General Reports

[Cocr Brotheler]

Happened once to me on Avianca "Avi-nunca" coming back from Cali. It was a direct flight to Miami and since they apparently (I believe) took higher revenue passengers I would of had to wait another day and take the chance of being bumped again. Since I had to be back at work the day after I asked them to fly me back to BOG that day where I caught the following morning very early the 1st of several daily flights into Miami.

If this ever happens to anyone anywhere always look at the situation and if possible get an alternate route back and via the major airport if necessary to increase your chances of getting back sooner if you are time constrained.

I had another in 2008 from Lima to Cusco. The airline was Star Peru and after about 7 hours of delay I went out to ticket counter and got a refund then went right to Lan Peru and got a flight right out. Lesson learned is sometimes is Ok to spend some more $ if time is of the essence. I was going to miss out on just 1 of 5 tour days in Cusco if didn't do this.

[Cocr Brotheler]

Oh no Amor! That must have really sucked. Is the reason why I have not traveled outside USA Since last JAN when the testing requirement started. I hope they repeal it real soon. I am getting super depress and antsy not being able to visit chicas in CR and CO. Not that I don't like MEX honeys but Cascadas chica getting killed recently along with others kinda frieks me out. I am considering taking the MEX bus from Nuevo Laredo to MTY soon if anyone interested hehehehehe.

[Captain Solo]

Amor,

Last December I was flying from Bogota to Medellin. There were no requirements for tests. So the test that grounded you was likely for a flight to the US. You should have been able to figure out ways to fly back.

In my trip I had to fill out health declarations for Panama and show records of 3 vacc's to fly between Panama, Colombia and Mexico. There were no testing required arriving or departing any airports.

On the return trip from Colombia, I was afraid the US may require special tests or block flights from Latin America, so I flew to CDMX and spent a couple days to assess the situation before flying back to LAX. If the US blocked flights I would fly to Tijuana and cross back on foot, as I know Mexico would be very unlikely to require check or test for internal flights in Mexico, also unlikely at at US land border.

A couple days before my return flight, US required passengers to have negative test within 1 day of flight. I went to MEX airport early in the morning and took the nose swab test. There were half a dozen test booths on sidewalk in front of the arrival hall, one for each airline. Within half hour waiting I had a print out showing negative result which I had to show agents at check in.

If I failed the test I would book a cheap flight to Tijuana and cross back on foot. It was a hassle but I was glad I got to travel to a few places after 2 years shut down.

[AmorPorFavor]

Local airports' departure tax vary and included in the tickets, cost about half to a third for national vs international flights.

If you fly to any Mexico's cities, tickets from Tijuana will cost as little as 1/3 to half tickets flying out of LAX.

I had itinerary to fly RT from Tijuana to 4 cities, CDMX, Cancun, Guadalajara, Monterrey, back to Tijuana, costs only $134. Let's go visit the chicas.

Airport of departure Domestic routes International routes.

Acapulco (ACA) $568 MXN / $27.69 USD $1,271 MXN / $62.02 USD.

Cancun (CUN) $226 MXN / $10.98 USD $801 MXN / $39.05 USD.

Guadalajara (GDL) $445 MXN / $21.71 USD $1,178 MXN / $57.47 USD.

LOS Cabos (SJD) $371 MXN / $18.09 USD $1,178 MXN / $57.47 USD.

Mexico City (MEX) $619 MXN / $30.18 USD $1,340 MXN / $65.37 USD.

Tijuana (TIJ) $437 MXN / $21.32 USD $564 MXN / $27.49 USD.

Do you have to have a negative covid test to show at CBX to get back into the US? I got stuck in Cartagena for 9 extra days due to contracting Omicron and getting 2 positive tests so not being able to board a flight home.

[Phordphan]

Fuck that is a premium. I think that people need to be aware of a lot of hidden charges or pay-as-you-use charges when flying in Mexico. The $145 luggage fee is high. So is that fucking weird airport tax that adds on $50 - $100 to your plane ticket.

I guess you can get around the luggage by traveling light with a carry on. But there is no way to get around the airport tax.

The Tijuana airport tax is really high, IMO. But you're stuck.

Viva and Volaris really do nickel and dime you, but 37 KG is like 82 pounds. That's one heavy suitcase, and would get a huge oversize / heavy baggage charge on almost any airline. I've traveled extensively in Asia with one huge suitcase and it rarely exceeded 50 lbs. If you prepay your luggage on Volaris or Viva it's a lot more reasonable than if you pay at the counter, and their web site states this.

[Captain Solo]

Local airports' departure tax vary and included in the tickets, cost about half to a third for national vs international flights.

If you fly to any Mexico's cities, tickets from Tijuana will cost as little as 1/3 to half tickets flying out of LAX.

I had itinerary to fly RT from Tijuana to 4 cities, CDMX, Cancun, Guadalajara, Monterrey, back to Tijuana, costs only $134. Let's go visit the chicas.

Airport of departure Domestic routes International routes.

Acapulco (ACA) $568 MXN / $27.69 USD $1,271 MXN / $62.02 USD.

Cancun (CUN) $226 MXN / $10.98 USD $801 MXN / $39.05 USD.

Guadalajara (GDL) $445 MXN / $21.71 USD $1,178 MXN / $57.47 USD.

LOS Cabos (SJD) $371 MXN / $18.09 USD $1,178 MXN / $57.47 USD.

Mexico City (MEX) $619 MXN / $30.18 USD $1,340 MXN / $65.37 USD.

Tijuana (TIJ) $437 MXN / $21.32 USD $564 MXN / $27.49 USD.

[Jackie888]

Vivabus' cheap fare allows only 1 personal item like a back pack or hand bag that fit under the seat.

Most time they would let you take on board a wheel luggage if it does not exceed 22 x16 x10 inches and 22 lbs.

Check luggage can be very expensive. Viva charged me $145 for a wheel luggage 37 Kg.

Fuck that is a premium. I think that people need to be aware of a lot of hidden charges or pay-as-you-use charges when flying in Mexico. The $145 luggage fee is high. So is that fucking weird airport tax that adds on $50 - $100 to your plane ticket.

I guess you can get around the luggage by traveling light with a carry on. But there is no way to get around the airport tax.

[Rambo1969]

My favorite Calimax has two ATMs, Santander and HSBC. When I tried to use my Schwab Bank debit card, the Santander ATM insisted that I accept their ridiculous exchange rate, while the HSBC ATM let me reject their ridiculous rate and accept a second one (from Schwab, maybe?

That was months ago, and I'm wondering if anyone can give me an update on this issue.

Thanks in advance.

HSBC ATM at Calimax & Benito Juárez has great ATM that allows you to reject the bank's exchange rate. This is the one I usually use and did use it last week with my schwab card. There is a HSBC bank a block away at Ave Revolution. Same.

BTW -there are other BANK ATMs south on ave consitution from the Calimax.

I used my schwab card at the Santander bank ATM at Flores Magnon and Ave constiution.

For some reason Citibank only allowed small withdrawals and it finally rejected by test transaction.

[Captain Solo]

I booked a Volaris flight from CDMX to LAX. Volaris counter girls told me my brand-new roll along 24 x18 x10 inch would be allowed to take on the plane. This piece costed me $145 checked in on Vivabus from Medellin to CDMX. I was hoping Voilaris would not be as cheap as Vivabus.

At check in time, agents at the gate told me no way they would allow that piece on board, had no workers and could not check it in at the gate, I would have to walk back to the counter to check in, which may take hours and I would be late for the flight.

After the last passenger boarded, the chief flight attendant told me it would not fit in the overhead bin, which was bullshit, he could not allow it, it would have to stay behind. I took out the content, wore a sweat shirt under the jacket, threw away a few clothes item and fit the rest into a smaller pilot roll-along and threw the new large luggage away and hand carry the lap top. Then they let me take it with me on the plane. Another guy also discarded a large hard-shell luggage. I could not miss that flight. It would cost far more money and time than just dumping the new piece of luggage.

Most low cost flights officially allow only 1 personal item like a soft bag or a lap top that can fit under the seat. So far they have let me take on a small pilot luggage and a personal item. Have to check their luggage policies and pack accordingly.

[Captain Solo]

Vivabus' cheap fare allows only 1 personal item like a back pack or hand bag that fit under the seat.

Most time they would let you take on board a wheel luggage if it does not exceed 22 x16 x10 inches and 22 lbs.

Check luggage can be very expensive. Viva charged me $145 for a wheel luggage 37 Kg.

[Jackie888]

How would you all rate the Mexican airlines from best to worst? It would be useful to know when booking which will have the best service or least likely to cancel. Also, if you are a gringo who doesn't speak hardly any Spanish, is it easy enough to navigate TIJ airport?

I asked around and the consensus is that Aeromexico is the best airlines by far. However, tickets are more expensive because they are in higher demand if I needed to travel around the holidays and fail to book more than 2 months in advance. I would say close to double the price as Volaris and Vivaerobus because I did not book my flight in time.

Most of the chicas in the bars I spoke to opt for Volaris. But they have a bad reputation for over booking their flights. That can really fuck things over if I were to use the CBX crossing. On the other hand, they seem to have the most number of flights per day, and they did allow me to book a specific seat on the way back to Tijuana.

In the end, I booked Vivaareobus. But I did not get to book my seat. And I am getting a ton of important emails from them in complete Spanish even though I booked things in Spanish. There is a bunch of youtube videos showing people how to navigate the Tijuana airport. I figure that because of the CBX crossing directly from US territory, there will be an abundant number of English speaking folks at the airport to help.

[BlackThought]

Having booked to Cabo from Tijuana and the USA the big difference is the $100 the Mexicans put on for a gringo to land there. Although it seems attractive to save that tariff if you do the math flying out of SD on Alaskan makes sense at least for me. There is a $15 fee for using the CBX route as well as parking issues. Time is money so I figured out the additional time to transit CBX / Tijuana and it doesn't work for me. Couple that with MX airlines can cancel a flight with, in my experience, no consequence and it's a hard no. Last time for me was when I crossed early one morning and saw my flight was cancelled at the last minute and was told to come back the next day. I said I just want my money back. They said they don't do refunds!! Also there is a trap. If you want to talk to a ticket agent you have to go out to the departure / luggage check to do so. Don't do that as once you cross into that side you can't transit back to the CBX tunnel where you obviously parked so you are fucked due to not having a. Ali's ticket to enter the airport since your flight was supposed to have left ten minutes ago. I ended up back on the USA CBX side and tried to handle it from that desk which was swamped with people checking luggage. Waited 30 minutes just to be told they don't do refunds so I told the ass of a lady "no problem". I will just dispute the charge and send a complaint thru trip advisor. It wasn't till I used her name which freaked her out (as soon as I called her by her name she flipped her badge over BTW) that I got movement to resolution.

Wow damn. That's not good. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[Hedonish]

I had a chance to spend some time in the Zona yeaterday and had a great time. I started my day out at Tropical around 4 pm, about 20 chicas there but I didn't see any worth taking arriba at bar girl prices, so I left and headed to HK. While HK did have hotter girls than Tropical overall, I still didn't see anyone stunning so I moved along. On my first trip around the block the street girl talent was about on par with what I saw at Tropical. There were plenty of street girls available this day, the weather was great.

I eventually settled in at Adelitas where I found the talent to be pretty good, about 20-25 chicas and a few hotties. Honestly I was scouting the bars for a trophy fuck, but about 15 minutes in a thick girl stopped and bent over in front of me, she looked back and she just had the most adorable smile. Her name is Lily, she's a little taller than average, a little overweight I guess, but she has excellent English, nice natural boobs and she balances cuteness and fun perfectly. We spent about 30 minutes hanging out kissing and cuddling downstairs before we went arriba for $80. The session was unrushed and quite fun, she got very wet and smiled wide after she came which was so sexy.

After Adelitas I left to Chicago where I found another batch of 20 or so chicas of average talent. A couple girls approached and tried seducing me to no avail, and the couple of girls I was interested in didn't seem to like me, oh well. I headed back to HK again, it was much busier already but despite this the talent was still just ok. I have noticed that a lot of top tier chicas tend to arrive around 8 pm and this was around 7, so maybe I should have been more patient.

Nevertheless, after a single beer I got bored at HK and decided to just go bang a street girl before heading home. I made a couple of rounds scouting the talent, there were a few good options but I eventually settled on a young spinner standing alone on the corner of Constitution and Coahuila. I didn't realize how pretty she was on my first couple of passes but after seeing her face I knew I had to have her. I didn't catch her name but we quickly agreed to $50 for everything and went upstairs. I tend not to spend much time negotiating and clarifying expectations so I was disappointed to find that she wouldn't even allow me to kiss her breasts. This, combined with her several chest hickies, made it clear to me her pimp boyfriend likes to make sure his girl is all his except for the most sterile of sexual activities. No matter. This putas young body was so sexy and supple I didn't need much more than to caress her body to get erect, at which point we quickly cycled through a couple positions before I blew in the bag. Funny enough, she turned out to be the trophy fuck I was scouting the bars for.

[WombatEd2]

My favorite Calimax has two ATMs, Santander and HSBC. When I tried to use my Schwab Bank debit card, the Santander ATM insisted that I accept their ridiculous exchange rate, while the HSBC ATM let me reject their ridiculous rate and accept a second one (from Schwab, maybe?

That was months ago, and I'm wondering if anyone can give me an update on this issue.

Thanks in advance.

[Hargow20]

When I was parking I noticed parking enforcement guy was giving out tickets on Border Village drive. I really surprised. This the first time I have seen people getting tickets on that street.