Mexico City Airport

✅ Verified Review | I had transited via Mexico City some years before and was not looking forward to a repeat, remembering the confusing signage, poor seating and general disorganisation. I had a pleasant surprise - there were vast queues for immigration on the outward leg of my journey from Costa Rica to the UK, I was offered assistance and a wheelchair by staff on the lookout for people with difficulties. Terminal 2 was clean with plenty of seating, signage was good, destination boards likewise and the staff I encountered were helpful and pleasant. There were plenty of places to buy food and drink at reasonable prices and I found a jolly good restaurant which served both snacks and full meals as I wasn't in the mood for pizzas or salads. It is a nuisance to have to collect the baggage and pass customs when in transit, but there are plenty of porters if you need assistance and, as I say, the staff are pleasant and helpful. The only oddity was that the duty free shops had been closed by order of the tax authorities.

Aeromexico would have been a terrific airline if not for the Mexico City Airport. The airport needs a clear multi-lingual automated announcement system as the live English announcements can be difficult to understand. They need more elevators, escalators between the floors and wheel-chair access points throughout the airport. It is very hard to run from one side of the terminal to another if the gate change announcement comes very close to the departure time. Finally my jaw dropped when I was charged about US$4 for a small bottle of water at one of the airport's eateries. Airport food is always expensive wherever one goes, but we are talking here about water not food or wine.

We fly to Mexico from Toronto several times a year as we spend the winter in Manzanillo. Recently we decided to use Aeromexico instead of Air Canada so as to have to deal with only one terminal namely T2. The washrooms near the infamous gates 73 and 74, which can only be described as a zoo, are unbelievably decrepit and filthy. There are three male toilets for hundreds of people, and there is always a line. The single disabled toilet had a broken toilet seat both times we passed through in the past 10 days. One of us is disabled and needs wheelchair assistance, which as it happens is very helpful in avoiding some of the transit problems, and the attendants are very attentive, though a good tip (justified) is clearly expected. You still have to get on one of those lurching buses out to your aircraft on the tarmac to climb the stairs to your plane, as there is a severe shortage of closed ramps. If you arrive on a domestic flight, after having cleared security, you are again crowded into a line-up to have your carry on baggage screened once more, and to pass through a scanner, before being allowed into the T2 waiting area for your ongoing domestic flight. Why? I think the terminal is a disgrace for the country, looking run down already, even when so new. We have no choice now that Aeromexico has no competition really on domestic flights.

I have traveled via Mexico City several times and have always found the experience stressful and slow. Starting from the time you deplane to your exit. Overall I find staff unable to provide accurate information as far as connecting flights, ground transportation and many other traveler information. Passport control and customs on a good day is mediocore. Officials are rude and slow. Luggage takes forever to come out. Mexico City is a destination with so much to offer to visitors, pity it has such a poor airport to welcome people from abroad.

In my experience Terminal 2 at Mexico City (mainly Aeromexico terminal) is a very efficient and easy place to make a transfer. I travelled from Puerto Vallarta to connect with the overnight Aeromexico flight to London. I experienced one of the most hassle free walks from the arrival gate to the departure area. Pre flight, in the departure area lots of places to have a drink or refreshments at reasonable price.

Arrived Terminal 2 and left via Terminal 1, both internationally. Arrival from from San Jose was a breeze, even when the button turned red at Customs. I guess there is a ‘protected’ area after customs, where you can get your authorized taxi and ATMs. It was very quiet there. From landing to taxi was 45 minutes, including immigration, customs, using the ATM and buying the taxi ticket. Leaving to Amsterdam went also well – no details worth mentioning (always a good sign).

Avoid this Mexico City airport if you can. It cannot keep up with demand. The result is a huge disorganized mess. This airport is synonymous with waiting and bureaucracy. The wait begins as soon as you land. Chances are your airplane will have to taxi through a maze of congested taxiways resulting in a very long time between landing and actually arriving at your gate, if you’re lucky enough to arrive at an actual gate. In 2 out of 4 flights our plane was at a remote spot having to use old and crowded buses to get to/from the terminal. The lines and waiting times at immigration can be long and painful, especially if your flight arrives at the same time as other international flights. The customs and immigration staff are rude and will not help you. Expect more long lines at baggage claim and customs. Once in customs you will have to press a button if you get a red light they will open and search your bags. Transiting through Mexico City is a nightmare. You are forced to go through immigration and customs. What’s worse is that the signage is terrible. I was unable to locate the connections baggage drop-off and was therefore forced to go find my airline to check my bags again. Transferring from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 is another big pain. There is only one train station in each terminal which means long walks and further delays. They require you to show your boarding pass so if you don’t already have it you’ll have problems transferring from one terminal to the next. Inside the terminal there are very few seats and the general disorganization is evident. As I’ve said, avoid this airport at all costs.

I have used Mexico City's Terminal four times in the last three weeks (2 departures and 2 arrivals) and can safely say this airport has some good things and some awful ones. Good: duty free is good, and immigration and security not bad. They work and are fast as at an American airport way (they are thorough and charmless). The problem is that the staff is extremely rude and target people - I am of mixed raced and was put through extra screening on all ocassions (I was told I was selected at random. Yeah, four out of four?). Other bad things: there are not many places to sit and relax and the facilities are not in good conditions. I had such a bad experience with the security people pulling me apart to check every single item of my hand luggage that I have no desire to return to Mexico at all. I was put through a real ordeal for no apparent reason and they were disappointed to announce to me that they could not find anything thing against me. On returning to London I googled the airport and noticed a lot of passengers complaining about the same thing. I shall focus my holiday instead in Asia where one is welcomed all the time and I have never had a bad experience at any airport there. In fact, places like Bangkok or Singapore go out of their way to make sure visitors are treated fairly and have a good time.

This airport is the worst airport I've experienced in all my years of flying. Some of the agents are very rude and dismissive. However, they do have a few who are polite and helpful. One information booth agent personally escorted us to where we needed to go. He didn't understand English well and even used his phone to have us type out what we needed and it was translated into Spanish for him. He was great in helping us get our baggage. That being said, we missed our connecting flight due to the monitors saying the flight was leaving from gate 72, which exists, but it's really just a seating area and not where you get on the plane. Two re-booked flights and $300 dollars later, we made it to Puerto Vallarta. If you are flying out of gate 75, good luck, it is a huge disorganized mess. Around five or more different flights are going out of that terminal and there is nowhere to sit. No one knows when the flights are boarding and there is one staff member there to ask questions to if you can find them. When you are finally ready to get onto the plane, you are transported via a standing bus that will drive you to your plane. One thing I found quite strange was not being able to find a water fountain. The bathrooms could really use some updating as well. One of the toilets didn't even have a toilet seat. Flying to and from this airport was cheaper initially, but after having to pay $300 to get our flight re-booked due to their error, I will avoid this airport like the plague in the future.

Lines were very long when I arrived at the airport. I had a flight from the U.S. to Colombia and Mexico City was my layover. Long story short the lines were long and there were not enough staff members working at customs and immigration in order for me to get through. A terrible experience and I do not want to travel through there again.