I am trying to buy a rt ticket from Chicago to San Luis Potosi for the beginning of August. Any ideas which online ticket service I can find the cheapest rates??? Which have you used recently?

Most of the time Orbitz works best for me. I just got the best deal I ever got to Mexico a couple of weeks ago. On occasion Aeromexico has some really good deal on its site. I have found you really need to check fares on-line frequently and if you find the good fare buy it as the fares change all the time and there can be substaial increases (or decreases) daily.

Mexicana sometimes has good deals on its website - you need to follow the links for the internet specials, not just type in Chicago and San Luis Potosi on the main page. Sometimes you end up changing in Guadalajara, but we've gotten some really good prices this way.

Continental has non-stop flights from Houston to many of the smaller cities in Mexico (not sure about San Luis Potosi). It's great because you don't have to connect in Mexico City, but the prices are often higher than other alternatives.

You might want to try this group of travel agents http://www.exitotravel.com/. They've done well by me a couple times. I'm an inveterate online buyer, but got exhausted trying to find best price from DC to Oaxaca earlier this year - when you have to factor in enough time for connections etc it can get tedious checking Orbitz et al.

I haven't found an online booking agent that sells tickets to Mexico for less than when I've purchased directly from the airlines - ever. Mexicana.com offers excellent fares on its "mexisavers" (or something close to that) sub-page on the website.

In response to gomex, that has not been my experience. Having bought many tickets to Mexico the airlines rarely match the prices I have found on sites such as orbitz. On occasion I have gotten my tickets from Aeromexico or Mexicana, but only once or twice when they have had the best fare. I am leaving for Mex. on Monday and again, got a price cheaper than the airlines offer. What has worked best for me is to continually check prices on-line and when I find the right fare- buy it. I usually check several times a day as fares sometimes change hourly. I saw a fare go up $300.00 in an hour last Thursday night for example. In addition, if you have the flexibility, keep trying different dates in your time frame and you may save substantially.

Glad to hear that Dude has had such good luck with Orbitz, but like gomexico, I've been able to beat their prices pretty often by double-checking and buying direct off the airline web sites (especially when flying Continental, who offer the most flights into Mexico of any U.S. flag carrier).

Since you're in Chicago, you also might look into buying direct from Aviacsa by calling their local Chicago office. (Buying Aviacsa tix online is often a pain, online services often require you to do paper tix, and Aviacsa's web site is flaky as can be --- but the folks in their offices are GREAT). *WHEN* you can get Aviacsa flights, you'll get BETTER service than you get on ANY U.S. carrier at prices that are sometimes half what others charge --- it's worth looking into...unfortunately though, I don't think Aviacsa flies into SLP, which is a pretty small market...

Have fun!
Mark
www.tiogringo.com

I fly out of Chicago, also. And, never, I repeat never, has Orbitz or travelocity.com been lower in price. Maybe there's a "bucket shop" offering tickets, but not with the flexibility that the airlines offer themselves. The travel websites are, IMO, conning people.