We decided to fly out of Mayaquez airport this time. It's a bit less money than flying out of Aguadilla but without the hassles of driving to San Juan. And it's a lot easier to get someone to take you to Mayaquez than it is to ask someone to drive to San Juan.
There is literally none of the usual airport security in Mayaquez. A quick glance (if that) at an ID. No TSA. No scanners or X-rays or metal detectors. No taking your shoes or your belt off. No unpacking (then repacking) all your myriad electronic devices. Just a nice guy who comes out to get you when it's time to go because you're sitting outside on the bench in the sunshine.
When we got to Mayaquez, we were actually booked on two different flights, Elaine at 10:00 and me at like 1:30. The same nice guy put us both on the earlier flight. Not that that was any big problem: there were only three other passengers. But then it was a tiny plane.
From Mayaquez it's a short 35-minute flight, mostly along the coast, to San Juan. In San Juan, it's back to travelers' reality, TSA. dragging luggage through the airport to the check-in counter and all that.
All said and done, I don't think we'll fly out of Mayaguez again though. It was an experience, an adventure, but I don't think it saved us much time or hassle. I would still rather fly out of Aguadilla even with the middle-of-the night departures and arrivals. We can usually find someone who will pick up our car so we don't have to pay to park at the airport and then drop it off the night we come home.
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