Originally Posted by
cbn42
Mexico doesn't have any inbound immigration controls when crossing the land border from the US, so this is a non-issue.
Edit: Apparently they have a desk where you can buy some sort of tourist permit if you are going to be in Mexico for longer than 5 days, and there are reports that they are checking passports. If you want to avoid Mexican immigration, drive across at San Ysidro.
From what it says online, it appears that after baggage claim at TIJ, you can go straight into the tunnel without "entering" Mexico. TIJ doesn't have very many international flights, and there wouldn't really be much benefit to using this service instead of flying out of SAN or LAX. The real cost savings will be for flights within Mexico.
I believe it's just a foot border crossing, but it's privately funded and restricted to ticketed passengers, so you can get through US CBP in a matter of minutes, while the other border crossings would take hours. I think it's a waste of money going south, because you might as well just walk across any other border crossing and save the $16, but it would save you significant time going north.
One of the things on their website they seem to be boasting about in one of the graphics are nonstop flights from TIJ to OAK. But then, upon arrival in OAK, you have to go through US CBP. If you use the CBX, you've just turned a domestic flight into an international one. I guess it makes sense for flights to elsewhere in Mexico, or other countries, but I can't fathom why you would use this to fly anywhere else in the US.