TAG Airlines

Excellent flight from Guatemala City to Flores and back with TAG Airlines. First flight was a Embraer, second was a Saab 340. Very nice, smooth flight. On the first flight a small snack box was given, on the flight back a soda, chips and cookies were given.

Day trip from Guatemala City to see the Mayan temples at Tikal. Closest airport is Flores (which actually is not where the airport is located - it is in Santa Elena a couple miles from Flores) and then an hour drive to Tikal. Check in at the small domestic terminal at GUA at 5:15am for a 6:30am departure. TAG flies from GUA to a few cities in Guatemala, then to Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Belize, and all flights are on smaller prop planes from this little terminal. Check in quick and agents very friendly. You get a plastic boarding pass that is colored based on your destination (like the old Southwest Airlines used to do in the 70s and 80s) and then they call "blue" or "orange" and you board when your color is called. Flight was on a Saab 340A in decent condition and totally full. Nice flight attendant and friendly greetings from the cockpit. Delayed take off with inbound traffic, and a bumpy cloudly 10-15 minutes after take-off but then smoothed out. A drink and snack were served on the 45-minute flight. Quick landing over beautiful Flores (which itself is just a tiny island in lake Peten Itza) and taxi to the terminal. Only carry-on so thru to the exit and off to Tikal. The return was the same (6:30pm departure) except to pay the departure fee of QZ20 (about 3 US dollars) and then go through "international screening security" to the gate. It was a domestic flight so was kinda funny to be told "go thru international screening". Snack bar and air conditioning so that was good. Full flight back with the same crew as we had flying in that morning - again friendly smiles. Take off and landing on time. Overall a nice little airline but expensive ($250 roundtrip for a 45 minute flight) but beats a 9-hour one way bus ride.