Flying to Mexico

Every year I make between two and four journeys to Mexico from England, where I am resident.  Here are my flying tips from several years’ worth of flying experience between the UK and Mexico.

I’m a member of the AA Advantage Program, with whom I collect air miles.  I can also collect miles on other airlines which are part of the “One World” alliance; but there are restrictions; see below for details.

Anyone who travels frequently will know that, on average, four return transatlantic journeys buy one free return transatlantic journey: that’s a useful 25% discount on every airfare, over time.  So my first tip is: if you haven’t done so already, join an air miles program.

I almost always travel on American Airlines as my first choice.   They have great connections to Mexico from London via various US cities and the extra leg room in coach class on their planes really does make a difference on long journeys. I often make a stop-over in the USA as I have friends and clients there whom I sometimes visit.

There are other flight options from Europe.   British Airways runs a direct flight from London to Mexico city five days a week; Air France has a code-share agreement with AeroMexico: AF will fly you from most European cities to Paris and connect to AM’s transatlantic flight to Mexico City from there.  You can also fly to Mexico City from Madrid, Frankfurt and Amsterdam; and bargain flights can sometimes be purchased by connecting to Mexico City from one of these European ‘gateway’ cities instead of traveling via the USA.

The best place to find your flights is via the internet and, in my experience, direct from the airlines: going via an agency or booking agent usually carries an additional handling charge: check and compare!

There’s a major conference in Mexico City this week, so flight prices were higher due to the increased demand.  By adjusting my travel dates a few days forward (to Monday next week instead of my original date choice, Wednesday this week), I managed to save over $200; most of the airlines’ quotation systems now offer a “calendar view” of prices so you can scan the flights in a given date range to see which ones have less expensive seats on offer.  If you and your plans are flexible you may save a lot of money by opting for a slightly different date.

This month, I found that British Airways has a cheaper fare to Mexico City than American.  It’s unusual as BA often charges a premium for its direct flight from London to the Mexican capital.  I haven’t traveled on BA since 2003, so I could use knowing what their service is like these days.  I will report back after the journey.

I get the AA Advantage air miles points as if I had traveled on American, but beware!  If you are a member of the AA Advantage Program and travel on British Airways (or any other One World member) to the USA, and connect to Mexico from there using AA, you won’t get your points for the transatlantic portion of the trip because AA and BA don’t share points on directly competing routes, i.e. UK-USA.   This also applies in reverse if you are a member of the British Airways frequent flyer program.

So in summary, my tips for air travel to Mexico are:

• Join an air miles program, if you haven’t already.  The miles soon add up and it’s easy to book ‘reward flights’ using the airlines’ own web booking systems.  I find the AA Advantage program excellent and it offers good rewards. Join an airline’s own program and try to fly with that airline as often as possible to get the best points deal and avoid flying on routes with another carrier where airlines in the same program compete for customers (as described above).  Remember too, when you’re checking quotes, that a few extra dollars paid for loyalty to your preferred airline can add up to hundreds of dollars worth of free air travel in future with air miles.
• Check the web for offers and promotions directly with the airlines.   British Airways normally charges a premium to Mexico City from London, but this month it was less expensive than American.  Fares vary by season and depending on the carrier’s current stock of unsold seats.
• It pays to shop around and, if you can, be flexible with your dates.  If you can travel a week later or earlier check the price difference as you could save anything up to a half on your fare by buying seat on the same flight on a different day.
• Although it’s less convenient than a direct flight, flying to Mexico with one or two stops in between might save you money.  However this isn’t always the case (as in my flight with BA) so the trick is, spend a few minutes browsing the net and get quotes from two or three airlines.

Also See:

Getting To Mexico

Getting Around Mexico�