Belizean Tourism Industry Association
Belize Hotel Association
San Pedro Branch of Belize Hotel Association
Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Civil Aviation
Belize Airport Concession Company
Johnny Grief – Tropic Air
Betty Longsworth – Travel Belize
Steve Schulte – Tropic Air

To whom it may concern;

Over the past 3 years I have noticed a steady increase in the cost of airfare from the US to Belize and would like to bring this to your attention and raise some awareness. I am sure you are fully aware that with the sagging US economy a lot of financial belts are being tightened and travel decisions are being effected by this. I bring this up because my wife and I attempt to travel to Belize 3 times a year to visit friends, family and enjoy all that the country has to offer. Currently the cost of a round trip ticket in February from MEM to BZE is $800.00 and ask why can I fly significantly cheaper to other Central America destinations ( SJO, STT, CUN, CZM, SAP) using the same date range? One destination beat the price by 38% and as much as I love visiting the country of Belize one has to wonder why La Isla Bonita is so expensive?

Sincerely,

John & Shawna Robilio

yeah!

Do you suppose that if the SP C of C were to invite the heads of the groups listed, to an open forum, in SP, that any would attend and respond to questions from the audience?

What about Minister Heredia?

That is an excellent letter

Once again. What do you expect these people can do other than lobby. Government has no money to subsidise incoming flights and airlines, it seems, won't drop prices without volume.

I could be wrong but if the landing fees of say $300.00 were removed from the general ticket price, the offset effect to tourism would outstrip its loss. Someone has to make the first move. In any fight, there has to be the first punch so to speak.

Or, if like I said in another thread, the gov't could raise cash to subsidise flights by increasing land tax on properties owned by non-citizens. That in turn could allow tourism to flourish and generate more cash for the gov't that could be used in other areas such as education, health, agriculture, transportion etc.

Govt has trouble collecting the current property tax, there's not much point in raising the rates if they're not collecting it.

KLCMAN on the other site posted a very good breakdown of the ticket fare.

OK Gang -

The data below comes from an extremely current ticket - purchased less than 8 hours ago and INCLUDES the BZE departure taxes. Routing is PWM/EWR/BZE

Anybody see anything striking?

Airfare: 366.00 USD
U.S. APHIS User Fee: 5.00
Bellize Conservation Tax: 3.75
U.S. Passenger Facility Charge: 13.50
U.S. Immigration User Fee: 7.00
U.S. Federal Transportation Tax: 32.20
U.S. Security Service Fee: 7.50
Belize Airport Development Fee: 18.00
Fuel Surcharge: 240.00
U.S. Customs User Fee: 5.50
Belize Passenger Service Charge: 15.00
Belize Security Tax: 2.50
Per Person Total: 715.95 USD

The airfare you paid on this itinerary totals: 366.00 USD

The taxes you paid on this itinerary total: 349.95 USD

going to post it here too, but ya beat me. Damn work!!

Yup, more often than not the taxes are as high as, if not more than, the airfare. We used to come down 2-3 times a year. Haven't been down in ages because flights are far too high.

You want to tax the non-residents further? Take more money out of their pockets and they'll be coming down less too.

Oh look. Belize charges half what the US does and only half of that goes to the Government.

Supply and Demand. It seems cheaper prices will only come with mass tourism and mass tourism will not ever come to Belize.

I think it would be easier to collect from non-citizens. They have the $$ and I would pay in lieu of having my place confiscated for non-payment of taxes.......I have too much invested in it.

Just so you know for the future, property taxes are paid to the local government, in SP that's the Town Council and in CC that's the village council. That money is used locally not at the national level. The same is true in the States, not sure about Canada and the UK.

Here in Calgary, the city collects my property taxes and remits about 48% of that to the provincial government. Apparently, my city government is trying to get the provincial government to change that. Frankly, I'm not sure how it would work out. If my city's schools and infrastructure are not maintainable on the money it now recieves and the provincial government's responsibilities are not maintainable on the money it now receives, how then will the province's responsibilities be maintainable if they return more money back to the city? There doesn't appear to be enough to go around, or there are major inefficiencies, or . . . But I digress.

I agree seashell... same here in Ontario. It would be easy to collect taxes either by confiscation as mentioned earlier or by detaining the non-citizen while he is trying to enter the country until the taxes are paid. I find it hard to believe that Americans, Canadians, Brits or anyone else that is wealthy enough to build/own condos and houses in Belize would avoid their share of taxes or continue to take advantage of the Belizian people.
Ron, wouldn't take much in Parliament to re-direct the taxes collected on AC or CC so the entire country could benefit. In Canada federal and some provincial taxes are collected by federal government and shared through out the country via what we call 'equalization payments'(where a rich province like Alberta or Ontario shares money with a poorer province), provincial taxes are used within the province for education, health care, infrastructure etc..

Now there is a plan. Charge "non-citizens more make them feel unwanted except for their money. How about people who might want to buy your place or a place in a new development in the future. Wouldn't the added expenses cause less real estate activity. Less buying in town to furnish their places, less other shopping and so on down the line. Which would cause less employment.

Maybe only non-citizens who can not vote should pay all the bills then the citizens could just just vote for more spending and keep spending, the money would never end. SP could become heaven on earth and everything would be fine.

Well, as we can see, no system is perfect. :^)

The old paraphrase: You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

I have to agree with Phil, as I don't see what any of the "officials" in Belize can do to lower U.S. carrier airfares to Belize. Travel experts predict fares will likely not get cheaper, at least for the immediate future.

I just returned yesterday from 10 days in Belize - was in Punta Gorda, Placenica and San Pedro. I have spent almost every Thanksgiving for the last 10 years in Belize and was stunned to see the lack of travelers. All three places I visited are really hurting for tourists and the plane down was only half full. Airlines have no reason or incentive to lower airfare right now and who wants to see Belize become another mass tourism destination like Cancun?

Really? Lack of travelers even Thanksgiving week? Wow - Not a good sign!

These prices are quoted from another thread on the same issue.
'Houston/Cancun all in $279.00
Houston/Costa Rico $500.00 (1 1/2 hr further flying time)
Houston/Cozemel $300.00
Houston/Grand Caymen $500.00
LAX/Cancun $279.00
Houston/Bze $600.00'
also
Toronto to Barbados $680.00CDN
Toronto to Roatan $690.00CDN
Toronto to Belize $820.00CDN
and let's not even list prices to Cancun....
The pattern is obvious. How is it other countries can influence the price per ticket yet Belize can't? I was told by a hotelier in Grenada that the tourism board must guarantee the airlines a certain amount $ per flight so they don't loose money on half full planes. Maybe thats why the tickets to BZE are so high because the planes are not full and the airline increases the price per ticket so they don't take a loss. The GOB along with the tourist board should be able to come up with a way of subsidizing flights to fill the planes and get tourism going.
I don't think ticket prices are necessarily going up, Air Canada just had a 50% off seat sale for flights in Canada and US as well as deals for Europe and sun destinations.

It's the airlines! Look at the Fuel Surcharge: 240.00US$! The airlines implemented this surcharge last summer when oil on the world market was around 150 US$ per barrel. Since then it dropped down to approximately 50 US$ per barrel and the airlines didn’t touch the fuel surcharge. Now it’s around 75US$ and you’ll see – in case the oil would pass the 100 US$ airlines would immediately surcharge the surcharge!

On Wednesday – the No 1 travel day in the US American Airlines cancelled the first of 2 flights from Miami to Belize. Imagine: one of the most important travel days of the year and one out of 2 flights to Belize cancelled – isn’t that a shame?

But it’s not just the airlines: It’s BTB and all the associations who are involved into tourism marketing for our country and it must stop now.

Yes, maybe we must guarantee sold seats now – we cannot continue with the same errors over and over again. I had a call 4 weeks ago of some possible customers for Thanksgiving and they said that flights from Canada were 1250 $ per person and they would not want to come to Belize – they had offers to go to Cancun with flights, accommodation and all inclusive for 999 $.

There’s one thing left for me to say: "Have a very nice vacation in Mexico!"

The hotel association has to guarantee and pay the airlines in all cases if the flight does not meet the load factor required by the airlines to make a profit in most cases this would be 60% load factor and over for certain types of aircraft. That is best case scenario.

Pricing is a hard subject. If one were to book a flight 4-6 months in advance they will obtain excellent fares, book it 1-2 months before and the price could be double. Book it last minute and you may get a fare cheaper than the latter.

AA for example even though they have kept their pricing structure has cut a lot of flights, I believe it may be 40% from the peak years, which is a lot. Can you imagine the cost to layoff or keep staff on standby? Take airlines highest cost which are flight crews, AA had over 10,000 flight crew at one time...

It is a hard call, the low cost airlines may stay alive with pax constantly returning, but the day that does not happen they have nothing in the kitty for hard times, hence, close shop...

i'm seeing a bit of a chicken and egg thing going too. like i said, a lot of us who went over t-giving in the past didn't this yr cuz of high airfares. so there were more empty seats. in contrast, the 2 previous years, there were airfare sales, and a whole bunch of us booked. many of us even booked a second or third trip at that same time for use later in the year, to take advantage. thus, using logic, the lower fares tend to fill more seats.

chicken and egg.

fine with me if they make less flights per week if it translates to a more reasonably priced vacation.

ps - i also questioned the fuel surcharges - this has become a common abuse of several industries the past year.

I own a small hotel north of town and am providing information to prospective guests about coming to Belize through Cancun. While it takes two days travel time in each direction, the savings are worthwhile based on current rates. American Airlines tickets are currently over $700 before exit fees from Florida to Belize. All in, with travel through Cancun, I am saving about $400. A couple traveling together can save $800 to $1000, enough to pay for their lodging once they get to Belize. While rates vary from different departure cities, I checked a few sample cities for dates in February and the savings were comparable.

Anyone wanting specific details about my recent trip, including all costs, as well as hotel and transporation information, can email me at info@cocotalbelize.com .

good tip for those who have the luxury of 2 extra travel days. many do like that route, some of my friends included. but for some of us who only have a week or 10 days, time is money, and i only wanna travel 12 hours max.

but - check your fares - today American Air PHL to BZE is still $477 (usually around 700+). today PHL to CUN is $587 - over $100 more, both thru MIA. oddly, i know what you said is so- direct MIA - BZE, half the distance, is over $600. crazy, huh? go figure.

Email blast to the listed associations or persons;

Greeting! I had sent this last week and I figured that with the holidays it may have been overlooked or thrown in spam mail as why I am resending this again. I am in the process of sending this to the airlines to get their stance on this as well as airfare to Belize continues to be the highest ticket in all of Central America.

John & Shawna Robilio

Barb, yes to your question. Absent maybe 10 folks, I had the beach to myself in Placencia. Pure bliss. San Pedro was a ghost town this last week compared to past years. Deals abound for those of us that were there, including discounts on golf carts, food and tours.

cbt, why not send an e-mail to the head honcho at Continental, think it is Larry Keller, CEO. What I was trying to say in my previous post was I do not see how the folks in Belize can control U.S. carrier airfares there. Good intentions and lobbying aside, the price breakdown appears to be mostly U.S. imposed fees. good luck in your efforts anyway.

I just received the net saver fares from AA.
As you can tell below the fare that stands out is Belize, especially versus Aruba.
Personally I would much prefer Belize over a small island like Aruba with endless people on it.
Aruba would have a better load factor than Belize and it may be possible that the government or the hotel association is guaranteeing the loads.

This is for a 9 day roundtrip fare.

Miami, FL (MIA) Washington Reagan Nat'l, DC (DCA) $112*
Miami, FL (MIA) Oranjestad, Aruba (AUA) $114^
Miami, FL (MIA) Nashville, TN (BNA) $120*
Miami, FL (MIA) Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands (PLS) $172^
Miami, FL (MIA) Belize City, Belize (BZE) $392^
Boston, MA (BOS) Chicago O'Hare, IL (ORD) $86*
Chicago O'Hare, IL (ORD) Minneapolis / St. Paul, MN (MSP) $49*
Chicago O'Hare, IL (ORD) New York LaGuardia, NY (LGA) $86*
Dallas / Ft. Worth, TX (DFW) Indianapolis, IN (IND) $117*
Dallas / Ft. Worth, TX (DFW) Phoenix, AZ (PHX) $120*

Prices above are each way, based on round-trip purchase.
Taxes, fees and conditions apply.


*U.S. And Canada Fares For Next Weekend
Purchase by Friday, December 4, 2009.
Travel is valid 12/11/09 through 12/15/09.
Taxes, fees and conditions apply.



^International Fares For Next Weekend
Purchase by Sunday, December 6, 2009.
Travel is valid 12/8/09 through 12/16/09.
Taxes, fees and conditions apply

Such a deal... $844.45 r/t from Miami plus add those pesky departure fees that American does not include in the ticket price. If you happen not to live in driving distance to Miami you'll need to add the round trip airfare to get there.

I can't believe they bother to post this as a Net SAAver special price - it's a big $13 off the "regular" one way fare of $405.

Wouldn't fuel surcharge apply to all flights? I can't imagine the airlines just applying a surcharge on flights to BZE... I think surcharges and baggage charges have been dropped on Air Canada, don't understand why they haven't been dropped on US airlines... Back to the question, how can Cancun offer such cheap flights and Belize can't??? Gov't/Tourist Board subsidy????? It's time for Belize to decide if it wants a tourism industry or not.

Check this out;

Miami - Barcelona $460
Miami - Belize $870

Northern Canuck and anyone else that thinks Belize can do significantly more. Have you read the entire thread. All your points are answered and confirmed and I've explained why Belize is incapable of Government subsidy as Mexico etc. can offer. Belize wants tourism. It is an Industry run by the stakeholders with little help from Governmnet - other than the use of the Hotel Tax - and it is self sustaining. I don't know the visitor numbers to other places to compare an industry country vs country. I'd hoped someone like Barb or Lan Sluder or perhaps TravelQueen would give some extra info on this as well as airline breakdowns and potential reasons it costs so much more.

Pulling numbers from the sky for an example. If just a 15% subsidy was given to the airlines as an incentive on an $800 average fare, based on our typical annual visitor count it would bring a bill of US$21M. We dont have enough schools, roads, hospitals, electricity, food, water etc etc for our population at the moment - where in the hell would they find this amount of money. The Whole Country has a little over 6000 rooms - less than one Hotel in las Vegas. If that cost was transferred to stakeholders on each room it is an annual bill of US$3,400 - per room per Hotel. With the National Occupancy running at around 50% are you starting to see why it is not possible for a small second world (at best) country to keep up with the big boys.

I resent the implication of if we want it enough. We battle it day in, day out, and work our arses off trying to sustain it and I think we have the best product in the Caribbean, bar none. Sometimes good things cost a bit more.

Spokane Wa to San Salvador $708.00
" " to BZE $896.00

El Salvador ain't no better off than Belize, don't you think.

phil, i hear ya, but then how are poor places like punta cana able to pull it off? if i'd never been to bz and was looking around, based on price, i'd pick somewhere else.

On Punta Cana, understand that the Dominican Republic gets over 2 1/2 million international tourists a year, 10 times as many as Belize.

The reason is simple: Low prices for package vacations, mostly from Europe.

Punta Cana has big, cheap, all-inclusive hotels. Several of the 80 or 90 hotels in Punta Cana have 700 or 800 rooms, and I'm sure that there are more hotel rooms in Punta Cana, DR, alone than in the entire country of Belize.

However, most people in Belize (and on this forum) say they don't want big low-priced resorts in Belize.

...

On a separate point, air fares to Belize are high right now and are high much of the year. BUT, at times there are still deals. For example, my kids flew down to join me in Belize in June. My daughter paid US$325 roundtrip including all taxes and fees from Charlotte, and my son paid US$350 from Boston.

--Lan Sluder

thanks, lan - i understand. not thrilled about it, but i understand.

my mom used to say something like 'good things never come easy' - since you're right, and we DONT prefer mega resorts - i guess this is no exception.

Phil: I have read the whole thread. I am not suggesting mega-resorts either (God forbid) but other caribbean islands similar to Belize can convince airlines to drop their prices and in turn increase tourism... I suggested earlier (and in a related thread) that the GOB raise money to subsidize tourism (and maybe health and education would benefit directly or as a result of increased tourist dollars) by raising land taxes for those non citizens who own property in Belize. The only response to that was that that would stop the owners from going to Belize. Do you really believe that a wealthy American, Canadian or Brit who had invested $200,000-500,000 in a property would stop visiting, sell, or walk away from his condo or house for the sake of ... say maybe an extra $800.00 to $1000.00 or even $2000.00??? Phil, no one seriously addressed that idea. Maybe it's time the gov't starts to think 'outside the box' (as other governments have) and come up with solutions instead of having a hands off approach and letting tourist's dollars (and in turn progress) go elsewhere.

Lan, do you have numbers for Grenada, St. Vincent, Tobago, St. Kitt's & Nevis, St. Martin or Roatan?

Guys, Phil is 100% correct, you need to stop comparing apples and cheese...
Anywhere else and you have much larger population than Belize, do you really think all the airlines survive on tourist? Come-on... a lot of places have business travelers and the residents/citizens of those countries who have a much better per capita income than Belizeans..and as such travel more and fill the seats, Belize is better than most places.. agreed..
Try this out for size... get together with all the various resorts and hotels, choose the airlines that you feel need to drop their cost to help your situation, then approach the airline/airlines with a plan to sell package deals, if you can get together enough hotels/resorts to sell packages deals and guarantee the airlines the flights will have a marketable load factor then you win because you will fill your rooms and cover your investment. Let us say small resorts/hotels, pay 10% of their possible income per month and the larger resorts/hotels pay 20% towards covering cost to guarantee loads.Is cost really that much, lets say they need 40 seats extra to make a profit, 40 seats x 350USD = 14000 USD x 1flight (week) x 4flights (month) = 56,000 USD x 3 if you like for 3 times a week = 168,000USD that let's say 50 resort/hotels may get together and put up the collateral for their exclusive packages to their resort/hotels only, get my drift? If you were to split that up evenly that would be 3,360 USD per month for each place! and your looking at in influx of 40seats x 4 x 3 = 480 extra tourist!
approximately 10 tourist per resort/hotel, that means 10 tourist just cost you 336 USD only! So its a win-win situation! You don't need to follow this formula, but work out something that is going to benefit your guys, come together and it will happen.
Mention was made of other Caribbean islands, Grenada, Tobago etc.. A lot of the flights into these islands are indirect, in other words.. to Tobago, you fly first to Trinidad which has a population of 1.3million then on the local airlines to Tobago. BA tried a direct flight to Tobago and it did not work..
Grenada, passengers are not just going to Grenada they are also traveling to the Grenadines and St. Vincent which are another 6 islands besides Grenada, some even go to St. Lucia from there or Trinidad.. that is why you cannot compare.. the airlines are always full going to these places, they are selling a few left over seats cheap to fill the flight..
I will approach a friend I know on the tourism board in Belize and ask them what they think? Maybe the government can chip in something because at the end of the day everyone benefits.

Sorry, no comparison numbers here. I have been dealing with only Belize for the last 12 years. I am out of the loop on the other islands/countries. (But I am starting to re think this "niche" - too small with the economy the way it is.) Hmmmm...Barb's Belize and Beyond...??? ;-)

i was interested to see in an story on Channel 5 about the decline of tourism in Belize (specifically San Pedro), a couple of the people interviewed mentioned the high airfares hurting tourism.

San Pedro feeling the pinch of declining tourist arrivals
It’s the high season in the Tourism Industry but if you visited La Isla Bonita, the number one tourist destination, you wouldn’t know because the island is not experiencing the hustle and bustle of the season. It is officially known that the number of stay over visitors has decreased by five point two percent and that tourism expenditure fell by three point two percent to three hundred and ninety-two million dollars since the beginning of the year. Marion Ali headed to San Pedro and has a report.

Marion Ali, Reporting
Tourists, Sherry and Jeff Fink are among the dwindling number of visitors to Belize over the past few months. Like many other travellers, the couple is concerned about what the future has in store, but they have decided to put aside those fears at least for now.

Sherry Fink, Tourist
“Now in retirement I want to do a little bit of travelling and so the recession hasn’t stopped us, no.”

Jeff Fink, Tourist
“When I was telling a lot of my friends that we’re going on this trip and everything, they were saying how lucky and how we can afford it and everything and I just tell them well we saved for it and we have to treat ourselves to these little vacations otherwise it’s not working. Working isn’t worth it then.”

Low tourist arrivals have been crippling stakeholders in the industry, including the domestic air carriers…

Jenaro Nunez, Employee, Maya Island Air, San Pedro
“Coming in December we noticed last year was much better than right now and the booking is pretty slow right now.”

… And tour and taxi businesses.

Marcus Alamina, San Pedro dive Master
“They used to come in high numbers but they have declined. So we need to hit other countries and have other guests coming in from other countries even if we have to learn to speak their language; something but try getting them here.”

Pedro Chable, San Pedro Taxi Driver
“Hardly any people getting off the planes so it’s pretty critical. You can see that we’re very, very low in tourism this year”

Marion Ali
“How are you all coping with that?”

Pedro Chable
“Going back to the bank and doing bank loans and trying to see if finally this pick up so we can start paying our bills back again.”

Marion Ali
“While everyone agrees that it is the global recession that has the economy in such dire straits, there are many here at home who believe that there are things that can be done to ease the burden, and they’re calling on their local representatives to intervene.”

Alfonso Wiltshire, San Pedro Taxi Driver
“You can fly from Cancun to the US for a hundred and eighty-six dollars round trip. Why does airfare in Belize is so ridiculously expensive? Here in San Pedro, all of us taxi drivers here sometimes like yesterday—you’re not asking me my business—but yesterday how much I did yesterday? Twenty-four dollars. You think I can live with that?”

Kevin Reppuhn, San Pedro Entrepreneur
“Everyone feels that the airfares are high, higher than surrounding countries especially Mexico and Cancun obviously.”

But while it has been dismal, local bodies in San Pedro are trying to see how they can help.

Amy Leiva, BTB Administrator Mgr, San Pedro
“We support the private sector, we want them to aggressively target the tourists out there to come to Belize and we support that initiative. Our minister is also the minister for civil aviation and there is a board that is tackling that problem with the airfare.”

Marion Ali
“So that should come on-stream how soon?”

Amy Leiva
“2010.”

Marion Ali
“People have been calling on the authorities, local representatives, to pitch and try to do something; rescue the situation. Can that be done and if so what can be done?”

Severo Guerrero, Town Councillor, San Pedro
“Maybe it can be done. I don’t know. Maybe it needs some more studies to be done. A lot of people are saying—I’m a tour guide—a lot of people tell me the prices to come from the states, the airfare is pretty high. We can do more promotions on Belize but actually like on the airfare I think it’s more on Central Government.”

Until that happens, the industry will depend on tourists like Judy Jacobs to experience Belize.

Judy Jacobs, Tourist
“Been here ten days and looking forward to going home. If we can’t leave, we can’t come back.”

Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.

The only business which showed a decent occupancy rate currently was Sun Breeze Suites, which also had bookings into Easter of 2010.

From Slickrock....

Air rates to Belize finally went down in 22 out of 24 cities that we watch!



These prices were for arriving in Belize January 14, and departing January 24, 2010.

I had no idea Mr. trumpet had so much clout! I will treat him better when I see him in February.

yes but the tickets are at odd times and often require a layover. Such as I fly out of CLT I can't get dates I need and most you have to lay over in MIA then fly back to CLT the next day. Good prices but you have to be able to travel when the price is cheap.

not necessarily, mary - i was looking thru newark & philly today - flights were the same ones i always take - fly out 6am, feet in sand by 1pm.

If you live in Michigan there are some great flights in Feb out of Flint (FNT) to BZE on Delta, under $500. One stop in Atlanta each way, no overnights.
Very tempting....

So, what has happened and by whom? Why all of a sudden have flights dropped like a rock? Did we cause it? BTB? GOB? Airlines in general?

I think it is now evident that the Airlines control the price point and can and will drop prices from time to time. Drives me almost as wild as OPEC.

It isnt any cheaper out of Houston

Maybe so, but you guys can swim there easy enough.

I believe it was "The Great and Powerful Bunkie" that caused the prices to drop (he is the man behind the curtain!).

There are no deals from my hometown, and the flights that are available require an overnight stay, so not so great. Oh well, I just got back anyway....

Cozumel is looking pretty dang good.

no cheaper out of BFMaine, either!

The airlines drop fares when they want to stimulate sales. Same as always. Fuel surcharges and taxes remain the same just the base fare drops. They totally control it at will - when, for how long, from which markets, etc.

I no longer recall exactly where or when this particular situation arose for me but it was within this past year. I was planning a trip and checking out my airfare. I was either about to book or had already booked, when I recieved an email flyer from the airline about a huge seat sale, a major reduction in price. I was very excited to see such a drop in price from what I was planning to pay but when I ran the reservation, the final amount was only a couple of dollars difference. Everything that had been saved on the base fare, was made up for by an increased fuel surcharge.

So ?

"So?" So, I'm backing up what Barb said, with an anecdote. I'd have called it a colorful anecdote but since I left out the swear words or any hint of humor, it's just an anecdote.

Everything that glitters is not gold.

Some people are just mean.

And ???????

Ernie, go look in the mirror. What do you see there?

Why's everybody always pickin on me ?

Maybe they think you're a big bugger.

Got a message from Travelocity about LOW fare on US Air from PDX to Belize. I wasn't able to get the dates I wanted on that airline, but grabbed a flight on Continental for $464.95 RT. Yippee! I'll be in Hopkins the end of Feb for two weeks into March. Love it.

American Airles has launched a fare sale to Belize for Jan 05, 2010 to March 31, 2009. Tickets must be purchased by December 22, 2009.

Low fares are being offered from Hartford, NY, D.C., Miami, St. Louis, Kansas City, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Chicago, Los Angeles (and probably more cities).

Click on the link below for more information.

http://www.aa.com/netsaaver/viewNetSAAverSpecialsDetails.do?fN=LatinSale.xml&locale=en_US

from a friend....

Hey Marty - just on the off chance that you don't know - airfares to Belize took a nose-dive this week, to lowest I've ever seen.  Back in 1992 my fare was $490.00  Fares from Kalamazoo right now on AA are $459, fares from major cities even less.  I hear Continental matched these prices. 

Wow the email bookings have rocked in the last two days. Could be a direct effect or possibility just last min. before Christmas.

AA still has plenty of seats midweek using FF miles (30,000) from SFO with no overnight connection. There were still some yesterday from San Jose that didn't require an overnight but I didn't check those today.

The Otters are happy campers. Not only are we going, but we may be able to get some friends to commit given the prices.

FF windows are curious things. Mrs. O. and I are going on FF miles, buthad to book Monday/Friday to do it.