Cancun Airport

Used terminal 3 in November. Fairly modern terminal but with very limited facilities. The departure experience was far better than arrival. The departure hall was modern and clean and queue to check in or bag drop was not too long. Security check took a while but that seems to be the norm nowadays. There was a decent duty free and some shops after security. Nothing too interesting. Also few restaurants near the duty free. I visited the lounge which was poor - very limited drink and food and the seating area is dated. Arrival experience on the other hand was bad. Immigration was efficient but the luggage wait was long. I waited at least an hour to reclaim my luggage. After the luggage claim everyone has to go through the customs - the queuing system is bad and again the facilities not able to cope which results in another hour of waiting. And the entire arrival hall was chaotic.

Flew into Cancun on Monday 1 September 2014 arriving at 11.40am. Customs hall was empty and breezed through bags were actually waiting for us in the baggage room and then onto the "dreaded" baggage scan pressed the button it turned green. From stepping off the plane to meeting our rep must have taken all of 20 mins. Departed 11 September 2014 at 10 am check in at the AC counter was quick as was security check. There is adequate shops etc in the departures lounge.

I visit this airport at least once a year at times twice for the last 12 years. Very clean! Bathrooms are perfect! I have never been in that airport more than an hour fast and courteous staff. Only one time there was a long delay due to the computer systems being down that time we were stuck in the airport almost 3 hours. My only complaint is that at departure they have put self check-in kiosks and then they make you stand in line for 45 minutes to drop your bags off (AA specifically) - I wonder why they don't have a designated "baggage drop-off" counter?

We landed on time from Manchester and was then forced to wait just over an hour in the aircraft on the taxiway because there was nowhere to park the plane. When eventually we did get landside a queue like never seen trying to get through immigration. The baggage reclaim had 3 flights on the one belt and then another very long queue to get through customs after of course having all bags scanned. Not good enough for an International Airport. Three hours from landing to leaving the airport (16.04.14).

I have been traveling to this airport for over 20 years and they have made significant improvements that translate to shorter wait times. I have never seen them screen every bag there must have been a specific reason for that. The best advice I offer is do not travel on Saturday. That is by far the busiest day with the longest wait times due to timeshare owners.

I was there in Jan and our flight arrived late night. The line at security check took us about 20 minutes and staff were very polite plus about 20 minutes to reclaim baggage. The facilities are clean but seem old. Outside there are a lot of tourism agents staff and people offering services. It was easy to find the tourism agency staff and took the bus to the resort. When I came back home my flight was delayed. I arrived to the airport a long time before check in and the airline booth was not settled but the electronic monitor was displaying were it should be. There is no seats available in the check in area. I found seats in the arrival area or we could go to restaurant and snack places. When time to check in came there was a long line. Don't forget to have the Mexican entry form with you to avoid delays at the check in. Staff were efficient and the security screen was smooth. After you pass security the airport is much bigger than it seems and is busy. At least the area we were domestic and International flights were departing frequently. Boarding areas had plenty of seats and there was a lot of places for food. However prices are very high. Restroom at the boarding area and general facilities are clean and big enough to handle its traffic. I found the announcements in English very difficult to understand due to low sound pronunciation and noise. However there was no problem talking in English on the information centre or with airline staff. 10 minutes before boarding the flight showed up on the gate monitor and after that we had 1.40 hr delay until boarding with no explanation. The airport seems to handle well traffic on a normal season but it may be overwhelming during high peak.

Took nearly 90 minutes to get through immigration and as we were leaving were collared by official looking people with desks in the building trying to get deposits off us for free excursions. On leaving we had to pay £50 each (1800 pesos in total) and then found very expensive food and drink in the departure restaurants.

Arrival was on 5 March 2013. Having arrived on a half full British Airways flight from London we were off the aircraft and through immigration within 20 minutes of landing. There was only a small immigration queue and passengers appeared to be processed relatively quickly and the immigration official was pleasant. Short wait for bags to arrive and we were through customs in less than 5 minutes - again the customs official was polite welcoming and helpful despite requesting an additional baggage search of the person that I was travelling with. My main criticism was after leaving the terminal building it was unclear where to go for onward connections using public transport. On the return journey the airport was extremely busy - long queue for check-in although the check-in agent and BA's ground handling team generally were pleasant and helpful. We were very grateful for a short and efficient security process. No BA lounge so used the TGI Fridays which again was very busy but decent food at an ok price as we had complementary BA vouchers. Decent range of shops and managed to find a postbox for my postcards despite being told by several airport employees that there was not one in the terminal. Boarding was crazy but thankfully I was entitled to use the priority line. My recommendation to avoid stress would be to arrive at least 2 hours before you are due to travel as long queues appear to be the norm at this airport.

We were prepared for waiting as it was Christmas week. It took us about 40 minutes to clear immigration which was fine. However when we reached the baggage claim it was pandemonium. The entire room was full and lines snaked everywhere. They were actually using X-Ray machines to screen every bag leaving the terminal. I have traveled extensively world-wide and know of no country that is doing this including the U.S. What could Mexican Authorities possibly think tourists are smuggling into Cancun on already screened Aircraft? It took us 1.5hrs to exit the Baggage area and from what we heard we were lucky. There was more danger created by the shear amount of people crammed into that baggage room than there ever could have been by failing to X-Ray bags leaving the Airport.

Immigration hell. Took us 2 hours 30 minutes to get through and others longer. Friends arrived two days before us and they had same experience so not a one off. Worst I have ever experienced in 35 years of travel.