How do you plan to celebrate Cinco de Mayo?
While your plans might involve having a few friends over for some margaritas, you could sweeten the celebration by booking a couple of tickets to one of Mexico's most popular sun-soaked destinations.
WestJet's discount carrier, Swoop, is slashing prices on base fares to two Mexican cities from Abbotsford International Airport (YXX) as part of its weekly Flyday Deals promotion.
Local travellers can enjoy 30 per cent off base fares on tickets to Los Cabos or Puerto Vallarta from the Lower Mainland on travel that takes place between June 1 and Oct. 31.
Air passengers departing from other Canadian airports, including Edmonton and Toronto, can also enjoy discounted prices on tickets to these cities. Travellers departing out of Hamilton, Ontario may also take 30 per cent off base fares on tickets to Cancun.
To take advantage of the offer, book your ticket before 10:59 p.m. on Friday (May 5) and enter the discount code "FLYDAY" during the checkout process.
One-way tickets from Abbotsford to Los Cabos start for as little as $109.94 before the discount and tickets to Puerto Vallarta start for just $119.93.
Travellers from the Lower Mainland hoping to dive into Mexico's turquoise waters could also buy a return ticket to Hamilton, Ontario and then connect onward to Cancun. Tickets start at just under $200 return, while return trips from Hamilton to Cancun start at $419.80. The base fare on the ticket is $252.10, so the discount works out to $75.63.
The final price of the ticket to Cancun is $344.17 including all taxes and fees, which means travellers can expect to pay under $550 for a round-trip journey from B.C. However, they will need to check that connecting flights match up accordingly and offer some wiggle room.
For locals who can book a trip this month, Swoop offers an additional 10 per cent off on top of the Flyday deals promotion on trips to Los Cabos with its Swoopon promotion from Abbotsford.
The promotion is valid on travel between May 15 and June 5. To take advantage of the offer, book your ticket by 8:59 p.m. Friday and enter the discount code "SWOOPON" during the checkout process.
Important considerations with the Mexico travel advisory
Currently, the United States is warning travellers to completely avoid travel to six Mexican states due to increasing violent crime and kidnapping; Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta are not located within any of the affected states.
While the Canadian government hasn't instated a "do not travel" warning, it advises tourists to avoid "all non-essential travel" to 13 areas across Mexico due to violence and organized crime.
Find out more information about the Mexico travel advisory.
