For Texans looking for a getaway, a trip south of the border has always been a popular option. Plane tickets to Mexico have been moderately priced – a quick search shows a round trip ticket from Austin to Cancún costs around $400. Not a bad deal, but those prices could be dropping soon.
That’s because most of the restrictions on flights between the U.S. and Mexico are going away. Andrea Ahles, an airline reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, says that means there will be more flights on popular routes.
“Rules that had usually limited two or three airlines from each country on a particular route are going away,” she says. “Now they’ll be able to fly to cities in both countries anytime they want to.”
Big carriers are already making moves to add more flights. Right now, they’re focusing mainly on popular resort towns – think Cancún and Puerto Vallarta.
“We’re already starting to see carriers like Delta, Southwest, American all announcing new service that they’re going to be implementing, mostly in December and November,” she says, “which is sort of the big time for those of us who want to escape winter.”
That means more competition, which equals lower prices for travelers.
“Roundtrips between DFW and Cancun, they usually run about $380, maybe $500,” Ahles says. “We could see them drop as low as $300, $250 is what some of the airline analysts that I’ve talked to have said, so you could see a pretty significant drop.”
Post by Alexandra Hart.
