The airlines want to fly you to the beach this winter. Let them.
To say the major U.S. and Canadian airlines are beefing up their schedules to Mexico and the Caribbean for this winter is an understatement. From Edmonton (YEG) to Charlotte (CLT), airlines are adding new routes and doubling or even tripling the frequency of others flying to warm destinations during the cold winter months.
It seems like the airlines are falling all over themselves to add more airplane seats flying to the beautiful beaches of Martinique, the Dominican Republic, Curaçao, the Bahamas, Mexico, and more. And when airlines compete, travelers win.
Our Thrifty Traveler Premium members have been getting alerts about cheap flights to Mexico and the Caribbean in their email inboxes for years, but with thousands more seats flying to the region this winter, the possibility of finding a great fare to your favorite beach just got even more likely.
Let's dive into where to find the new routes and increased capacity and see what it could mean for your winter escape in 2023 or 2024.
New Routes & More Flights
The number of new or increased routes to Mexico and the Caribbean this year is staggering. There are almost too many good options for travelers from Vancouver (YVR) to Miami (MIA) and everything in between, and we haven't even received route announcements from the likes of United or Southwest, either.
The majority of these routes already exist in some form, and for a lot of them, the airline is just increasing the number of flights per day or week. While that might not seem like a lot, every single flight counts when it comes to cheap airfare.
At Thrifty Traveler, we watch new route news like hawks because it almost always leads to great deals for our readers.
These are all the new or increased routes on major airlines flying this winter that airlines have announced so far. New or resumed routes are in bold. All others are ones the airlines are flying more often than they were before, whether it's several times a week or multiple times a day.
Air Canada
Edmonton (YEG) – Cancún (CUN)
Halifax (YHZ) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Montréal (YUL) – Barbados (BGI)
Montréal (YUL) – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (SJD)
Montréal (YUL) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Montréal (YUL) – Fort-de-France, Martinique (FDF)
Montréal (YUL) – La Romana, Dominican Republic (LRM)
Ottawa (YOW) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Ottawa (YOW) – Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ)
Quebec City (YQB) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Toronto (YYZ) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Toronto (YYZ) – Fort-de-France, Martinique (FDF)
Toronto (YYZ) – Monterrey, Mexico (MTY)
Toronto (YYZ) – Punta Canada, Dominican Republic (PUJ)
Toronto (YYZ) – St. Vincent & the Grenadines (SVD)
Vancouver (YVR) – Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (PVR)
Vancouver (YVR) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Vancouver (YVR) – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (SJD)
Alaska
Las Vegas (LAS) – Cabo San Lucas (SJD)
Las Vegas (LAS) – Puerto Vallarta (PVR)
Los Angeles (LAX) – Guatemala City, Guatemala (GUA)
Los Angeles (LAX) – Nassau, Bahamas (NAS)
Los Angeles (LAX) – Zihuatanejo, Mexico (ZIH)
Seattle (SEA) – Nassau, Bahamas (NAS)
American
Austin (AUS) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Charlotte (CLT) – Belize City, Belize (BZE)
Charlotte (CLT) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Charlotte (CLT) – Curaçao (CUR)
Charlotte (CLT) – Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR)
Charlotte (CLT) – Los Cabos, Mexico (SJD)
Charlotte (CLT) – Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ)
Charlotte (CLT) – Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic (POP)
Charlotte (CLT) – Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ)
Charlotte (CLT) – San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU)
Charlotte (CLT) – St. Croix, U.S.V.I. (STX)
Cincinnati (CVG) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Dallas (DFW) – Acapulco, Mexico (ACA)
Dallas (DFW) – Huatulco, Mexico (HUX)
Dallas (DFW) – Monterrey, Mexico (MTY)
Dallas (DFW) – Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (PVR)
Dallas (DFW) – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (SJD)
Dallas (DFW) – Zacatecas, Mexico (ZCL)
Dallas (DFW) – Zihuatanejo, Mexico (ZIH)
Miami (MIA) – Governor's Harbor, Bahamas (GHB)
Miami (MIA) – Anguilla (AXA)
Miami (MIA) – Barranquilla, Colombia (BAQ)
Miami (MIA) – Bridgetown, Barbados (BGI)
Miami (MIA) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Miami (MIA) – Cartagena, Colombia (CTG)
Miami (MIA) – Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR)
Miami (MIA) – Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (POS)
Miami (MIA) – Santiago, Dominican Republic (STI)
Miami (MIA) – San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO)
Miami (MIA) – St. Maarten (SXM)
Miami (MIA) – Tortola, British Virgin Islands (EIS)
Nasvhille (BNA) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Delta
Atlanta (ATL) – Aruba (AUA)
Atlanta (ATL) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Atlanta (ATL) – Cozumel, Mexico (CZM)
Atlanta (ATL) – Curaçao (CUR)
Atlanta (ATL) – Liberia, Costa Rica (LIR)
Atlanta (ATL) – San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO)
Atlanta (ATL) – Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ)
Atlanta (ATL) – San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU)
Atlanta (ATL) – Mexico City, Mexico (MEX)
Atlanta (ATL) – Puerto Vallarta (PVR)
Atlanta (ATL) – Roatán, Honduras (RTB)
Detroit (DTW) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
Minneapolis (MSP) – Belize City, Belize (BZE)
Minneapolis (MSP) – Cozumel, Mexico (CZM)
Minneapolis (MSP) – Montego Bay (MBJ)
Minneapolis (MSP) – Puerto Vallarta (PVR)
Minneapolis (MSP) – Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ)
Minneapolis (MSP) – San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU)
New York (JFK) – Cancún, Mexico (CUN)
New York (JFK) – Nassau, Bahamas (NAS)
New York (JFK) – Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ)
New York (JFK) – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (SDQ)
New York (JFK) – San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU)
New York (JFK) – Santiago, Dominican Republic (STI)
JetBlue
Boston (BOS) – Grenada (GND)
Los Angeles (LAX) – Nassau, Bahamas (NAS)
New York (JFK) – Belize City, Belize (BZE)
New York (JFK) – St. Kitts & Nevis (SKB)
WestJet
Edmonton (YEG) – Mazatlán, Mexico (MZT)
Edmonton (YEG) – Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ)
Prince George (YXS) – Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (PVR)
Toronto (YYZ) – Bonaire (BON)
Victoria (YYJ) – Cabo San Lucas (SJD)
Winnipeg (YWG) – Huatulco, Mexico (HUX)
Whether you're looking to jump on that brand new Miami to Governor's Harbor, Bahamas route, or looking to take advantage of the fact that Charlotte to Montego Bay, Jamaica is now running four times a day with a cheap fare, there's something on this list that can get you where you want to go this winter.
And keep in mind that you don't have to live in the departure city to take advantage of these routes, too. The additional route frequencies mean you're more likely to find a good connection through one of these airports to get you to the beach, too!
Remember: These aren't all of your route options, either. Most of these airports already offer Mexico and Caribbean routes to get you where you want to go. These are just the new or increased ones.
As always, your friendly neighborhood flight deal analysts at Thrifty Traveler Premium are looking to take care of you. We're poring over these routes every day and finding and sending the best fares to your inbox from your own home airport.
The Best Deals to Mexico & the Caribbean
As these new routes begin to go on sale, we're already seeing fares start to tumble for flights to Mexico and the Caribbean this winter.
Cancún (CUN) is the cheap flights capital of Mexico as nearly every airline flies from nearly every one of its hub cities. For that reason, we sometimes see fares drop into the $300s or $200s like this.
These more-than-half-off fares to Cancún included a ton of nonstop flights from places as far away as Minneapolis (MSP) and Philadelphia (PHL) too.
If Cancún is the cheap flight capital of Mexico, San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) definitely takes that title for the Caribbean.
This latest San Juan deal was a great example, connecting cities as small as Bangor, Maine (BGR) and Appleton, Wisconsin (ATW) with the U.S. territory for some passport-free fun in the sun.
While Belize (BZE) isn't always the cheapest destination to fly to, fares in the $300s pop up from time to time, and we love getting our subscribers into those seats! This lowest fare to Belize from Washington, D.C. (DCA) was a steal.
While there aren't any new routes running to Turks and Caicos this year (at least yet announced), a cheap flight to Providenciales (PLS) isn't out of the question. In fact, we sent a sweet Turks and Caicos deal just last week with fares starting at $309. Normally, many of these fares would run closer to $700 or $800 roundtrip.
The peak season in Turks and Caicos and other archipelagoes like the Bahamas is in the middle of winter. And luckily, both of these flight deals include availability in the coldest winter months up north.
Let's talk about my newest obsession: Cuba. I visited Cuba this spring and fell in love with the place. Americans can easily travel there as long as they follow a few simple guidelines . And let me tell you, Havana and its surroundings are spectacular . Everything is cheap, the food is amazing, and the people are unbelievably kind to visitors.
Coming out of the pandemic, airlines re-added routes down to Havana (HAV), too. There aren't any new routes to Cuba, but there are tons of flights running there every day, so flights are still cheap.
Let's say there was a way you could book one of these cheap flights to the Caribbean and only pay the taxes and fees. Would that interest you? Of course, it would.
This flight deal we sent our subscribers was for American Airlines AAdvantage miles , and you only needed 16,000 of them to fly roundtrip to Punta Cana (PUJ) and back this winter, too.
There's no doubt that the addition of another daily flight from Charlotte (CLT) to PUJ helped make this deal possible. With a brand new route running, the airline has to fill those seats with some low AA miles fares. Here's to hoping you were one of them!
Bottom Line
U.S. and Canadian airlines are beefing up their schedules to Mexico and the Caribbean this winter, and it's almost certainly going to lead to some cheap flights for travelers like you.
From coast to coast in the U.S. and Canada, new and expanded routes to the beach are going to be a huge boon for travelers looking to escape the winter cold in 2023 and 2024.
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