Flexible Plans

One of the ideas of this trip was to have flexible plans – or to have open plans – a general idea. No end date, but an idea of what month we needed to be back home. So far, this has been the case, except for needing to be somewhere to pick up a friend coming in to visit for a week.

Well, plans change. Due to circumstances, I must return to California for 10 days to take care of some things. But this brings up the point of this blog entry – new ways of travel.

Through the air

Back home, for the last two or three decades, I have been a fan of Alaska Airlines and my local regional airport, STS. Not only do I fly out of there whenever possible, I also learned how to fly there. Not that I have flown recently, but I did get my ticket there and I know the airspace, landmarks, and airport itself – fond memories.

Since I have been flying to Mexico and Central America, I have flown on many different airlines, in the last few years, I have found a Mexican carrier that I prefer – and a new way of traveling to/from Mexico and Central America. That would be CBX.

CBX – Cross Boarder Exchange

CBX is an ingenious tool. It is a terminal of the Tijuana International Airport – located in the United States, more specifically, near Otay Mesa, 30 minutes to the San Diego Airport. CBX is an enclosed catwalk that goes over the border from baggage claim in TIJ/Mexico, through US customs and immigration, then out into the CBX terminal, not unlike any other regional airport in the US. It can be and usually is -VERY- fast and easy. There are, however some caveats to it, namely, you need to purchase a CBX ticket to use the catwalk – that’s about $57US for round trips – and the tickets are only valid within two hours of your scheduled flight in/out of TIJ. Not really an issue. The other BIG advantage to using CBX is cost.

I have an un planned flight, and I needed to book three days in advance from Morelia to Santa Rosa. Going to Kayak and Alaska Airlines websites, I would be able to book a round-trip flight from MLM-DFW-STS for $4600. Since I was in Mexico, I thought that $4600mex was a pretty good deal – about $260US. The only issue I could see was that it took 24-36 hours with at least one extended layover – almost always in DFW. As I moved through the booking process, I realized it was $4600US, not pesos.

So I looked at flights from MLM-TIJ. Direct flights were about $250 (a three hour flight). Then I looked at flights from SAN-STS (a 1:15hr flight) and due to the high demand and short notice, the prices were about $550 – but I would never make the connection as I needed a couple of hours to get through customs and immigration, grab an UBER for the 30 minute ride (about $40) to SAN and get through security. That just wasn’t going to work.

So instead, I booked SAN-SFO with miles ($12 in taxes) and will be able to make my connection. Now how do I get to STS – a 75 minute drive, or 4+ hours on public transportation… Well, luckily, we have an airport service that can get me there in about two hours, or just shy of it – for about $60.

So, instead of $4600 on a single ticket from MLM-STS and 24-35 hours, I have the following: MLM-TIJ – $260 & three hours. CBX, $57 and an hour, UBER from CBX-SAN $40 and 45 minutes, SAN-SFO, $12 and 90 minutes, SFO-STS airporter $120R/T and two hours – coming in at $459 and 9 hours. This is all with a three-day advance purchase – and round trip – the return is similar in time.

Volaris – my new favorite Mexican airline.

I have flown on many Mexican and Latin American Airlines over the last 30-40 years. Most of them have poor reputations, reviews, and statistics. One however – Volaris, stands out. I’ve never had a delay, customer service at the airports have always been exemplary, prices are very low, etc. Now Volaris doesn’t come with many services, it is a low-cost airline and has a litany of extra charges, but if you know what you want, you can still get an affordable ticket.

Volaris caters to the Mexican people and culture. Many from the US and other countries would not be happy or even understand their processes, but if you change the lens you look through, the experience can be gratifying. There are no lines, there’s a mob, just plan for it – give up your seat and go stand in line before the line starts. Sit on your carry-on if you don’t want to stand.

Another example of how Volaris excels, is their customer service. We once had tickets – a multi-city itinerary, but all separate tickets because they don’t offer a multi-city purchase option on their website. The tickets were TIJ-PBL, MEX-GUA, and TAP-TIJ. We paid about $500 for them and bought them months in advance. Just a week before the first leg, something came up and we couldn’t travel. I fretted how difficult it would be to try to get a refund or even a credit. So I called them up. The CSR was very nice and polite and called me Mr. Chris – forget my last name… So formal, but informal. I explained that we needed to cancel and for what reason, then explained the multi-city/multi-ticket issue and with a few minutes came back with and option for us – a 125% voucher on our full ticket price for future flights with Volaris. 125%???? No American airline would ever do this.

Returning to the Pueblos Mágicos Adventure

I will be back on the adventure in 10 days or so at the beginning of July, with our next stop – Puebla. We will be there for about 2-3 weeks. More posts to come, stay tuned.