch pennies.
tips? Should I take the ADO bus or book a car service? Or is their a reliable plane charter?
thanks in advance

 

[Kinglake]

Delta is flying to CZM again. Lots of options from NY connecting in ATL on to CZM.

 

[ggunn]

Since we are in New York, there are no direct flights to CZM. A few weeks ago we experienced the hell that is Houston coming in from Roatan, transferring planes to NY. It took two hours with everything running smoothly. No TSAprecheck. Global entry wasnt working right. It’s less stress to just have one flight efen with the dreaded bag drag. I was checking my old posts on the forum and see I was talking about this as far back as 2011. dandydon even commented!
We used to fly Maya Air, but don’t see them anymore.
It’s my husbands 70th birthday present to do a long weekend in Cozumel and I’d like it to be as special as possible. Not looking to pinch pennies.
tips? Should I take the ADO bus or book a car service? Or is their a reliable plane charter?
thanks in advance

I would still pick a two hour IAH ordeal on the return flight over the bag drag back to Cancun from Cozumel, and I do, actually, even to and from Austin, but DSFDF. I just make sure I allow plenty of time between flights in Houston.

 

[living4experiences]

IMO, however long it takes to transit through a U.S. airport to get to and from Cozumel directly and skipping Cancun is far better than the time and hassle of the bag drag.

 

[Jackie]

I haven’t found that to be the case in 20 years of going to CZM from New York. Having a connection in the US be it Atlanta, Miami or Houston creates failure points.

The flight from Houston to NY is the same 4 hours as NY to Cancun. Build in a two to four hour layover, the two hour flight to/from CZM from IAH, that’s another 4-6 hours of travel time verses 2-3 with the bag drag, I’ve been there done that and missed flights, in the past and would have lost dive days if I hadnt pivoted. Once I was in Miami and missed the connecting flight to CZM, despite a long connection time. I would have lost a whole day, had I not said, put me in a plane to Cancun. Recently stayed overnight at IAH so that I wouldn’t miss our morning flight to Roatan.

I can take a car service to the ferry which is an hour and another 45 minute ferry with a ten minute cab to where we stay in town. With the ferries leaving every hour there is never much of a wait. We usually sit at the nice bar nearby and have a drink while we are waiting.

 

[Jackie]

Post from 12 years ago…

 

[ggunn]

I haven’t found that to be the case in 20 years of going to CZM from New York. Having a connection in the US be it Atlanta, Miami or Houston creates failure points.

The flight from Houston to NY is the same 4 hours as NY to Cancun. Build in a two to four hour layover, the two hour flight to/from CZM from IAH, that’s another 4-6 hours of travel time verses 2-3 with the bag drag, I’ve been there done that and missed flights, in the past and would have lost dive days if I hadnt pivoted. Once I was in Miami and missed the connecting flight to CZM, despite a long connection time. I would have lost a whole day, had I not said, put me in a plane to Cancun. Recently stayed overnight at IAH so that I wouldn’t miss our morning flight to Roatan.

I can take a car service to the ferry which is an hour and another 45 minute ferry with a ten minute cab to where we stay in town. With the ferries leaving every hour there is never much of a wait. We usually sit at the nice bar nearby and have a drink while we are waiting.

As we discussed at length in another thread, it really depends on where you are traveling from and back to. There are lots of flights between Austin and Houston and it's only about 45 minutes wheels up to landing, so it's a no-brainer for me. Worst to worst I can rent a car and drive home.

Also, flying internationally into IAH can be painful, but doing so into ABIA (Austin) is worse.

 

[judydivescoz]

We lived in New York for 20 years before moving to Cozumel. I feel your pain. We have missed our connecting flight to Cozumel and back to New York on several trips over the years, not too horrible. I had my daughter book flights directly to Cozumel after she had twins last year. I thought it would be easier. She had always flown into Cancun to save money. Of course she and her entourage missed the connecting flight as they were delayed in New York and they were stranded in some airport for the night with screaming babies and a cranky husband that had never been out of the country. She has never booked a flight here with a connection after that. She has a driver waiting for her at her family in Cancun to take them to the ferry. My point is, the bag drag is not so bad especially coming from the northeast where there is only one connecting flight to Cozumel No mater what airline you fly. If you miss it you can be stuck waiting a day. I travel often. I much prefer flying to New York nonstop from Cancun. I can get into any of the metro airports before 3 instead of at midnight If I left from Cozumel. Flying home, Instill try for Cozumel. If I get back a day later it’s not like I am missing a day of vacation.

 

[cozcharlie]

a couple of random comments .
1) if you don’t have Global Entry (or there is some issue with it as one post implied). I have some friends that use the Mobile Passport Control app. They seem to get through basically as fast as Global Entry most of the time (which I think they may even have ).
2). My bag drag experience is dated 4 years or so , but I usually had good luck just getting a car service at the airport and not worrying about the advance booking/meet up logistics—except around holidays. I waited a 90 minutes plus for a car at spring break once. I would recommend having something arranged beforehand if flying into Cancun Christmas /New Years and Spring Break . There are people on the board that have some operators they like (not sure if posted in this thread yet )

 

[nanches]

Since we are in New York, there are no direct flights to CZM. A few weeks ago we experienced the hell that is Houston coming in from Roatan, transferring planes to NY. It took two hours with everything running smoothly. No TSAprecheck. Global entry wasnt working right. It’s less stress to just have one flight efen with the dreaded bag drag. I was checking my old posts on the forum and see I was talking about this as far back as 2011. dandydon even commented!
We used to fly Maya Air, but don’t see them anymore.
It’s my husbands 70th birthday present to do a long weekend in Cozumel and I’d like it to be as special as possible. Not looking to pinch pennies.
tips? Should I take the ADO bus or book a car service? Or is their a reliable plane charter?
thanks in advance

I always take ADO. Safe and affordable. Usually comfortable (took one this summer with not great ac). Just walk out of the terminal, buy your ticket, and the bus comes pretty quickly- I think at least every 20 minutes. Leaves you 1.5 blocks from the ferry.