Delta Boosts Mazatlán Options

For most of us, Delta has long been an also-ran or non-player in our efforts to fly to Mazatlán for bass fishing trips. They’ve sometimes offered direct flights for Minneapolis fliers, but nothing for the west coast anglers.

That’ll change on December 21st, when they start once-weekly flights (on Saturday) between Los Angeles and Mazatlán. Up until now, the primary carriers for West Coast travelers were either Alaska Air from LAX or SFO. Alternatively, you could travel to San Diego, safely and legally walk across the border, and then fly on low-cost carriers.

It appears that the flight TO Mazatlán will depart at 11:10am on Saturdays and arrive in about 2 ½ hours. That provides enough time for some anglers who first need to get to LAX to connect to catch an early morning flight. It also means that you could get in a few hours of fishing that afternoon.

The flight FROM Mazatlán is scheduled for 3:58pm, which could allow you to fish that morning, although the early evening arrival in LA could make it a tight squeeze if you’ll need to catch a subsequent plane to get home.

It’s not just the western travelers who are getting more options. As we noted previously, Delta’s partner Aeromexico recently added flights between Mexico City and Raleigh-Durham, Tampa and Washingon DC (Dulles-IAD) that can help you get from the east coast to Sinaloa much faster. Starting at the end of October, they’ll offer daily flights between Newark (NJ) and Mexico City, thereby increasing eastern options and capacity.

All of this can only be good for those of us who want to get to El Salto and Picachos easily and often. More options are always better.