We have been having one hell of a week! My group was just informed that our direct flight to Cancun on Mexicana airlines has been cancelled! They had to re-book us on a Mexicana flight that connects in Mexico City with a 2 hour layover! So instead of arriving at 11:30am, we will now be arriving at 4:00pm! I can’t tell you how stressed out I have been about this!!! So my questions are, has anyone had any trouble with a layover in Mexico City? Should we be aware of anything ahead of time about the airport or the layover? Will we have any trouble with the hotel since we are arriving with a group of 12 people after 5pm? What options will we have for dinner without reservations? Ugh…I just feel like we totally got screwed out of one whole day and now will be spending 4 hours still in transit where we could have been relaxing by the pool already! - Kelly
That might actually work out to your favor. Mexico City has one of the biggest hubs that I've ever seen. With customs, especially with a group your going to need that time. You should be alright as far as checking in, people fly in from all over the world at different times and they know that so I believe they're pretty accomadating. You only need reservations for the italian and asian resturaunts. The buffet and mexican would still be open. Patio's has snacks every nights also.
sorry to hear that. when booking for nov. we decieded to take a 12:50 flight so as to get to the resort before 6:00pm. i does seem as if your wasting a whole day by arriving late. but a least your going right? I doesnt seem right that the airline can change a flight by so much when you booked somthing so different.
Layovers suck, but you should not lose the entire 4 1/2 hours as you will already be thru customs. You will not have any problems at the hotel and should not have to wait at all for your room to be ready at 4:30 or 5:00. No problem with dinner and you will be there in plenty of time to get an hour or two in at the pool. The resort is only 20 minutes from the airport.
We have had to do this a couple of times, not preferred but overall not too bad. The two hours is actually a very short layover since you will have to clear customs and immigration at the Mexico City airport (this will take approx 45min to an hour) It could work somewhat to your advantage - you will be able to walk right off the plane and just collect your bags in Cancun (no immigration/customs lineups) and directly exit the Cancun airport for your hotel. The one thing to be very careful of at the Mexico City airport(which is rather large) is to check and recheck for your correct departure gate - they tend to change gates at this airport quite frequently
Thanks everyone! You have definitely eased my mind and I was able to relay back to the group the information about going through customs at the airport in Mexico City! From there, we figure we'll find a bar and some food and with this group...I am sure we'll have no trouble finding ways to entertain ourselves! HA HA!
Just gonna rant & vent for a bit, if you don’t mind! What has transpired in the last 36 hours! FIRST Expedia calls us and tells us our direct flight to Cancun has been cancelled and al 12 of us have been re-routed on a connecting flight through Mexico City. So I spend about 2-3 hours on the phone with Expedia/Mexicana Airlines re-booking and setting up seating…blah blah blah. So I call everyone in my group, tell them what’s up, update the limo company for the new flight and pretty much everyone else who is involved in our travels. I came on here to get some advice from you guys, which was all so great and really eased my mind and made my group feel a little better about the change. THEN last night, I get an e-mail from Expedia that says, you have to contact us because there has been another change to your flight! Seriously?!?!? WTF! (sorry…but it’s been a crazy couple of days!) So I call Expedia and they tell me (after about an hour on the phone with them) that I have to contact Mexicana now because they are no longer doing business with Mexicana and have to access to our flight information anymore! So I call Mexicana and you want to know what they tell me….wait for it….. The DIRECT FLIGHT has been re-instated and I need to work with them to re-book my whole group back on the original flight that they cancelled less than 36 hours ago! I mean, seriously at that moment I felt like I was being Punked or something, but I didn’t question it, stayed on the phone for another hour and re-booked and re-assigned the seating for my whole group…again! I am tell you, my friends, I am going to need a vacation from planning this vacation! But I will not look a gift horse in the mouth and PRAY to the AIRLINE GODS that this change back stays so we can get there on Tuesday safe and sound….and on a direct flight! J
When in Mexico check the national Archeology Museum. It is absolutely amazing! They have the Aztec Calendar and amazing stuff. ------------------------- Dentist In Mexico
Very simple remedy for this in the future: Do not fly Mexicana. I've flown them more than a few times, and to say they are f'ed up and disorganized is to disrespect those that are disorganized and f'ed up. Mexicana is far more screwed than that. Delta/Northwest, United, Continental, US Air, and more, all fly to Cancun from major US Cities. We're lucky, being in Chicago, we can get to Cancun on one 2 1/2 hour direct flight from ORD, and it leaves at 7:00 AM, lands at 9:30 AM. Even if you spend an hour in customs, you are boobies to the sunshine by noon.
