Viva Mexico: Canadian Flight Options to Mexico

With the recent decline in travel to the United States, Canadians have been looking to other sun destinations for their winter vacations. Mexico is a popular resort destination, and Canadian airlines are adjusting their flight schedules and frequencies to capitalize on the demand. 

In this article, learn about all your options for flying to Mexico from Canada, with or without the use of points! 

Fly to Mexico from Canada Using Points

Mexico has always been a popular destination for Canadians during the cold season. If you’re not looking to hit the slopes during the winter, many travellers fly to Mexico for its resort properties and all-inclusive packages. Fortunately, Canada’s major airlines offer direct flights to Mexico, with the option to use points for the trip. 

If you’re looking for inspiration for where to stay in Mexico, check out Danny’s extensive coverage of the Hilton Tulum Riviera Maya All-Inclusive Resort!

Air Canada Aeroplan

Air Canada offers a variety of flights to Mexico from its hubs in Montreal, Toronto-Pearson, and Vancouver, meaning that most of Canada’s population can fly to Mexico with non-stop service. Some of their services are operated by their lower-cost leisure carrier, Air Canada Rouge. Using Air Canada’s Cargo Shipping network tool, Air Canada currently serves the following 11 Mexican destinations:

Cancun (CUN)

Cozumel (CZM)

Guadalajara (GDL)

Huatulco (HUX)

Ixtapa

Mexico City (MEX)

Monterrey (MTY)

Puerto Escondido (PXM) – New for 2025

Puerto Vallarta (PVR)

San Jose del Cabo (SJD)

Tulum (TQO)

Note: Air Canada had previously announced a new Mexico destination for Winter 2025 from Vancouver to Tepic (TPQ); however, this route was cancelled.

Using an award search tool like seats.aero, non-stop redemptions for flights between Air Canada hubs in Canada and Mexico can start at around 11,000-12,000 for a flight between Toronto or Montreal to Cancun. For those flying out of Vancouver, redemptions start around 19,000-20,0000 points for non-stop flights to Puerto Vallarta.

Business Class redemptions are available at as low as 25,000 points on a Rouge aircraft, and starting at around 35,0000 points in a Mainline cabin. If you’re lucky enough, you can use your redemptions aboard Air Canada’s 777 flights between Cancun and Toronto or Montreal, so you could get a lie-flat bed for 4-5 hours. Vancouver business redemptions start at just under 60,000 points.

Beyond nonstop flights, Air Canada has a long list of connecting partners that can get you to Mexico without flying exclusively on Air Canada. Air Canada redemptions, including connecting flights on a partner airline, expand the number of Mexican destinations travellers from Canada can fly to. It can also mean lower redemption prices. 

For example, a redemption from Vancouver to Puerto Vallarta with a United connecting flight through SFO or LAX can be as low as 11,800, though it includes an overnight layover. Similarly, for passengers flying to Toronto or Montreal, you can find itineraries as low as 10,700 points with an overnight connection in Houston or Washington, DC (IAD or a transfer from DCA to IAD).

Although prices are around the same for business redemptions on Air Canada’s connecting partners, if you like exploring new places, you can find interesting itineraries, such as flying on Avianca to Bogota, Colombia, before flying back north to Cancun for 35,000 Aeroplan points.

WestJet Points 

Canada’s second-largest airline, WestJet, flies to various Mexican destinations. With its acquisition of Sunwing in 2023 and a focus on seasonal destinations to compete with Air Canada, WestJet flies to more destinations in Mexico from multiple origins than any other competitor. Presumably with the help of its codeshare partner, Aeromexico, WestJet has the best non-stop coverage for Canadian travellers. Currently, WestJet serves the following 15 Mexican airports:

• Cancun
• Cozumel
• Guadelajara
• Huatulco
• Ixtapa
• Loreto
• Manzanillo
• Mazatlan
• Merida
• Mexico City
• Puerto Escondido
• Puerto Vallarta
• San Jose del Cabo
• Tepic
• Tulum

Most of these destinations are seasonally served primarily from their Calgary base, except Cancun, Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, and Los Cabos, which have year-round service from Calgary, with some year-round service from other major Canadian airports.

Flying from most major airports across Canada, WestJet also flies to Mexico from smaller airports. For example, they operate a daily service to Puerto Vallarta from Abbotsford, considered the secondary airport of Vancouver (YVR). Moreover, they also fly from towns with smaller populations and from more remote areas, such as Prince George in Northern BC. Prices may be higher when flying from these smaller airports; however, convenience and avoiding a connection to a larger hub before flying down may be more valuable than the time it takes to get there.

With a more standard redemption rate than Air Canada’s Aeroplan program, you can redeem your WestJet Points for flights to Mexico. Points can constantly be devalued, so be wary about how long you hold your points for. At the moment, 100 WestJet points are valued at 1 CAD on the fare and any other flight-related add-ons. In terms of taxes and fees, they can be redeemed at a lower rate, but still comparable to saving cash when everything is taken into account.

An example of WestJet pricing for Mexico routes on different fare types. See our guide to WestJet fare classes for more information.

Porter/Air Transat

Porter and Air Transat hold a smaller share of the Canadian travel market to Mexico, though they do have some sway in the redemption world. Porter’s VIPorter loyalty program allows travellers to redeem points on Porter, Alaska, and Air Transat. 

At the moment, Porter has announced two Mexican destinations from their eastern hubs, Cancun and Puerto Vallarta, with service starting in December. These one-way redemptions start at just 10,000 VIPorter points, which is an excellent but difficult-to-find rate.

Aside from the direct flights on Porter to Cancun or Puerto Vallarta, Porter’s partners, Alaska Airlines and Air Transat, provide a variety of options for getting down to the beaches of Mexico, too.

Porter allows searches to all of Air Transat’s destinations on their website when you select Toronto as the origin. When choosing any other origin for your flight, entering ‘Mexico’ in the destination search bar returns a different number of destinations in Mexico, sometimes with no results or available dates. For Porter’s new destinations, it will return results, including options with Air Transat connections.

Other Options

If you collect points in another rewards program outside of Canada, there is a decent chance that you can use those airline miles on a flight between Canada and Mexico. This is even the case if the mainline airline doesn’t operate any of those routes. 

For example, using Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles, you can redeem your points for a non-stop flight on WestJet from Vancouver to Cancun.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to use my points towards this redemption because for the same amount, I was able to fly transatlantic from Vancouver to Berlin via Paris. But if you have miles that are expiring soon, or you have too many and you don’t mind spending them, such redemptions are worth considering.

Fly to Mexico from Canada Using Cash

Flair

If you’re looking to save an extra buck without using your points, Canada’s Ultra Low-Cost Carrier, Flair Airlines, has options to Mexico as well. Shifting its 2025 schedules, Flair has reduced some flights to the United States to operate routes to Mexico, including announcing Mexico City as a new destination for this year. Currently, Flair serves four Mexican airports, with most flights seasonally operated.

Flair has previously operated routes from smaller airports, like Abbotsford and Kitchener-Waterloo, directly to Mexico. However, Flair has not filed to fly from those airports for Winter 2025. In addition, Los Cabos is no longer listed as a destination on Flair’s website.

Prices on Flair can be less than half the price of what you would pay for a mainline flight. However, keep in mind that Flair doesn’t include a carry-on bag or checked bag, so your costs may increase.

Read more: Guide to Flare Baggage Fees

Purchasing a bundle for your trip will be cheaper if you plan to bring a lot of luggage; however, you can choose a carry-on or checked bag as an add-on instead. 

Even after purchasing a separate carry-on as an add-on, the round-trip price for this example itinerary is still under $500, compared to $750 on United.

Although my experience on Flair wasn’t the greatest, if you are willing to save some money and miles for a future redemption, Flair could be your frugal friend for flying south.

Air Transat

As previously mentioned, Air Transat has a partnership with Porter. VIPorter members can earn points through bookings made on Porter’s website, including connections on Air Transat. However, Air Transat themselves do not have a loyalty program, but it does serve six destinations in Mexico:

• Acapulco
• Cancun
• Cozumel
• Guadalajara
• Puerto Vallarta
• Riviera Maya/Tulum 

Air Transat primarily focuses on eastern and Atlantic Canadian cities, with little to no coverage in the west anymore. The best deals you can get on Air Transat are typically with their bundled vacation package.

Some of their cheapest packages are available for just under $1,300 per person when purchased for two people, or $1679 for solo travellers. Considering that meals are all-inclusive, you stay for 7 nights at a 4-star hotel, and round-trip flights are included, it’s not too bad, especially when booking the same property yourself can be upwards of $230 a night (before USD conversion).

Other Options

For some travellers, it might make more sense to pay in cash for flights to Mexico because the redemption value is lower than for flights across the Pacific or Atlantic oceans. Moreover, for those chasing elite status benefits through their preferred airline loyalty program, maximizing spend can help chase those status goals faster.

Additionally, you might be lucky enough to take advantage of a bonus point offer when you pay with cash instead of redeeming points. 

For example, from time to time, Air Canada Aeroplan offers promotional bonuses for flights to Mexico and Latin America.

Conclusion

Flying to Mexico is always a great way to avoid the cold, wet Canadian winter. To summarize, Air Canada has the edge in point values, WestJet serves the most non-stop routes from Canada to Mexico, and Porter’s collaboration with Air Transat introduces VIPorter as a new competitor to the Mexican redemption market. 

For paid options, Flair can be a good price-conscious option, and Air Transat’s vacation packages offer a decent deal for all-inclusive resorts. With extensive flight networks from various airlines, Canadians have a number of options when it comes to a sunny getaway down south.