CBX expects crush of Americans heading to Mexico for Fourth of July

SAN DIEGO ( Border Report ) — For a relatively small fee, the Cross Border Xpress provides airline travelers with proper documentation easy access between California and the Tijuana airport.

The facility opened about eight years ago has been a huge success from the beginning.

This year, CBX is averaging 8,000 passengers per day and it is expecting bigger numbers with the upcoming Fourth of July holiday.

Independence Day has become a time when many Americans head to Mexico for a vacation, and many will use CBX, COO Edouard Piquet said.

“It’s becoming very busy,” he said. “The holiday rush actually began this past weekend; we had about 25,000 passengers, one of the busiest weekends of the year.”

Right now, it costs $45.95 per person round trip to use the bridge.

Travelers like Eric Meurs of Mission Viejo, California say it is still a bargain to use the CBX and buy a plane ticket out of Tijuana when compared to flying out of San Diego or Los Angeles.

“We’ve used it before,” he said.

He did admit it was sort of ironic going to Mexico to celebrate American independence.

“We thought about that. … What do we do? I guess we go out to the beach and light up our own fireworks,” Meurs said. “My daughter lives in Wisconsin, she’s going to meet us down there. My son came from Utah to fly with us, with my wife and I, so we’re just travelling, a little getaway, spend some time together, time away from work.”

Travelers are able to fly direct to 40 different destinations in Mexico from the Tijuana airport, making CBX very appealing to many.

Piquet is asking folks to arrive early and be prepared as they head to Mexico this week.

“Do your check-in with the airline first, buy your CBX ticket before you arrive, make sure your passport has not expired, so by the time you arrive it’s very easy,” Piquet said. “If you’re going to drive your car reserve your space, if you can do all that, you will be in this terminal literally for less than a minute.”

At the terminal, passengers present their CBX ticket and boarding pass before being allowed access to a bridge that takes them over the border and drops them into the Tijuana airport.

“Then you have Mexican immigration, Mexican customs and airlines can receive your luggage,” he said. “Since it’s busy they’ll have more people working, soon you’ll get on your plane so you can go to Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, wherever you may be going.”

As for Meurs and his family, they were on their way to Puerto Vallarta for a week.

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