Using a random date of August 22, a search of the cheap Mexico airlines turned up a ticket today for $117 one way from Tijuana to remote Bajio-Leon (near mountainous expat artist colony, San Miguel de Allende) on Avolar Airline. The site was advertising a $62 Tijuana-Bajio fare -- that's great, but we couldn't make it actually show up in eleven searches.
Airfare Watchdog clued us in to a big sale on Delta -- Denver-San Diego $125 (round trip!). Allocate $10 max to bus from San Diego to Tijuana, and you're looking at $252 Denver-Bajio one way. A $291.16 Denver-Bajio one way ticket through Mobissimo was the best we could do after searching a few aggregators. (Kayak Buzz shows a round trip fare history of $482-$519 Denver-Bajio.) Seek and ye may find better.
Making our San Diego-Tijuana-Bajio idea work round trip work only worked because of Delta's killer sale. $117 times two for the Tijuana-Bajio leg would be a deal-o-rama, but the Tijuana-Bajio round trip fare on Avolar's site is actually $349, bringing that trip idea to $484 plus connection hassle factor. Mobissimo's roundtrip Denver-Bajio fare is $491. Student airfare finder Student Universe shows a $750.80 round trip airfare Denver-Leon/Guanajuato on our date of August 22 (student travel agencies aren't really known for cheap fares to small airports).
It was around this stage in our research that we wised up and wondered if "budget" in regard to these airlines is not even close to the equivalent in Europe, but more like budget as in JetBlue and Southwest -- cheaper than, say, a major airline like AeroMexico, but not to die for. So we looked at AeroMexico. $328.95 including taxes and fees round trip Tijuana-Bajio. Uh oh. We saw roughly that roughly two hours ago on the "budget" Avolar site.
Next, we tried budget Mexico airline Volaris for a Tijuana-Bajio round trip. $170 with the plus plus. At last. That would be a $295 round trip fare from Denver through San Diego with AirfareWatchdog's $125 DEN-SAN find; $305 with a $10 bus ride.
- One way #1 - $252
- Denver-SanDiego (Delta) -- $125
San Diego/Tijuana (bus) -- $10
Tijuana/Bajio (Avolar) -- $117
- One way #2 -- $291
- Denver/Bajio (Mobissimo)
- Round trip #1 -- $484 via Avolar; $464 via AeroMexico
- Denver/San Diego (Delta) -- $125
San Diego/Tijuana -- $10
Tijuana/Bajio (Avolar) -- $349; Tijuana/Bajio (AeroMexico) -- $329
- Round trip #2 -- $491
- Denver/Bajio (Mobissimo)
- Round trip # 3 -- $751
- Denver/Bajio (Student Universe)
- Round trip #4 -- $305
- Denver/San Diego -- $125 (Delta)
San Diego/ Tijuana (bus) -- $10
Tijuana/Bajio (Volaris) -- $170
Our conclusion: Budget Mexico airlines cost more than inter-Mexico buses, but probably less than it used to cost to fly around Mexico. However, unless you read Spanish well and are able to locate the sale fares on the budget Mexico airline web sites, as well as find killer fares to Mexico to begin with, you'll do as well using an aggregator to find fares from your nearest large US city to remote Mexico airports (do compare aggregator finds to a student airfare finder for more common destinations, like Guadalajara or Mexico City). However, inter-Mexico airfares from budget airlines are worth looking into for deals, or avoiding long inter-Mexico bus rides, once you're in Mexico. Our hope: when RyanAir enters the budget Mexico airline biz, some crazy good inter-Mexico prices to off-the-beaten-path airports will follow in the current European mode. Our next move after three hours of airfare search engine work: retiring to the deck with a cold bebida.
Related: Mexico Travel Planning FAQ | Student's Guide to Mexico Travel | "Yo suis perdu..." | What is an aggregator? | Student Airfare Finders | What's the plus plus?
All searches show prices of inclusive of the plus plus (taxes and fees).
