# airfare to Cancun



## siclone (May 6, 2012)

I recently exchanged into the Royal Mayan and am looking for a flight from St. Louis. A few years ago we were able to go for about $150. Now the cheapest direct flight is $750 or more! Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.


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## chalucky (May 6, 2012)

Having the same problem from Los angeles for Thanksgiving !


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## pianodinosaur (May 6, 2012)

We purchased two roundtrip tickets from Houston to Cancun yesterday online from United-Continental.  The total cost was $1829.98.


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## Larry (May 6, 2012)

Same problem here from NY. Jet Blue now has only direct flight from JFK to Cancun and they want almost $1,000 per ticket.


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## WeLovetoTravel (May 6, 2012)

Larry said:


> Same problem here from NY. Jet Blue now has only direct flight from JFK to Cancun and they want almost $1,000 per ticket.



Larry-
We paid $650 e non-stop on USAIR out of Philly. It might be worth the drive to save $$$.
-Deb


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## ilene13 (May 6, 2012)

We travel to Cancun 2-3 times a year.  The airfare from Buffalo on USAir runs about $515 pp.  There are no nonstop flights so we go through Charlotte.


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## BoaterMike (May 6, 2012)

siclone said:


> I recently exchanged into the Royal Mayan and am looking for a flight from St. Louis. A few years ago we were able to go for about $150. Now the cheapest direct flight is $750 or more! Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.


Save money and make connections.  Just watch for the overnighters they they slide in. United was running about $460 RT last week.  American was more.  Look at going a day or two earlier or later to avoid Sat travel.  Look at AirTran also.  We are using them in the Fall for STL to CUN.

Mike


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## johnsontrio (May 6, 2012)

*Boy this hits a nerve! *   I usually start looking 331 days out and the pattern usually holds that they are reasonable when they first come out, around $400, and then as they sell, they go up in price.  This year has certainly been an anomaly.  As soon as they were available they were in the $700's,  I watched for months and they never came down.  Then I decided that I would just wait for the 6 weeks out, when they are supposed to be cheapest, checking on Tuesday's (usually the cheapest day).

The non-stop flight from Detroit to Cancun, 6 weeks out has been consistently around $1140 and business class is around $1350.    A couple weeks ago, just for a couple hours, I saw business class for around $1K pp, but didn't really want to spend that.  My alternatives were to drive to Cleveland (Frontier just began non-stop service) or Cincinnati (Delta non-stop) for around $700 pp.

As an aside, the tickets on Spirit are still cheap but that's before you pay for your checked bag, carry-on bag, seat, water bottle and any paper towels you might use in the lavatory. :ignore:   I have vowed to never fly them again after they cancel our flights to Cancun last Easter and left us to purchase tickets on Delta less than 12 hours before we were to leave.

We finally settled on flying to Nashville the evening before, using a free night in the hotel, and flying home through Nashville, spending the night visiting friends, before flying home to Detroit.  We are doing all this for $650 pp.  One of the first questions I am going to ask my salesperson is how much is the price of flights impacting their occupancy rates.  My family from Florida are paying almost $700 pp for their flights.     It's crazy!  

My advice would be to keep checking through connecting cities and consider Southwest to get to those so you avoid any baggage fees.  Good Luck!


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## logan115 (May 7, 2012)

I learned something interesting around looking for flights to Cancun a few weeks back when booking a trip for me and my wife (we leave tomorrow  ).  Check with some travel agencies like Apple and Funjet as they may have charter flights leaving from your airport or that you can connect to - this is why they can sometimes be materially cheaper with their packages then other sites like Travelocity or Orbitz, etc.  There may be something that works, and it's worth a shot.  Just something I wouldn't have checked on before.

Unfortunately (and naturally), there were no charters for our day of departure - but there were  some the day before/after.  I ended up booking our flights direct through United and paid $600 RT from O'hare, flying E+ on the way there ($250) and Biz on the return flight ($350).  However I think the Biz leg was an error (should've been more) but I made United honor the price.

Good luck,

Chris


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## sdbrier (May 7, 2012)

*Sun Country Air*

We booked our February tickets through fun-jet on SunCountry Air for 413.00 PP round trip out of St Louis.


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## jclouie25 (May 7, 2012)

I agree with Johnstontrio, I also try to book asap and will get decent airfare.  This year the airfare seems insane.  A few years ago when I booked Cancun it cost around $275 per person but we canceled that year due to the swine flu situation.  Now the prices are triple that amount.  I was luck and found a fare for $465 and grabbed it.  A minute later the fare went up so much for the exact flights and today it cost $875 for the same filght, ridiculus.  We have 4 people flying so that adds up.  It seems cheaper to fly to Hawaii.


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## johnsontrio (May 7, 2012)

sdbrier said:


> We booked our February tickets through fun-jet on SunCountry Air for 413.00 PP round trip out of St Louis.



Looking at their website today, they don't even list St. Louis on their current route map.  It looks like they only fly Cancun year-round from MSP.  They don't seem to fly to Cancun from their Southern destinations (for my FL based family) and only seasonal from most of their Northern cities.  In checking my dates, flying MSP to CUN, it's $1126 pp and we would still need to add DTW to MSP r/t and the baggage fees.


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## hefleycatz (May 7, 2012)

Dont know exact dates you need, but Funjet for example June 1,2012 - June 9,2012 - 723.99 pp.  non-stop from St. Louis.  

We used them June 2010 and the fare was $1145 for two people.  Was Aeromexico then, looks like its frontier now.  

lee


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## moonlightgraham (May 7, 2012)

Same experience as everyone else seems to be having. I booked back in February for our late May departure from Atlanta on AirTran and grudgingly paid $400rt when it was usually $300 to $350 in recent years. Looking  back, I'm glad I grabbed the seats when I did, the price has done nothing but go higher and AirTran is not even showing Saturday morning seats available! At any price. Maybe the airlines have finally figured out the capacity control thing.


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## siclone (May 7, 2012)

Thanks for all the help. 
  Wow, looks like I'm not the only one surprised by the prices. Apple and Funjet out of St. Louis are both 750 - 800 for  a direct flight. Ouch. Have looked at Kayak around 500 but at least one stop and maybe 2 on the return. I will keep looking, probably have to bite the bullet eventually!


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## BoaterMike (May 7, 2012)

siclone said:


> Thanks for all the help.
> Wow, looks like I'm not the only one surprised by the prices. Apple and Funjet out of St. Louis are both 750 - 800 for  a direct flight. Ouch. Have looked at Kayak around 500 but at least one stop and maybe 2 on the return. I will keep looking, probably have to bite the bullet eventually!



When you going?  

Mike


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## RALnGA (May 7, 2012)

Just checked Airtran out of Atlanta Oct 13 /Oct 20-- $353  round trip...
RAL


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## johnsontrio (May 8, 2012)

Chiming in with today's fare (since it's Tuesday and rumored to be the best day to buy), 5 weeks out.  Non-stop DTW-CUN, Saturday travel, $1128.  Don't know how you could do a family vacation there at these prices.  We commonly spent $400 to $460 pp, one year, we paid $301 for the same flights.  This has to seriously be impacting their occupancy.  I feel fortunate that we have summer weeks, which are more popular with the Mexicans.  With any luck, less impacted by airline prices, if we ned to rent them out.


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## jbuzzy11 (May 8, 2012)

in the past I have paid $99.00 each way from JFK on AA about 330 days out but it looks like those days are behind us. what I have done recently is fly out of Islip to Orlando (MCO) with southwest pts stay the night in a 5 star hotel through priceline for $60 a night then fly out the next morning on Delta for about $230 a person round trip. whatever gets ya there!!


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## pjrose (May 8, 2012)

We've gone from DC or NYC for around $300 - $650 each RT, with miles about 1/3 of the time.  

Johnsontrio - we have not been able to rent our summer weeks this year,   and ended up depositing them     I'm sure the high airfare is hurting rentals.


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## BoaterMike (May 8, 2012)

Two years ago we flew STL to CUN RT for $350pp.  With fares ranging $480 and up we elected to roll some Southwest credits over to AirTran and obtained two one way tickets for a total of about $60 in fees.  We'll book the return when they open up the post 11/2 schedule. 

While fortunate enough to have flight credits, we also (or should I say my DW) use the Southwest credit card to rack up flight credits.   Not for the faint of  heart, this strategy can work if you can manage the use of the card.  

Many of the airline cards have sign up bonuses that can boost the benefit.  SWA, for example gives a bonus of 50,000 points that could convert to about 5 AirTran one way flights under the best case scenario.  (Again, this strategy is not for everyone.  Be sure to take a close look at the fine print. This is just one example of the many reward programs out there.)   

Mike


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## sbutalla (May 8, 2012)

We are having a harder time getting our flights too.  Pjrose knows --- I have had my rant with Frontier, as our flights with them have increased rapidly.  Our 2010 tickets were $440 and $360 for nonstop flights (on Saturday), 2011 tickets were $460 (Spring Break - weeks 11/12) and $477 (Christmas/New Years), then 2012 came.  The introductory price for this year's break was $960 and for weeks 51 & 52... $760 and no bags.  

Fortunately I was able to secure my family's tickets with Super Saver fares on United out of Lincoln (our hometown) for our Christmas/New Years trip.  We have to overnight in Denver on the 21st, but for 35,000 miles per ticket and $75, it was well worth it!  We are able to come back on Saturday, January 5 with a reasonable length layover (enough time to clear customs, get something to eat, and get to our gate --- 2 hours, if I recall correctly).  

My suggestion is to look for flights on off days and try to use miles if you have them.  If you don't, consider opening a credit card with the carrier you fly most and (try to) be loyal to one airline.  I have the United Explorer card & it has worked out ok with us.  It comes with a $95/year fee --- well worth it if  you fly enough because you get one free bag for two passengers if you use the card for ticketing.  Since we are a family of four, we carry two cards and book separate itineraries when we are flying in the US so we always get free bags.  Whatever it takes to save $$$.  

ALSO - you may wish to try bidding on Priceline.  It worked out well for us on a trip to Hawaii.  Published fares were $1150 and we got tickets to Kona for $640 on a one-stop on United for a late January/early February trip there.  

I just booked our tickets TODAY for March 2013.  Ridiculous, I know, but Lincoln - CUN flights were $638 for Saturday, March 9 until Saturday, March 23 --- $80 less if we flew out Sunday.  I booked Saturday b/c I figure that I'd rather spend the $ and be there the extra day.

We were loyal Frontier customers for many years, but they've let us down twice and I'm not waiting around for them to mess us around again.

Good luck!  If I see any good deals out of STL, I'll pass along.  What are your dates of travel?


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## johnsontrio (May 8, 2012)

sbutalla said:


> We are having a harder time getting our flights too.  Pjrose knows --- I have had my rant with Frontier, as our flights with them have increased rapidly.  Our 2010 tickets were $440 and $360 for nonstop flights (on Saturday), 2011 tickets were $460 (Spring Break - weeks 11/12) and $477 (Christmas/New Years), then 2012 came.  The introductory price for this year's break was $960 and for weeks 51 & 52... $760 and no bags.
> 
> Fortunately I was able to secure my family's tickets with Super Saver fares on United out of Lincoln (our hometown) for our Christmas/New Years trip.  We have to overnight in Denver on the 21st, but for 35,000 miles per ticket and $75, it was well worth it!  We are able to come back on Saturday, January 5 with a reasonable length layover (enough time to clear customs, get something to eat, and get to our gate --- 2 hours, if I recall correctly).
> 
> ...



*What were the problems you encountered with Frontier? * I will not fly Spirit after 2 separate bad experiences with them.  My strategy has been to piece the travel together through cities where we have family or friends.  We currently don't fly often enough that accruing the mileage from our credit card does us any good and Delta miles are very pricey for international flights.  I use Costco Amex for the cash back and Marriott Chase Visa for hotel points in places that don't take Amex.

Trust me, for next year, if the flights are in the $600 range, I will be buying them as soon as they become available.  You really have to figure in the flight time and the essentially lost days on either end, if you take some of these connecting flights that Delta puts together and that is also my fear with Priceline.  I'd rather bite the bullet on price than spend 15 hours in flight and connecting times.  If you put together 2 separate flights on the same airline, you have to be careful the airline doesn't bust you for violating their rules.  Additionally, you have to figure in the extra baggage fees etc..  It's almost become a part-time job.


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## sbutalla (May 8, 2012)

johnsontrio said:


> *What were the problems you encountered with Frontier? * I will not fly Spirit after 2 separate bad experiences with them.  My strategy has been to piece the travel together through cities where we have family or friends.  We currently don't fly often enough that accruing the mileage from our credit card does us any good and Delta miles are very pricey for international flights.  I use Costco Amex for the cash back and Marriott Chase Visa for hotel points in places that don't take Amex.
> 
> Trust me, for next year, if the flights are in the $600 range, I will be buying them as soon as they become available.  You really have to figure in the flight time and the essentially lost days on either end, if you take some of these connecting flights that Delta puts together and that is also my fear with Priceline.  I'd rather bite the bullet on price than spend 15 hours in flight and connecting times.  If you put together 2 separate flights on the same airline, you have to be careful the airline doesn't bust you for violating their rules.  Additionally, you have to figure in the extra baggage fees etc..  It's almost become a part-time job.



Frontier was a great airline for us until they starting cutting flights and increasing prices.  They don't publish their fares 331 days out like the big boys, so by waiting around for their fares to be published, we've missed opportunities for cheaper itineraries through United/Delta.  

Being from Lincoln, NE, we don't have a huge selection of flights or airlines.  In order to fly direct, we have to fly out of KC on Frontier... but that is a seasonal route with only 3 direct flights a week at most.

I've heard that Costco sells $300 American Airlines Giftcards for $270, so I suppose if anyone is flying American, it would be worth it to stock up on some giftcards!  For us, American rarely publishes competitive fares. 

In booking our Spring Break flights today, I noticed that I could've flown out of Omaha on US Airways for $555 vs my $638 fare on United.  For us, the drive to Omaha, connection in Charlotte, and fees for bags made the United flight more appealing... plus we accure miles with them, which helps us earn future awards for free tickets.


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## sbutalla (May 8, 2012)

sbutalla said:


> Frontier was a great airline for us until they starting cutting flights and increasing prices.  They don't publish their fares 331 days out like the big boys, so by waiting around for their fares to be published, we've missed opportunities for cheaper itineraries through United/Delta.
> 
> Being from Lincoln, NE, we don't have a huge selection of flights or airlines.  In order to fly direct, we have to fly out of KC on Frontier... but that is a seasonal route with only 3 direct flights a week at most.
> 
> ...



PS - If you want to learn more about how Frontier's customer's feel, go to their Facebook Page.  LOTS of disgruntled passengers these days!


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## Larry (May 9, 2012)

*spirit for $529*



Larry said:


> Same problem here from NY. Jet Blue now has only direct flight from JFK to Cancun and they want almost $1,000 per ticket.



OK just got email from orbitz for NY to Cancun for $529. However it's on Spirit airlines from LGA instead of JFK. This is a 1 stop flight through FLL and time for flights are excellent and I would have a couple of choices with either a 1hr or 1 1/2 hour layover getting into Cancun by either 11:00 AM or 3:00PM. However you never know with Spirit if the flights get cancelled. 

So would you gamble on not getting screwed to save about $1,000 for two tickets or should I just wait and see if fares go down on Jet Blue or AA.

Plus with Spirit we will have to travel light which means 1 checked bag each at $35 per bag each way and not bring any carry on luggage or get hit with additional fees by Spirit


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## WeLovetoTravel (May 9, 2012)

Larry said:


> OK just got email from orbitz for NY to Cancun for $529. However it's on Spirit airlines from LGA instead of JFK. This is a 1 stop flight through FLL and time for flights are excellent and I would have a couple of choices with either a 1hr or 1 1/2 hour layover getting into Cancun by either 11:00 AM or 3:00PM. However you never know with Spirit if the flights get cancelled.
> 
> So would you gample on not getting screwed to save about $1,000 for two tickets or should I just wait and see if fares go down on Jet Blue or AA.
> 
> Plus with Spirit we will have to travel light which means 1 checked bag each at $35 per bag each way and not bring any carry on luggage or get hit with additional fees by Spirit


Larry-
Spirit is such a pain in the you know what.... Personally I would find something else. You do know that you have to pay for your seat too, right? They charge you for EACH leg too! -Or at least that's what happened to us. We paid seat fees from ACY to FLL, and then were charged again from FLL to CUN. (Seat fees don't add up to anywhere near what you are saving though...)Did you check flights out of Newark? 
Good Luck,
-Deb


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## johnsontrio (May 9, 2012)

Larry said:


> OK just got email from orbitz for NY to Cancun for $529. However it's on Spirit airlines from LGA instead of JFK. This is a 1 stop flight through FLL and time for flights are excellent and I would have a couple of choices with either a 1hr or 1 1/2 hour layover getting into Cancun by either 11:00 AM or 3:00PM. *However you never know with Spirit if the flights get cancelled. *
> 
> So would you gamble on not getting screwed to save about $1,000 for two tickets or should I just wait and see if fares go down on Jet Blue or AA.
> 
> Plus with Spirit we will have to travel light which means 1 checked bag each at $35 per bag each way and not bring any carry on luggage or get hit with additional fees by Spirit




Below is a post of mine from 2008 that I clipped and pasted here.  Elsewhere I have told the story of how last year I had to buy tickets the night before on a different airline when Spirit cancelled our flights.  Don't drink the Spirit Koolaid.     That $529 doesn't include your seats, bags, taxes, etc...


Our last trip with them was a disaster and may well be our last. We dropped of 2 of DD's friends in Fort Myers the Saturday night after Easter week. Spirit was offering 3 RT tickets per seat volunteered. That's when I knew the next day in Orlando was going to be bad.

We got to MCO 2 and a half hours before our flight. We were probably about 30 people back in line to check in at the ticket counter, no self serve kiosk there. Entire families, one after another, probably 50 people in all, at the counter were being denied boarding and told there were no flights until Wednesday. The people, once denied, would not move along and let those of us with confirmed seats get checked in. The atmosphere was very hostile, with lots of bad behavior exhibited, Screaming, swearing, threatening, etc. The police finally came in to keep a lid on things.

With the line still moving slowly, I told my DH wait until the agents leave to go airside to start working the flights, no one is going to get checked in. Sure enough, About 45 minutes before the first flight to Detroit, 6 agents became 3 and now I was becoming very anxious about missing the flight.

My DD and I were on the 4:30 flight and my DH was booked on the 6pm flight which was already delayed out of San Juan by 4 hours. My DD and I finally got checked in at 4:20 and then ran all the way to security and through the terminal and were the last ones boarded. Unbelievably, our flight went out with empty seats, undoubtably from folks that didn't get checked in.


Sounds like most everyone here is getting better fares by piecing together flights, traveling on off days, or driving to other airports with cheaper fares.  Good luck but don't count on Spirit to get you anywhere.  I would hate to see your vacation ruined.


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## Neesie (May 11, 2012)

I feel lucky to have booked my January 2013 airfare to Cancun earlier this week for $452 per person on Delta for a direct flight round trip from Minneapolis-St. Paul.  We chose to leave on Jan 1st but the fare was available for several days, with a return trip on the 23rd of January.

I was actually disappointed that the airfares to Puerto Vallarta and San Jose del Cabo were almost twice that price for the same time period.  (And much, much longer flight times).  

I booked on Orbitz because they advertise the price assurance; Travelocity had some kind of guarantee but when I clicked on it they only guaranteed the lowest fare for 24 hours after you book.  Orbitz is supposed to refund money if another customer books the same price for less up until the time of the trip.  Never have these details been more important!

We will also get one free checked bag on Delta just because it is an international flight.


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## radmoo (May 11, 2012)

Jet Blue will credit you if the fare drops with NO change fee.  The credit goes into Jet Blue bank and is good for one year from date of issue!  You can register flights with yapta.com and they will send email alert if fare drops.  Then you call Jet Blue and they will issue credit assuming dates and itinerary are EXACTLY the same! I've done it, it works


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## Neesie (May 14, 2012)

I checked on January airfares to Cancun (from Minneapolis-St. Paul) today for a friend of ours who will join us in our 2bed 2 bath condo.  He'll be staying one week as opposed to our three weeks and paying slightly less, *$432 round* *trip direct flight, 4 hours flying time. *


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## pianodinosaur (May 14, 2012)

pjrose said:


> We've gone from DC or NYC for around $300 - $650 each RT, with miles about 1/3 of the time.
> 
> Johnsontrio - we have not been able to rent our summer weeks this year,   and ended up depositing them     I'm sure the high airfare is hurting rentals.



Does that mean we will not get to meet you at the Royal Islander at the end of June, 2012?  Our prayers are still with Katy and with you.


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## Michigan Czar (May 26, 2012)

I'm looking to go to Cancun next spring and wow are the prices high! Sun Country recently posted their pricing, it would be over $1k a person from Lansing for spring break.

Anyone out there have any ideas on how I can find a decent rate from Michigan or Chicago?


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## johnsontrio (May 26, 2012)

Michigan Czar said:


> I'm looking to go to Cancun next spring and wow are the prices high! Sun Country recently posted their pricing, it would be over $1k a person from Lansing for spring break.
> 
> Anyone out there have any ideas on how I can find a decent rate from Michigan or Chicago?



Air Tran has starting flying from Chicago to Cancun non-stop.  Not sure about their fares, but if they trend like Southwest's then you want to buy early, as soon as they are released for your dates.  I would also check through Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Nashville.  The drive to Indianapolis wouldn't be too bad for you.  Delta flies that non-stop.  You could easily fly Southwest from Chicago or Detroit to Nashville and then get Delta's non-stop from there.  Also check out Frontier through Cleveland or another city. All of the above options were cheaper for me this year than the Detroit-Cancun Delta non-stop.  Good luck!


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## Twinkstarr (May 27, 2012)

johnsontrio said:


> Air Tran has starting flying from Chicago to Cancun non-stop.  Not sure about their fares, but if they trend like Southwest's then you want to buy early, as soon as they are released for your dates.  I would also check through Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Nashville.  The drive to Indianapolis wouldn't be too bad for you.  Delta flies that non-stop.  You could easily fly Southwest from Chicago or Detroit to Nashville and then get Delta's non-stop from there.  Also check out Frontier through Cleveland or another city. All of the above options were cheaper for me this year than the Detroit-Cancun Delta non-stop.  Good luck!



Try Cleveland or Canton/Akron where SWA/AT is a major player. We usually fly out of DTW(live in Toledo) but last year for spring break, 1st week of April, we drove to Canton and took AT to MCO heading to Vero Beach at $250pp less than flying out of Detroit on AT or DL. And that was with the upgrade fee for Biz Class on AT.


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