A good friend of mine just returned from an AeroMexico business class mileage run/mini-vacation to Europe. (No, this is not about René or me.)
He stayed three nights, enjoyed great food, and had a good time. Until he got home to the United States. And his luggage wasn’t at baggage claim.
His $715 Briggs and Riley Deluxe checked bag was nowhere to be found. When I say “nowhere I to be found” I mean that it wasn’t at the baggage carousel. Or somewhere else at the airport. He told me AeroMexico didn’t know if the suitcase was even put on his connecting flight in Mexico City. Perhaps it was on its way somewhere else in the world.
Awesome.
He made some phone calls and, a day later, learned his bag was in Mexico City.
So, what happened? (You may already know where this is going.)
You Have to Claim and Recheck Your Bags in Mexico City
My friend stepped off the plane in Mexico City, rejuvenated from his three days in Europe and the fact he was earning a ton of MQD on this Delta partner trip.
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However, he assumed his checked bag would simply be transferred from his inbound flight to his flight home. Why? His checked checked bag seamlessly made it to Europe on the outbound flights.
So once he landed in MEX, he cleared, went to his gate, and flew home.
So that’s why he was expecting his luggage.
I called AeroMexico and asked what the checked baggage procedure is when connecting through Mexico City from the USA to another international destination (i.e. Europe). The rep told me all checked luggage must be claimed in Mexico and then rechecked to the connecting flight.
So that’s the official answer.
As with almost everything travel-related, there will be anecdotes like, “That’s not how it works!” or “Wrong!” But those are the rules that AeroMexico told me.
So if you plan to check a bag on your AeroMexico flight, leave yourself some time to claim and take it to the re-check area (which, I believe is just past immigration).
Reader and frequent mileage runner Wayne has connected at MEX many, many times. He says that it always takes at least an hour for checked bags to come out. But if there isn’t an available gate for your plane, it usually parks at a ramp. Then you have to take a bus. When you get to customs there usually are a lot of people there.
“Passengers with checked luggage could potentially wait about two-and-a-half hours to make their connecting flight,” he told me. “In my opinion, checking luggage with a MEX connection is a very risky plan. A carry-on bag is the only way to go.” (Wayne also highly recommends the Centurion Lounge in Mexico City, which René reviewed here.)
Why Not Just Carry On?
When at all possible, I try to get everything in my Travel Pro rollaboard and Nomad Lane Bento Bag. Even if I’m going for four days or so. It can be tough, for sure. But I’ve learned to make do and bring several scented dryer sheets along 🙂
However, AeroMexico has a policy that your carry-ons can’t exceed 22 lbs combined. But I’ve heard that business class passengers sometimes are given a little leeway. So if you’re a heavy packer, you may indeed want to check bags. (Just remember to re-claim them!) But leave yourself plenty of time in Mexico City.
**RELATED: Chicago to Amsterdam AeroMexico and KLM Business Class Mini-Vacation!**
For mileage runs with maybe one night at your destination, I’d recommend trying to pack lightly and squeeze everything into your carryons. Especially considering you’ll spend more time flying and in airports than at your destination.
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You said what I was thinking. I can’t imagine why anyone doing a mileage run, or any 3 day trip, would check bags! I hope he gets it back soon if he hasn’t already.
Unreal.
This is interesting. So one has to clear Mexican passport immigration area if connecting in MEX from Europe to USA just to claim and recheck a bag?
@Joey – Apparently so. I have been through MEX any number of times. As soon as you exit immigration you have baggage claim and across from there where your bags are re-screened. If you are connecting you proceed upstairs and are also re-screened. At least that is how it was my last flight pre-covid 1.5 years ago.
ok good to know! Thank you! I haven’t transited in MEX so no data points on my side but will take note of this in case I ever do an international connection in MEX.
Even on long trips to Europe, I only travel with a carry-on. It not only makes the flying less complicated, but also facilitates getting around town, walking from train stations to hotels, using public transport, boarding ferries, and so on. I’ve always been able to find a self-service or full-service laundry when I needed one, or else was able to get by with washing a couple of items in the sink. It’s the only way to travel.
I had this same experience in ATL flying back from Europe. In ATL, you have to pick up your luggage from customs and recheck it as you pass into the domestic terminal. I was not familiar with the process and my wife and I left our bags in ATL. So its not that unique of a process.
so if you go from USA to Mex to EU u have to claim luggage also???
That’s what I was told.
thanks for the info Chris.
I accept on behalf of my friend and his expensive luggage. 🙂
Is the 22 lbs. limit for business class a new requirement? I’ve been on several AeroMexico business class MRs through MEX. The most recent was November 2019. Carry ons were never weighed and no mention of a weight limit that I recall. I almost never check a bag so my carry on and back pack will always top that allowance.
Here’s what AeroMexico says. Our data points indicate that AM is fairly loose when it comes to the 22 lbs, especially with business class.
Thanks for the info. I guess I’ll keep my fingers crossed the next time I fly AM.
Wow. Is this still the case? And do they re-charge you again to check your bag a 2nd time? I’m supposed to fly LAX-MEX-SCL (Chile) and back next week to snowboard in the Andes. Was going to check a snowboard bag. Main problem being that on the return flight we only have *two hours* to get on our MEX-LAX flight.
Now I’m thinking that we’re screwed out of hundreds of dollars if we attempt to check, and possibly out of even more money if we check bags and miss our flight as a result.
I actually also wanted to mention – I contacted Aeromexico about my LAX – MEX – SCL flight, and they said re: checked baggage:
“Your baggage will be checked from point to point, in your departure flights, and again on your returning flights. You don’t have to pay the baggage services for each flight, and you will drop your baggage at Los Angeles Airport, to pic it up at Santiago de Chile Airport, unless you have something to declare at Mexico City customs. *CL*”
I’m still trying to verify this but it seems as though I will not have to pick up and re-check my luggage at each MEX connection. Any further information would be very helpful. Thank you.
Did you end verifying this on your trip? I am heading through MEX-SJO next week and am deciding if I need to only do carry on.
Hey! I did.
So flying LAX-SCL was easy… the bag was automatically checked through to the final destination.
However, just like this article states, on the way back SCL-LAX we needed to pick up our bag in International Baggage Claim. I don’t know if this makes a difference, but, our bag was an oversized and heavy snowboard bag. We were not able to simply take this bag to the easy “re-check” area off to the side (within the Int. Baggage Claim area) and proceed to our connecting flight.
We had to leave that area and go BACK to the check in counter, check our bag again, and go back through security in order to make it to our connection. It was very annoying – but it was not a disaster. Our connection was very tight, less than 1.5 hours. But even with this added hassle, we were fine. It was not as slow in the International Baggage Claim as other have seemed to suggest it might be.
So yeah, you’ll be fine. You can check a bag. Even with a tight connection it’s probably fine. But definitely annoying and the article above is absolutely correct as to the way it works as an International Transfer Passenger arriving at MEX.