Continental Airlines - The Cheapest Way to Fly International

There are at least five different airlines to choose from when flying internationally from the Midwest to Central America. I’ve always checked the five of them before booking my flights and 9 out of 10 times the lowest price has been on Continental Airlines. My husband and I are frequent flyers and really need to save the most that we can when buying our tickets. I personally do not use any website like Kayak or Expedia, all they do is search different airlines at the same time. Based on my experience the lowest price has always been between Continental and Delta Airlines.

To give you an idea in the last 2 years the lowest ticket we were able to see was $241.00 roundtrip for one person. We didn’t purchase that day and when we checked a few days after it had gone up to $381.00 which is still pretty cheap for a 2,000 mile plane ride. Compare that to the $927.00 price for a TACA ticket (which people jokingly have nicknamed it “Take A Chance Airline”) or the $545.00 price for a Delta ticket.

Another thing we really like about Continental is the convenience in their schedule. We usually like taking the early flight that leaves at 5:45AM that way we find ourselves in Central America before noon time. The layover is in Houston which is a very organized airport compared to others like Miami International Airport. Layover time is very decent usually between 54 minutes to 2 hours. If you take Delta your layover will be in Atlanta which is pretty decent too, however the layovers aren’t so nice all the time; moreover there are specific days that Delta does not fly to Central America making harder for you to schedule your trip. If you take American Airlines your layover will be in Miami which like I said I do not like. The airport is huge and always mobbed. For some reason things take a lot longer here than in Houston. With TACA the prices are always so high, I really don’t know how people can buy their tickets at $500 and up (I’ve seen tickets go up to more than a $1,000) when there are cheaper airlines out there. The only positive thing about it is that it is the only one to have a direct flight to El Salvador, but if you’re going to any other country in Central America you might as well pick Continental and have your layover in Houston.

Spirit Airlines also offers this connection, it makes a stop in Fort Lauderdale and the prices round the $400 as well. It’s one of those airlines that advertise their cheap tickets however I still have not seen their ticket be cheaper than Continental. Besides that we’ve heard stories from our friends how they get stranded in other airports due to the inefficacy of Spirit. With Continental we have ALWAYS had on time flights, delays have not been greater than 30 minutes and they are not frequent.

Continental also offers the One Pass which is a way for you to build up your miles. We were able to use this already and got a full round trip thanks to the number of miles we had accumulated.

As you can see we’re pretty loyal to Continental and that is thanks to their price, their punctuality, and their flight schedule. It is indeed the cheapest and simply the best way to travel internationally.