Overview & Some Important Tips
AeroMexico 737-800 MCO-MEX
The AeroMexico Skyteam lounge MEX
Regional ERJ-190 MEX-SDQ-MEX
AeroMexico 737-700 MEX-MCO
Totals and results (was it worth it)?
I thought I would break down this “fun run” ASAP as I know a bunch of folks will be “enjoying” this run over the next week and for many months to come as well as share some warnings and tips to help you along the way. For the price, this was hard to beat I have to say.
First things first. Strangely, even though being a part of Skyteam, AeroMexico is on the A side and Delta is on the B side. There are, in fact, a number of Delta partners that are setup this way. That means if you want to visit the MCO Sky Club before your flight or THE CLUB at MCO (a much better choice btw) then you have to plan enough time to clear security and take the tram out to the gates on B and before you fly take the tram back, walk to the other side, and again clear security and take the tram out to your gate. You see the reason to have CLEAR and PreCheck at MCO.
Next tip if you are flying this. PLEASE get all of your boarding passes in MCO if you are doing any quick turns a.k.a. you are not staying for a few days in MEX or SDQ. Also, and this is clearly imperative, make sure you have your Delta frequent flyer number printed on your paper boarding passes. If they are not, do not leave until they fix it. Then hold on to them for proof you have flown (as well as the eRecipt and copy of your itinerary from AM site). We all want to make sure we get full points for this fun! Then again, if you are a smart flyer, you should ALWAYS have a paper copy of your boarding pass for so many other reasons anyway.
Next some advice along the way. You will have to clear passport control and enter Mexico EACH WAY so why not get two copies of the forms on the first flight. You are fresh and awake and can fill them out (just don’t get them confused). Much simpler than on the regional jet later when you are sleepy.
Speaking of the regional jet, please get two copies of the “tiny” form you see above (sorry for blurry photo). The print on it is so small I had to take a photo with my phone and zoom in to see some of the print. Oh and the reason for two is you will need another copy when you exit SDQ. Fill them both out at once.
$10 entry fee to SDQ. You don’t have to pay it if you are not staying for a few days. I almost paid the fee online to save time but I am happy I did not. But the tip of printing all your boarding passes is how you save the fee and can show you are only transiting in SDQ not staying. It also saves you time on tight connections.
Entering MEX. Thankfully there were no lines at all at passport control and we zipped through both on the late arriving flight as well as the early morning return and this was critical as we would have missed our flight if we had had to wait. After passport control you have two customs areas. The first one on your left (just past the bathrooms) is for when you are returning to the USA and the second for your SDQ fight. I have no idea why they are split as they dump into the same arrival hall area.
Lounges and connections. After you enter MEX go up one floor and look for your departing gate and Sky priority security (lines were not long either way). Both the gates and the lounges are upstairs from arrivals. You will have time to visit either the AMEX Centurion (open till midnight) or the AeroMexico lounge (open till 1AM).
If you are doing the quick 1.5 hour connection on the way back it will be tight and don’t “stop to smell the roses” along the way. Get to you gate ASAP. We made it just in time as they boarded shortly after we arrived.
Other bits. Without spoiling other posts in the series on this run, the points are looking perfect and are posting for most correctly and there was real value to this run. However, many of the seats are horrible and outdated business class seats. I hope you looked at my post yesterday and have a really good battery brick as you will need it. Don’t expect power on most of the legs. Same goes for entertainment – bring your own. Food was disappointing as you will see in the next few posts.
Lastly don’t expect Gogo on any of your flights as the GA just rolled her eyes when I asked (telling me most jets are not equipped). Plus, much of this run is over water anyway.
Overall this was a fun run but I am happy I only booked one, not due to the points, but due to the product and overall AeroMexico domestic business class experience leaves much to be desired. – René
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
A word of advice: If you ever decide to fly AeroMexico from the US to Europe or Latin America connecting through Mexico City be aware that you will probably get a feeling of what get to hell is. It is the worst experience you will ever get. You can read Lucky’s experience he shared on his blog but I have family and friends that did that and they said that not even for free they will repeat the mistake. Even if you are just connecting in Mexico City to get another flight to the US you will have to do immigration in Mexico, customs in Mexico, several x-rays of your luggage in Mexico and nobody will be able to tell you where you have to go. If you ever decide to do this make sure you have several hours to spare between your flights otherwise you will miss your connection.
@Santastico – Agree. Unless all carry-on 3 hours to connect minimum. It is the worst airport I have ever been in and that is saying a bunch!
I find it best not to speak unless asked a question. Comments to fellow travelers such as “when was the last time you were arrested at immigration?” or anything that may normally seem like a joke is not a good idea. Maybe it is paranoia but it seems that many countries do not like Americans and I prefer to not do anything that will cause a random search. Even though nothing I have is illegal the time delay could be huge.
Also on this trip 2 hours connection time was ok, but in many other South and Central American airports 3 hours or more may be needed. The technology we are accustomed to in the US is lacking in many other countries. Mexico City and Santo Domingo airports did not seem familiar with the digital boarding pass at customs and immigration.
I was scheduled to make this same trip today but unfortunately my positioning flight ATL-MCO was delayed by 2.5 hours and that would have caused me to miss my MCO-MEX flight and all the flights after that so I ended up cancelling the flight since the price to reticent it for a different day was too much. I really wished I could’ve made this run happen but my delayed positioning flight killed it for me. I’m happy it worked out for you and everyone else.
I’ll be on the lookout for the next first class run!
@Adina – I flew in the night before to make sure I could make the run and spending the day in THE CLUB at MCO is not such a bad way to burn a few hours.
Agree on Mexico City airport. Also I assume you got to the AM lounge? Not really much there. And you experienced the “food” too inflight (LOL)
Service on 787 out of MEX to BUE was better as far as service and food (not great but not nearly as lackluster) Will be back in late Oct & Nov, don’t look forward to clearing airport coming and going, but do like Mexico city itself. Might have thought about jumping on one of these, but missed that they came out cuz was out of country. Hopefully many folks were able to use them
@rizrizriz – Yep as mentioned above will cover the AM Skyteam lounge soon.
Great post, thank you! I decided to book this route next Spring for my family’s vacation. 2 adults and 2 kids (9 and 3). We travel a lot (including overseas) but is there anything particular you recommend or warn us about?
We fly into MEX and have a long ~8 hour layover before heading out to SDQ for a week. The return is tighter, maybe too tight? Land in MEX at 11:30 and back to MCO at 12:50. Enough time?
Thank you in advance for any advice!!!
@Jeremy – I will cover much in the series of posts. Please check back when done and see if I cover what you need. As to your return – are you carry-on? If not there is risk of missing yes. There is a flight a few hours later you can maybe move to if you miss connect so would not over stress it.
Will do..and thanks again! I’m sure we’ll have 1 checked bag…though I try to encourage my wife to take less shoes :-).
I didn’t know that would print all of them but I will make sure this is done. So I assume that you received all the MQM as you expected? I will drive to MCO Tuesday as my first trip is that night returning Wednesday.
@Ken – Initial reports all points and MQD etc posting as expected yes. You can only print them ALL if doing the same day turn. If stopover you clearly cant.
MEX has very strict customs enforcement because of the immense amount of illegal substances and dirty money trying to travel through the airport. I don’t get it when folks complain about not being able to transit in an hour or less–these things take time. Plan accordingly but to try and stick a label of “worst airport ever” is frankly unwarranted.