Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015--Cuernavaca to San Antonio
It was a long day of travelling, but all went well. We walked to Costco to have brunch before taking the bus from the station half a block from there. The bus took about 1 1/2 hours to reach the airport in Mexico City.
The Mexico City airport is greatly improved over the last time I was there--maybe 8-9 years ago. It is cleaner, nicer, and the rather undesirable neighborhood (which always had warnings about being cautious) is separated more from the terminal than it used to be. It was a bit frustrating finding out where to check in, though. Each airline has TWO check-in points--one for domestic flights and one for international flights. The directions to the latter were not easy to follow because they are in a new end of the terminal and require going up one level. Anyway, we found the right place and got checked in with plenty of time before our flight.
The Interjet flight was almost full. Most passengers are native-Spanish speakers. There was only a handful of us Gringos on board. Service is better than most U.S. flights. They gave us a choice of types of packages of chips and they served complimentary drinks, including alcohol. The flight took only about 1 hr. 45 minutes.
Immigration and customs in San Antonio is so much easier than in large hub airports. It took only about 15 minutes for us to get our luggage and get out. Of course, it helped that we got our luggage earlier than most other passengers and that we were in the line for citizens/residents rather than the line for visitors. I was surprised to see remodelling of the immigration/customs area is already completed since an announcement just 2-3 weeks ago was worded to indicate it would be done this spring. The expansion included an expansion of the underground hallway to make more of the gates (previously only 4 of them) available to accept international flights. The number of immigration agents and the space for lining up can now more easily handle situations when more than one flight has arrived at the same time. Unfortunately, they did not expand the luggage belts--they are still flat against the wall rather than snaking out from it to give room for more fliers to stand near the belt while waiting for their luggage. And as far as I know, they still require connecting passengers to take their luggage upstairs to be re-checked rather than using the side belt to send them from the immigration exit outside to be put on the next plane.
Spending Update: The trip was a rather inexpensive one. We spent a total of $1205.36 over a period of 16 days for an average per person of only $37.67.
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