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 Travel & Outdoors | August 2006 
Cheap Flights to Guadalajara
 David Zalubowski - A
| | Carmen the conure is shown on the tail of a Frontier Airlines Airbus at Denver International Airport. The airline is offering flights to Guadalajara, Mexico, at fares $150 less than other carriers. |
Frontier Airlines' introductory fares from Denver to Guadalajara, Mexico, are in many cases at least $150 less than what other carriers are charging, a check of prices online shows.
The Denver-based airline, which last month received federal approval to fly the route, said Wednesday it will offer fares starting at $198 round-trip. That amounts to about $300 when taxes and fees are added.
Frontier, which is Denver's second-largest airline, will start nonstop service Dec. 22 with flights every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Fares on other carriers are running from the mid-$400s to as much as $800 round-trip, and that's with a stopover in another city, according to searches of several booking engines and individual airline Web sites. A flight leaving Dec. 27 and returning Dec. 31, for example, cost $540 on American Airlines and almost $600 on Alaska Airlines. The fare gap is smaller in January.
Frontier likely will raise prices over time. But observers say the carrier's presence will help keep prices noticeably lower than before it entered the market.
"It is not uncommon for low-cost carriers to undercut (traditional airlines) by 50 percent or more, especially for intro periods, which may last, say, six months," New York- based airfare expert Bob Harrell said.
Guadalajara marks Frontier's eighth destination in Mexico, which has become a red-hot market in the past few years.
Frontier expects to lure more business travelers and Mexican nationals than its other flights to resort destinations such as Cancún and Puerto Vallarta.
The carrier will offer fliers from Guadalajara the opportunity to connect in Denver to more than 30 U.S. cities.
The service also likely will attract a fair share of American leisure travelers, said analyst Mike Shonstrom.
"You can go through Guadalajara to hit numerous other vacation spots in the area," said Shonstrom, a Denver-based analyst for Emerging Growth Equities. "Just because it's not on the coast doesn't mean it won't attract tourists." |
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