# Volaris canceling flights between Guadalajara, Jalisco and Albuquerque, New Mexico



## MattHanson1990 (Jul 28, 2018)

This month I may visit my dad in the U.S. as I haven't gone there in over six months. He lives in Los Alamos, New Mexico, which is 45 minutes from Santa Fe and an hour-and-a-half to two hours driving from Albuquerque. I live in Guanajuato City (as some of you may already know), and starting November 2018, Volaris began operating between Guadalajara and Albuquerque. This would've meant no more flying into Ciudad Juarez from GDL or León/Del Bajío (BJX), spending the night across the border in El Paso, Texas, then taking Greyhound up to Albuquerque. In the past when I would go to the U.S. I would do this because flying into Houston or Dallas was out of the way and more expensive. But recently, I've noticed that Volaris began canceling flights between GDL and ABQ. This makes me wonder if Volaris is going to end up discontinuing the route altogether, and I would have to continue passing through Juarez and El Paso.

Personally, I think it would've been more feasible if Volaris (or even VivaAerobus) operated flights between Mexico City and Albuquerque route because Mexico City gets more passenger traffic than Guadalajara I think. I also read that Volaris will be flying Chihuahua - Albuquerque.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

You have my sympathy. My daughter lives in Berlin. Even though both Berlin and Guadalajara are major cities, they are secondary airports. Flying between them, requires three legs, Gdl-CdMx, CdMx-Amsterdam/Paris/Frankfurt, Amsterdam/Paris/Frankfurt-Berlin. 

If flying is an important part of one's life, picking where you live can make a big difference.


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

When flying I usually take Volaris. It's open to trying new routes, like throwing spaghetti noodles against the wall. Some stick and some don't,


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Albuquerque is not a major city and it has always been expensive to fly in there but you would think that you could fly directly there from Mexico to Berlin.. I guess you just never know.. When we moved to Chiapas it took a day to get to San Cristobal , you had to fly via Mexico and then the highway was a 2 hour ordeal, The some airline started flying GDL Tuxtla direct and an autopista was built and it became a 3h trip.. then the airline went under and nothing for a while and now we have 2 airlines flying direct in 2 hours but I can see a few changes coming up, they fly very early or late and everything else goes via Mexico , I keep my fingers crossed... You never know which route will work and which one will get cancelled. There are less direct flight from Mexico 
to Paris now.. Many go through Amsterdam.....


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Berlin is a major city but not a big airport hub. There are direct flights from Berlin to most cities in Europe but if you want to get from Berlin to the US or Mexico, you have to change planes at one of Amsterdam (KLM), Paris (Air France), Frankfurt (Lufthansa) or London (don't remember).


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

Phoenix Arizona is the closest option and maybe even a better option than flying C.Juarez and bussing to Albuquerque.
And Volaris does a route from GDL to PHX. Also 3 other airlines do the same route where that could keep the price competitive.

Phoenix is a major hub for the region and Mexico. And has maybe an extra hour + a bit more to add to the bus ride to Albuquerque. 
And also Phoenix may have a lot more bus options from there to Albuquerque.
Buses direct from Mexico to Phoenix run all the time.

I won’t be surprised if Phoenix comes out to be the same price or cheaper than what you had before, but that would add travel time especially for a bus ride from Phoenix to Albuquerque.

Frontier and Volaris seem to be the cheapest flights from GDL to PHX.


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

Flying to Denver is going to leave a shorter bus ride than Phoenix but it would be a bit longer flight and a bit more expensive.
I did sample pricings for a roundtrip from mid April to end of April, and Phoenix was between $335 and $403. Denver flights with Volaris, started at $357 and up to $403.
Sure they have flights more expensive than $403, but most of the flights are listed around $400 and the cheapest listed under $360. 

Your dates would be more expensive if flying this month and not having bought tickets more than a month in advance. I buy tickets 3 months in advance.


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## MattHanson1990 (Jul 28, 2018)

Orfin said:


> Phoenix Arizona is the closest option and maybe even a better option than flying C.Juarez and bussing to Albuquerque.
> And Volaris does a route from GDL to PHX. Also 3 other airlines do the same route where that could keep the price competitive.


Prior to Volaris operating between ABQ and GDL, I personally found Ciudad Juarez to be the closest option simply because the El Paso-Juarez metropolitan area is just a straight shot from Albuquerque. The bus ride from El Paso to Albuquerque is only four hours, whereas if you take the bus to Albuquerque from Phoenix it's 8-9 hours.



> Phoenix is a major hub for the region and Mexico. And has maybe an extra hour + a bit more to add to the bus ride to Albuquerque.
> And also Phoenix may have a lot more bus options from there to Albuquerque.
> Buses direct from Mexico to Phoenix run all the time.


The only bus option from Phoenix to Albuquerque is Greyhound. There are three routes to choose from, but if you want to get into Albuquerque at a decent time (9 in the morning), you have to catch the bus that leaves close to midnight. Even though the good thing about the Greyhound station in Albuquerque is that shares the same building complex as Amtrak, ABQ Ride, and the New Mexico Rail Runner Express, that part of Albuquerque gets sketchy after dark; plenty of homeless people roam around that area.

From El Paso, not only you have Greyhound but you also have the El Paso-Los Angeles Limousine bus. The buses are old like most of Greyhound's fleet is, but EP-LA take better care of their buses not to mention they're more punctual. The only other downside of taking EP-LA is that many of their buses don't have electrical outlets or wifi on board. So be sure and have your electronic devices fully charged.


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

Thanks for the bus info -MattHanson1990.
Seemed like the bus ride would only be a bit longer from Phoenix judging by the distances on the interactive map. But maybe the bus does a lot more stops on the Phoenix to Albuquerque route.
Greyhound is always making stops and running slow.
I did Amtrak train once for a long haul and decided never again. Also did greyhound a few times and was never inspired to want to do it again if i had other options(including the option to cancel the trip because the only option were to go greyhound).
I drive to Mexico from a lot farther away than Los Alamos and i go through Albuquerque sometimes and other times take the long lonely back highway through Alamagordo.
I will be driving all the way to upstate NewYork this year going back from Puerto iVallarta, almost all the way to Canada border. Will likely take the Albuquerque route because it lets me go through Denver and Kansas city where i get better food options along the way.

I hope you work out a good alternative if it comes to needing that. You obviously have a better sense than i do, of what your options are.


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## MattHanson1990 (Jul 28, 2018)

Orfin said:


> Thanks for the bus info -MattHanson1990.
> Seemed like the bus ride would only be a bit longer from Phoenix judging by the distances on the interactive map. But maybe the bus does a lot more stops on the Phoenix to Albuquerque route.
> Greyhound is always making stops and running slow.
> I did Amtrak train once for a long haul and decided never again. Also did greyhound a few times and was never inspired to want to do it again if i had other options(including the option to cancel the trip because the only option were to go greyhound).
> ...


The reason it takes 8-9 hours to do Phoenix to Albuquerque by bus is because of the route it takes and the stops. First, you go up I-17 to Flagstaff where there's a 30 minute layover to drop off and pick up passengers. Then it goes east on I-40 and stops in Holbrook, Gallup, and Grants before finally reaching Albuquerque. 

I first took Albuquerque to Phoenix in December 2016, which left ABQ just after midnight and got into PHX at 9:30 a.m. with stops in Gallup, Flagstaff, Camp Verde, and Glendale. I took the opposite route in October 2017.


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## MattHanson1990 (Jul 28, 2018)

On the other hand, if you take Greyhound between El Paso and Albuquerque, there's only one stop, which is on the outskirts of Las Cruces and right off I-25 (at the exit just before the speed limit raises to 75 mph going northbound). 

If you take the EP-LA bus between El Paso and Albuquerque, the only scheduled stop is Las Cruces, just like with Greyhound. But occasionally there are also stops in one or more of these small towns along I-25: Los Lunas, Socorro, Truth or Consequences, Hatch. I say occasionally because the bus will only stop in these small towns if a passenger booked a ticket to be picked up or dropped off. In other words, if there are no passengers getting on or off in any of these small towns, the bus will just continue along the interstate between Las Cruces and Albuquerque.

Either way, should Volaris terminate flights between Guadalajara and Albuquerque, Ciudad Juarez will be the closest option.


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

MattHanson1990 said:


> Either way, should Volaris terminate flights between Guadalajara and Albuquerque, Ciudad Juarez will be the closest option.


Volaris has frequent service GDL-Juárez, and it can be quite cheap, down to 30 bucks if purchased 3 weeks in advance. Bus service from Albuquerque, IDK, but in SoCal Greydog runs big business taking folks direct to the TJ airport for a cheap domestic flight. A good option when time isn't important but money is.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

perropedorro said:


> Volaris has frequent service GDL-Juárez, and it can be quite cheap, down to 30 bucks if purchased 3 weeks in advance. Bus service from Albuquerque, IDK, but in SoCal Greydog runs big business taking folks direct to the TJ airport for a cheap domestic flight. A good option when time isn't important but money is.


 I can comment on bus service between El Paso and Albuquerque. I've taken a bus from Guadalajara to Ciudad Juarez, then from El Paso to Denver several times. The El Paso-Denver bus stops in Albuquerque.

The Gdl-Cd Juarez bus is luxurious particularly if you pay the extra cost for the Plus service. The seats are wide, they recline to near-horizontal and are spaced so that the seat in front of you is not in your lap when it is reclined. The Greyhound bus from El Paso to Denver is like traveling in coach class on an airplane: The only thing that is good about it is that it gets you there, comfort is non-existent.

For what it is worth, the same difference in quality applies to other US buses compared to other premier class Mexican buses, and I have taken lots of Mexican buses and a few US.


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## MattHanson1990 (Jul 28, 2018)

Usually when I travel long distances to destinations that are well over four to five hours from where I live (Guanajuato), I almost always fly to save time. And where I live, the closest airport is León/Del Bajío (BJX). But for certain destinations I would either have to fly out of Guadalajara or Mexico City depending on where I'm going. When I went to the U.S., most often I would fly to CJS from BJX on VivaAerobus, took the Transborde bus or a cab to the border, got off on the Mexican side and crossed into the States on foot. But there were recent times where I flew into or out of GDL going to or coming from CJS. Just a few times I flew into and out of Mexico City.


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