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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)?
It’s funny – for the most part I really like Delta regional partners. No, not the EVIL CRJ200s as they are so bad it makes me miss the old NWA SAAB turbo props. But I did have high hopes for the AeroMexico regional partner ride to and from Santo Domingo or SDQ airport. I really shouldn’t have.
We boarded really late after an outstanding fabulous a visit to the Skyteam lounge in MEX. Considering the time change I was ready to drop into our full flat seats and sleep the night away. If you were wondering, no, AeroMexico regional partners do not offer full flats. They offer:
One of the folks on this run commented how these beat-up seats felt nostalgic. That is one word, there are others. I sleep really well on jets and was gone almost instantly. I only woke up due to the fact that the takeoff took much longer than I was used to, that is, compared to how quickly it seems US regional partners get into the air. But once off the ground I was fast asleep again.
I apparently slept through dinner service (at ~1 AM no less) and the rest of the night flight service to SDQ. Dave was not very impressed (I think sleep was a better choice). I did wake up in time to check out sunrise and being a real fan of the Caribbean I love the sun coming up over the water. I cannot wait to live in the Caribbean one day and wake up to this each and every morning.
I have to admit it was strange approaching an amazing island and not taking the time to explore or even better get out my dive gear (not in my carry-on) and go play with some tropical fish. Next time maybe.
No this visit it was time to try to wake up enough to quickly enter the Dominican Republic and then just as quickly clear security and get back onto the jet we just got off. If I had filled out two of the tiny forms I was given on-board I would have made it even faster but we did clear, without having to pay the $10 fee since we were not staying, and made it to our gate with, according to the gate agent, 5 minutes to spare before boarding.
That meant we did not have time to go to the very end of the concourse and visit either of the two lounges at this airport.
As it turns out I would have had plenty of time to at least check out one if not both of these lounges as it took WAY more than 5 minutes to board the same jet back to Mexico City. If anyone does check them out feel free to e-mail me a few photos and tell me what you think of them!
With a new crew we started our return back home having made the rushed turn in SDQ.
Despite being half asleep, and a really early flight, I did enjoy a bunch of amazing AVgeek window views before we hit open water. I have to say the view from up in the air is truly amazing and just never gets old.
….and did I mention it was an early flight and, so you guessed it, the idiot in 1A decided to put his feet way up on the wall to sleep. Ugg. Feet belong on the floor. On to breakfast.
I have had a number of breakfasts in business class on airlines all over the world. Safe to say this was the most disappointing one ever. The meal included:
- TANG for the juice option (yes, I said TANG)
- Bread so dry and hard I could not eat it
- Fruit that was poor at best
- Dry strawberries with generic cereal
- Jelly for the bread I could not eat
- Yogurt – the only good thing for breakfast
Again, I cannot begin to tell you how bad this was. Anything in any Sky Club would crush this in quality and flavor. Who would pay full price business class for this?
The ride was nice despite some weather over the gulf. Service, however, was truly disappointing. Disappointing is maybe not the best description. When I went to use the lav and give the FA my “juice” glass she was playing games on her iPad and spent much of the flight hiding up front. And it got much worse.
For a large chunk of the flight the head FA spent her time chatting with the flight crew with the door open. The crew came and went to the lav but for much of the time she was just chatting and kept the door open. It was so long that when I wanted to use the lav myself I felt very uncomfortable just walking up to the open cockpit door so I hit the “ding” button and motioned if it was OK for me to approach the front of the jet. I was waved up but the door was never closed all the way as I used the lav.
I have no idea if this is commonplace for AeroMexico Regional flights, but as a US based flyer this just freaked me out and made me really uncomfortable. Maybe it is just me and I need to get over this but that is how I felt. You tell me if I am out in left field here folks.
Once we approached MEX airport it was fun to again get some great views from above including some snow capped peaks in the middle of summer. Impressive.
Less impressive was the smog or what looked like smog approaching the airport. I caught myself holding my breath (silly I know) but it seemed that bad. Speaking of holding my breath, my next issue was trying to clear customs once again in MEX to make our last flight back to Orlando with only just over an hour to make it. That is up next! – René
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Definitely freaky for the flight deck door to be unlocked and ajar. Even if it’s not a rule in Mexico that their carriers must keep the deck secure, one would think that, given several instances of ill-intentioned pax getting access to the cockpit and causing major damage, common sense would prevail and the door would remain locked.
“I only woke up due to the fact that the takeoff took much longer than I was used to, that is, compared to how quickly it seems US regional partners get into the air. But once off the ground I was fast asleep again.”
I’m not sure what that means. The plane used a lot of the runway for the takeoff? They held on the runway threshold for a long time? The taxi was very slow?
@J – Long time until rotate. It seemed like yes they used ALL the runway where as US based Delta regional seem to jump in the air quickly. No big deal it just felt odd.
What I found even more alarming was the fact that both pilots seemed more interested in “impressing” the flight attendants than flying the plane. The entire time the door was open I could see that there were shades over the front window or “windshield” The pilots were turned sideways in the chairs so they could face the FAs. I have never been more anxious on a plane as this time!
Now this may be common to fly on instruments and have the shades on the windshield due to the bright sun, but I did not want to see it.
I am also spoiled by the excellent treatment from the Delta FAs (at least in FC) as compared to disdain or almost contemp shown from the FA in the picture when I would ask for any kind of refreshment during the 5 hour flight.
Thought the same thing when I flew GOL from Sao Paulo (GRU) to Cordoba, Argentina (COR). FA Spent a long time with the door open, making us feel very uncomfortable.
Too bad you could not stay for a day to enjoy in my island, it would have been worth!
As far as lounges, there are actually 4 lounges at the airport: 2 accessible with Priority Pass (Copa and Caribe) and the one you can access with American Express. There is a 4th one which is included in a VIP service, quite useful for mileage runs / same day turns as they pick you up at the airplane and drive you to the lounge on an SUV (think about DL Porsche rides 🙂 ), take care of all your paperwork, passport, etc, and get you back to the plane either before boarding starts or at the end of the boarding.
Where you offered to go through the “transit” area or did you have to clear immigration and come back through the regular security checkpoint?
@SDQBound – They would not allow us to go through the transit area (would have been nice and saved a ton of time). Yep, I look forward to a much longer visit just not arriving on a AeroMexico flight next time. 😉