AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Travel Anyone flown Taca?

We have flown Taca twice, Costa Rica and Belize.
Loved Taca, good food and drinks.

Went with TACA a few times, no problems.

I'd fly TACA over American any time. TACA is always friendly, always has good refreshments and booze (FREE), VERY modern planes (all brand new Airbuses). Now, what can American offer: REALLY crappy "food" on the Miami-Belize flight (almost 2 hours, a pack of Pretzels I wouldn't even look at in a supermarket), $5.00US for a Bud light, not particularly new aircraft (although their legroom is good), and not such a brilliant safety record either. Oh, yes, and they like to overbook their flights and they are FIERCE when it comes to charging $100US for each extra piece of check in baggage.

And, while I'm at it....I flew AA to Miami just before Xmas 2001. I noticed scrapes on the tail rudder where it meets the tail (indicating the spacing between rudder and tail was too close) but didn't think anything of it at the time. During the whole flight there was a back and forth "yawing" motion (sometimes slight, sometimes quite noticeable, people were looking at each other). I emailed AA about it. I suggested the pilot might have been struggling a bit with the rudder because it was rubbing against the tail. One month later they sent an email saying, "Don't worry, nothing was wrong, your safety is our first concern." Bollocks. And so we see on the TV news a tail rudder being hauled out of the waters around New York. Can't remember if that was before or after my flight but I think it was within a few weeks and it WAS relevant.

Sometimes I think little 3rd world countries deserve a lot more credit than they get on this thread and from a lot of people in general.. I would rate TACA very highly amongst active airlines despite the almost racist stereotyping of dodgy safety practices and reliability they constantly receive from more "enlightened" people.

To the folk who joined this thread praising TACA: Don't worry, you're right. It's the people who slam and smear without even trying the airline who are wrong.

I flew TACA from Belize City to Roatan, Honduras a couple of years ago. Complete nightmare. Left several hours late, had to change planes on the mainland (stopped in San Pedro Sula before flying on to Roatan)and they werent' very good about communicating what was going on the whole time. I would avoid it if possible.

I can remember when Taca was the number one airline about some 40 years ago...a friend of mine ran the show then..Johnnie Searle...I'm glad to hear that it still maintains the same standard it did then.....

Trina;

You would have flown one of the smaller regional airlines that ply Central America, not TACA directly. In the Honduras case it might have been Inter or Atlantic or Isela(sp?)...ticketing would be through TACA or their agents, but the aircraft of these smaller airlines are all small turboprops designed for short haul puddle jumping.

I flew Atlantic from Belize City to La Cieba via. San Pedro Sula last year and you really had to listen carefully to announcements to figure out what was going on. BUT! that was not the TACA that flies Houston-Belize or LA-Salvador-Belize.

By the way, despite my criticism of them, I WOULD (and HAVE) flown AA again.....unfortunately TACA doesn't fly to Miami.

First time I flew AA they got to Miami just fine, on time. They were 3 hours late taking off for NYC. Does THAT make them a bad airline that I would never fly again?

I had approximately 100 flights on TACA back and forth from Miami to Belize before they closed the route down several years ago.
Only problem ever encountered was when Hurricane Andrew hit Miami and the airport closed. Evidently there is a basis of how flights are allowed to land after a diaster like this strikes.
Taca was way down on the list of getting their landing rights restored.
I would guess than maybe five times our flight was maybe an hour or so late getting out of Miami.

American is terrible, for some unknown reason you ususally spend 30 to 45 minutes parked on the tarmac waiting for a gate to open up to unload.
This is everytime you land. Gets pretty old after awhile.
Given a choice I would be back using TACA rather than AA.

Try calling Mars Travel and Tours out of Houston. I fly back and forth from San Antonio to our hotel in Belize and they have always had the best fares. Their number is 713-978-6277. You don't have to book in advance so it has really been great for us. I just flew my 2 daughters here and it was only around $400.00 round trip for each one.

Or if you want to book a package deal you can contact Capricorn Leisure Corp at 800-426-6544 and they book all inclusive tours for Coconuts Hotel and Corona Del Mar.

Good luck and come and see us at Coconuts Hotel.

Mars Travel, Houston is great.

We just returned from the island 2 weeks ago, and even with a short notice Mars Travel was the best price ($483 plus tax and security)from Salt Lake City. You can also get them on the web at flycheapol.com