Yesterday I was tracking my friend’s flight from Texas to Honolulu and I noticed that her flight never crossed south through the Northern area of Mexico to have a more direct flight to Hawaii. Instead,
it stayed within the states. What would be the reason for this?
There’s probably more paperwork/costs involved in crossing the border. This flight would be classified as domestic then
Is that why I see flights to Alaska fly down the coast and turn into the mainland instead of cutting through Canada?
Yes - most likely. If the aircraft only stays in one country they require less permissions which creates legal bills which means the airline make more profit
I think you mean more profit.
Yes just spotted it - sorry
Mexico charges overflight fees, so basically any aircraft that over flies Mexico has to pay. So for airlines to save this fee they just have their pilots make a flight plan that avoids Mexican airspace.
I bookmarked the time stamp in the video: The Five Freedoms of Aviation - YouTube
@Alan_Perez if you watch delta flights from msp to anc you will notice they go into Canada
Overflight fees that aren’t worth paying when you can make a small route change.
That’s because avoiding Canadian airspace would be too much of a diversion on a route like that.
Thought it might have something to do with Trump…
It’s got nothing to do with Trump. Please don’t post if you haven’t got a clue.
How high did you think he was gonna build the wall?!
They don’t have global, thats why…
Let @Darth_Sidious be, its a legitimate thought especially with what has transpired thus far in this soap opera(not gonna call it a presidency).
- Paying overflight fees to Mexico.
- Trump saying that Mexico would be paying for the wall.
It honestly makes sense that a domestic flight would avoid those fees, knowing that it would be counterproductive to these wall plans.
The distance difference for staying out of Mexican airspace isn’t much…here’s what the shortest direct route looks like:
Overflight fees have absolutely no connection to the wall. It makes perfect sense to avoid more of them, but they will have done that before Trump and the presidency will have made no difference to that.
At least you put some thought into the comment. The reason I would say that is because he has clearly put no thought into the comment.
I agree with @IceBlue, there was absolute no reason for that comment. We don’t need to bring politics to a simple question about overflight fees. Plus, most countries have overflight fees, it’s not just Mexico. Mexican overflight fees have been there long before President Trump was elected.
It’s balance between the cost of overflight fees and fuel/viability: is it worth paying for a non-stop vs a flight that will take several hours longer (and thus several hours more fuel)/another stop?