dmac7273

Hey FTers,

I don't really need anything in this thread; I just want to vent. Every year my family takes a "Fam Jam" vacation to Cancun. We always travel in fall time because it's hurricane season and this is the best time to get the best deals.

In years past, we've always flown Delta for $250-$350 round trip. This year, however, all days are $650 RT minimum. You know what else is $650 round trip? ATL-DEL? No joke, check Google Flights.

To me, Delta's pricing has shot up crazy since they signed the JV with Aeromexico and killed the competition. From ATL, only Southwest has only one stop flight from ATL to CUN every day. Just one flight. Everything else is DL.

It pisses me off to no end that I can fly to Delhi for the same price I can fly to Cancun. I know if I buy this ticket, I'm getting shafted, but I have little choice.

/angry

-dmac

3Cforme

Fly Southwest, or connect. You do have choices.

hi55us

Agreed on the high airfare, beyond me what's driving it.

Try using the flexible search to view other options, also try some some other nearby airports. I'm seeing $350/RT when departing DFW since there's the AA competition.

dmac7273

Southwest has one flight daily from ATL to CUN and it's about $400, which is still higher than average. They've raised their prices because their only "competition" is DL at $650.

dmac7273

I've played with departing from GSP or CLT which are both driving distance. Both connect through ATL to CUN and are $100-$150 less! But those airports have more competition.

sfozrhfco

Go on a diet and pack light and you can take Spirit for $286RT.

baccarat0809

Friends do not let friends:

Drive drunk
Purchase the Brooklyn Bridge
Fly Spirit airlines

gigglypug

One of my fave deals this year was a LAX-CUN booking on AM (connecting through MEX) for 220/pax RT. Schedule change made trip impossible and it was changed to LAX-CUN on DL-non-stop for no extra $.

Not gonna help you much, but you did say you weren't looking for help 😊

apodo77

So many amazing places to see in the world.
Maybe the universe is telling the original poster to mix it up and go somewhere else.

readywhenyouare

Reading that made me cringe. The high airfare is your punishment.

xliioper

They don't have more competition, they just aren't DL hubs. And by the way, checking Google Flights, CLT is even more expensive than ATL on AA/DL ($700+). I see BNA-CUN from about $275 roundtrip on DL. BHM and GSP are available from around $400. Many Florida cities are in the $300 range (buy a cheap one-way down to Florida and hidden city the return through ATL). Also can get one-way award to CUN for 17.5K miles and book hidden city one-way return. Or just fly NK as suggested above. Many options here.

FlyerWx

There are so many places to go in this world. And so many airlines that can take you there...

Oh, um, sorry, wrong airline -- couldn't help it

But seriously, I'd love to go to DEL for $650, and it's way too much for CUN. I'm not a hub captive, so I'd suggest starting your journey elsewhere and see if the savings are worth it.

dmac7273

Thanks for the input! I've actually already been to India this year (and Hong Kong, Taiwan, Spain, Germany, and France) so I've been around a lot, mostly on great deals like the $650 to DEL. The difference is the "fam jam" is for extended family, most of which is deathly afraid of travel. I, on the other hand, can't get enough travel in my life. I do wish changing destination was an option but sadly not with this fam!

btonkid12345

Exactly this. OP, I recently wanted to go from the SE US to CUN and back. I started searching on a Thursday for a weekend departure. Finally bought this, on Saturday, for a Sunday departure:

MIA-ATL-CUN
CUN-ATL-SEA-YVR (which was SDC-ed after the international segment to ATL-SAN-SEA-YVR)

for about $240 US. Exact same flights, just ATL-CUN-ATL, would have been $700. Again, ticket purchased 24 hours before departure. ATL-MIA (or FLL) is as cheap as $20 on Spirit, and you can build in a layover long enough in ATL to pickup any carry ons you may need.

The creativity LBJ encourages in action: a hidden city site helped me find the "return" segment but I actually ended up flying all of the ticket. And all segments cleared into F.

livebetter_travelmore

Deathly afraid of travel? In light of the recent news, http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-...822-story.html, then and the fares, maybe another location would be better all around.