Transportation to TJ Airport (San Diego, Mesa: prices, safety, car) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

the_citrus · 02-26-2012, 05:08 PM

Long story short: an outbound flight from SD got cancelled, and I'm rebooked out of Tijuana. I'm not freaked out about safety or anything, but I am a little worried about reliability and logistics of transportation. Out of SD, I was just going to catch a shuttle or a ride, but I'm much less familiar with the TJ airport, having never been there.

Does anyone here have experience with transportation to the TJ airport? I've been looking at this: Volaris/Crucero Shuttle but have heard that it can be unreliable and the schedule is never accurate. Has anyone used this or some similar service? Thanks. I'd have to be at the TJ airport for a 9:05am flight on a Saturday morning.

oddstray · 02-26-2012, 06:24 PM

We drove the car and parked in a lot just north of the border at San Ysidro. (Might have been better off if we did this at Otay Mesa since it's much closer to the airport.) We walked across the border and got a cab to the airport.

the_citrus · 02-26-2012, 07:57 PM

Thanks for the suggestion. I was hoping not to have to drive and leave a car there, for a few reasons. One is that my return flight is still back to San Diego, and the other is that the trip will be a week long, and I'm guessing a week's worth of parking is going to be more expensive than using shuttle services and bumming a ride off a friend (for the return). But I'll research parking prices more - it's probably less at the border than at the SD airport.

Clevelandgal · 02-26-2012, 08:18 PM

if your flight is not an ungodly early or late hour, can you take the trolley to the border and then a cab to the airport? Its a pain in the arse, but it certainly saves a lot.

oddstray · 02-26-2012, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clevelandgal

if your flight is not an ungodly early or late hour, can you take the trolley to the border and then a cab to the airport? Its a pain in the arse, but it certainly saves a lot.

I agree. If you have a friend who can help you with the return, forget about parking for a week and do the trolley/cab thing.

Erm ... can you impose on your friend to help with the departure as well as the return, to save you the trolley? (You'd still need to walk across the border and do the cab ... )

Clevelandgal · 02-27-2012, 07:11 PM

I just saw a shuttle van downtown that goes to the TJ airport. I was unable to get the web site. A google search indicated the going rate is $95 (!) for a shuttle. I also saw the greyhound goes there from SD. That would be fun. lol

the_citrus · 04-09-2012, 07:22 PM

A follow up on this, in case the question comes up again: I had a successful trip using the TJ airport, but not without hitches.

The departure plan: cab from UCSD to Greyhound station at 5:20am, Volaris/Crucero shuttle at 6:45am to TJ airport, flight at 9:05. The shuttle was running 45 min late, so I hopped on the trolley to San Ysidro, walked across the pedestrian crossing, and took a cab ($15) on the TJ side to the airport. The airport was clean, modern, and efficient. Walking across with luggage was a pain, because it's a rather long walk! There were cabs immediately at the border, and we were not alone at the crossing around 7am. I'm assuming we could have found a cheaper cab, but we didn't really care.

The way back: originally was to be a 9:15am arrival at SAN, but due to various issues (don't fly with Volaris, it's a long story) turned into a 12:05am arrival at TIJ. Did something similar - took an airport cab (~$15) to the border, walked across, had a friend pick us up on the US side at San Ysidro. The walking to go from TJ to the US is much less, and we were the only people at customs at 12:30am. We actually would have made the last trolley north from San Ysidro if needed (it was a Sunday night).