MX962 MEX-GDL-SMF 26-FEB-03
My son and I were driven to the airport in the mid-afternoon by my brother-in-law; traffic was surprisingly light by Mexico City standards. By 2:30 p.m. we had arrived at the airport, well in advance of the 6:30 departure time. We pulled in to the short term parking lot for the National Terminal, which is where we suspected our flight would depart. I say suspected, because two CSRs at Mexicana reservations center couldn’t confirm whether the Sacramento flight departed from the National or International terminal at MEX. Turns out we made the right choice.
Mexicana Clase Ejecutiva and Star Gold passengers have a separate set of check-in desks in the National Terminal. Although the terminal was packed with passengers, there was nobody in the *G line. We stepped up and I flashed my United Mileage Plus premier executive card for admittance to the exclusive blue carpeted queue. A rent-a-cop asked which bags we planned to check and applied plastic Mexicana cable ties seal them.
Check-in was going fast and I was beginning to think we had gotten to the airport WAY too early. The CSR handed me back our passports and then asked if I had a notarized letter from my son’s mother authorizing him to travel without her outside of La Republica de Mexico. Uh oh. This could be problematic. We KNOW that when one of us travels to Mexico alone with our son to bring a notarized permission letter, even though we’ve NEVER been asked to produce it. And we’ve always figured it was something that was checked by immigration authorities upon entry to Mexico, not by airline CSRs upon leaving the country.
So an animated discussion, in Spanish, took place between me, my brother-in-law, and the CSR. The basic gist was that the boy’s mother was staying a few extra days in Mexico City and is staying at my brother-in-law’s house. If necessary, Mexicana can call the house and speak to her. Or perhaps even verify her reservation in the computer as I have her PNR number. I’m running through the various options in my mind:
1) Have La Cochinita come to the airport and find a notary public to do a letter.
2) Pay a change fee and have our son stay in Mexico with mom – send notarized letter to her by overnight service after returning home.
3) Ask if there was some other way we could resolve this problem.
I decided to go with option 3, figuring that there was nothing to lose. The CSR said we’d have to speak with a Mexicana supervisor, so we were sent to La Oficina to find one. Well as it turns out El Señor Supervisor wasn’t around, he had just left to attend to some other problem. As we waited around my brother-in-law was on his cell phone calling home, advising our respective spouses to stay put and not go out shopping until we got our little situation under control.
After 20 minutes and no supervisor, we went back to the desk and asked the CSR if the supervisor could be paged. She said that she’d talk to the office staff herself and took our passports and boarding passes then disappeared into La Oficina. Five minutes later she came back and said that everything was taken care of. Somebody in charge signed his name on my son’s boarding pass and wrote in Spanish that he was authorized to leave Mexico unaccompanied by his mother. The CSR said that my son’s PNR had been updated to reflect this permission and I wouldn’t have any problems in Guadalajara for the flight continuation.
Crisis resolved, and even more amazing it didn’t require a “mordida” (bribe), we headed up the escalator to the National Terminal’s mezzanine in Hall “B”. The Mexicana lounge is landside here, so we went in where I presented our boarding passes and my United premier exec card. A very pleasant receptionist made a record of our visit and, when I asked, said that my brother-in-law was more than welcome to join us in the lounge. She also gave my son several souvenir cards of Mexicana Airbus-319 jets; they have statistics about the aircraft on the outside and on the inside is a paper cutout plane model he could put together.
We made our way into the lounge, which was about half full but didn’t feel crowded. We found a quiet corner outside the Internet terminal room (4 Spanish-language workstations). An open bar beckoned, with a very nice selection of premium booze, sodas, and mixers. Snacks consisted of cold meats, cheeses, rolls, peanuts, and cookies. We each chose our favorite libation and grabbed something to eat.
After my brother-in-law left for home, my son and I had another round of drinks and I made a few local calls to friends and family. Local calls from the lounge were free. There is an ATM machine in the lounge too. We used the clean restroom and then headed to the security station just a few steps from the lounge entrance.
At security our boarding passes and passports were checked and then we were waved over to the x-ray station. The tech working the x-ray asked if my son’s carry-on contained a bottle. Yikes, she found my stash of Cazadores tequila! After verifying that yes, indeed it was a bottle, we were allowed to proceed into Sala-B (Waiting Lounge B).
Apparently gate assignments for national flights are often not assigned until just before departure. There are a few snack bars, a restaurant, a Burger King, and a bar or two airside. I also spotted a Salon VIP lounge on this side of security, but no Star Alliance lounges. Since we were in the National Terminal, there was no duty free shopping but there were several stands selling knick-knacks, books, clothing, souvenirs, etc. We headed over to Burger King to get something to eat, then walked into the gate area to do some plane spotting. We could barely make out the volcano Iztaccihuatl through the smog and Popocatépetl (which is the one that is currently active) could not be seen at all.
Thirty minutes before departure, the monitor showed our gate assignment as #4. Gate 4 is at the westernmost end of the airport. There are no “peoplemovers” here, so we started hiking. It wasn’t THAT far but to listen to my son you would think that we had just walked across the entire Ciudad de Mexico! A few minutes after arriving at the gate the announcement was made to preboard Clase Ejecutiva and *G passengers. A rent-a-cop at the gate opened and examined the contents of our carry-on bags and then we were allowed to proceed to our seats 8A and 8C. The flight to GDL was about half full and 8B remained empty.
Pushback was on time and, since we were already at the west end of the airport, our taxi out to the runway was short. After take off we made a 180 turn back west which provided the left side of the plane with a good view of the two volcanoes. Our flying time was announced at 45 minutes and, as in the previous Mexicana flights, all announcements were prerecorded. A drink and sandwich service was performed and before long we were landing at Guadalajara’s international airport.
The Sacramento bound passengers were instructed to stay on board the aircraft while the Guadalajara passengers disembarked down the airstairs to a waiting bus. After they left, we were instructed to take our carry-on bags and head down to the bus. One of the passengers asked a flight attendant why we had to get off the plane and she explained that the security detail had to check out the plane and crew before we could continue our flight to the USA.
At the terminal building, a short 2 minute bus ride away, we headed into the dingy transit lounge. A Mexicana staffer collected our Mexican tourist cards at the door. Many passengers made a beeline to the duty free shop but they had to move quick as we had only ten minutes before we had to get back on the bus and head out to the plane.
Out on the tarmac, armed guards stood around our aircraft and I noticed that the flight crew and flight attendants were each getting checked by a couple of guys with handheld metal detectors. We headed back into the plane where we found the Guadalajara to Sacramento passengers already on board. A lady had taken 8C, my son’s seat, but I told her she could stay there and he could sit in 8B.
Engines started and we started moving…towards the terminal. Engines off. We sit for a few minutes and then the Captain came on the intercom to announce that somebody had managed to board with a dog and the dog did not have the required documentation to enter the USA. So security had to come on board, get the passenger and the dog then we were free to go. Fortunately the delay was only 15 minutes or so and then we were on our way to El Norte.
Moving my son to the middle seat turned out to be a good choice as he got airsick about 30 minutes into the flight. Fortunately we made it to the lavatory in the back and, after he purged Burger King from his stomach, he felt a little better and fell asleep for the four hour flight to SMF. The F/As came by a few times to check on him and kept me supplied with ice water.
Dinner service was a choice of beef taco or tuna casserole. I passed on dinner as I wanted to be able to get out of my seat quickly in case my son needed to get to the lavatory again. Behind us in row 9 was a family of four (includes the ubiquitous crying lap baby). Lap baby apparently pooped mid-flight, because as I was dozing I suddenly was stirred awake by the unmistaken stench of dirty diaper. Bet you didn’t know that you could change a baby in the aisle of an Airbus 319. A couple of rows back there was another family who had brought what looked like a small turkey (cooked, not live) on board with all the fixings to make tacos. Dad pulled the meat off the carcass while mom ladled salsa and guacamole onto fresh tortillas and rolled up tacos for the family. I think there were eight traveling together. So even though there was no in-flight entertainment, there was enough going on to keep things interesting.
We landed at SMF right on time at 10:30 p.m. and taxied to the new International Arrivals building. I/A is the old Commuter Terminal that has been remodeled. Inside was brand spanking new. Two immigration officers processed Sacramento’s one and only scheduled international flight of the day. I asked the officer if he could stamp our passports as I wanted SMF stamps and said sure. But they turned out to be San Francisco entry stamps. Oh well.
Unloading the plane took awhile. I don’t know what it is about SMF ground services, but they are SLOW when it comes to offloading baggage. Two of our bags were the first through the chute, but my trusty Briggs and Riley was near the end of the second wave. We headed for the green customs line where we turned in our declaration and then we were outside. Home at last!
In retrospect I will probably use this Mexicana service again. The convenience of the direct flight was well worth it, even though I feel that United’s coach product is superior to Mexicana’s. I also liked the early evening return flight; typically flights on UA back home from MEX leave in the early morning. I understand from news reports that Mexicana is pleased with their new SMF-GDL-MEX flights and is considering adding additional service and possibly new resort destinations.
FIN
[This message has been edited by El Cochinito (edited 03-03-2003).]