A positive experience on a cancelled flight
 

We all hear about SO many people getting screwed out of IDB compensation, stranded somewhere, getting rude GAs, etc. that I want to share some positive news. Yes, it was a cancelled flight, but I think F9 handled it really, really well with all things considered.

The short of the story is that F9 cancelled a flight for things that were really out of their control, but instead of giving everyone an attitude, they were very apologetic and very accommodating. Before I even got off the plane, I knew when the rebooked flight was and had a $100 multi-use voucher in my email. Even better, F9 put all the passengers up in a very nice resort with food included. All in all, it was all very professionally handled and, aside from getting home a day late, it was a pretty positive experience.

Just putting this out there as a counter to all the "Never fly F9 and get stranded" people.



I'll save you the lengthy story, and give a timeline of what happened. This was on a flight CUN - MCO on December 10. Boarding was supposed to start at 18:30, doors close at 19:00 and departure at 19:15:

18:00: Plane was changed out because the incoming plane from DEN had mechanical issues. This caused the flight crew to deboard, which required them to go through customs.
18:30 (boarding supposed to start): Plane was being changed
19:00 (doors supposed to close): Flight crew stuck in customs
19:15 (supposed to depart): Flight crew still stuck in customs
19:30: New plane available and at the gate, Flight crew still stuck in customs
20:15: Flight crew arrives, boarding begins
20:45: Boarding completes, no movement, no updates
21:30: Announcement from pilot that because the plane had been changed, the new plane was not cleared to leave Mexico
22:15: Clearance received, plane pushed back, cleared for takeofff
22:30: Plane was literally on the runway, told to return to gate
22:45: Pilot announced that the flight was so late that, by the time we arrived in MCO, Customs & Immigration would be closed. Flight cancelled, plane moved to an off-terminal parking area
23:15: I received an email rebooking on a flight the next morning (same stretch seat) AND a separate email with a $100 multi-use flight voucher
23:30: Bus arrives to take passengers to main terminal
23:50: Announcement that, because it's an international flight, all passengers would have to go back through customs
00:45 (+1 day): All 150 passengers cleared the single customs agent working that night
01:15 (+1): Passengers moved as a group to the front of the airport where hotel transportation was already waiting
01:45 (+1): Arrival at a luxury all-inclusive resort (Hyatt Ziga)
07:45 (+1): Passengers convened in front of hotel
08:00 (+1): Last bus to airport departed
11:30 (+1): Rebooked flight--same plane, same flight crew, same passengers--successfully departed for MCO

Pretty crazy the crew got stuck in customs for over two hours. My guess is either someone forgot their passport or brought something they shouldn't have with them thinking they would be remaining on the aircraft in Mexico.

Sorry you had to go through that but glad to hear it was handled well considering the circumstances. What a late night/early morning!

Yeah, I had just gone through customs the day before, and it took more than an hour for me. I think this was the result of introducing new automated checkpoints that were incredibly slow for some reason; whatever the reason, I wasn't surprised at how long it took. On board, I was in 1A close to the FAs, and overheard them talking about it; apparently they had some fruit and stuff for lunch that customs confiscated, so they must have gotten pulled off for hassling.. err.. additional inspection.

Usually there is a dedicated lane for crew members so they don't have to wait in the general queue and can pass through quickly. It makes more sense if they had food, though. Mexico is very particular about protecting their agriculture sector. Once the ag inspector wanted me to throw away a (cooked) pizza because they through it contained meat. If it doesn't have a USDA inspection stamp, it doesn't enter Mexico.

Thanks for sharing such a positive (all things considered) experience.

Anecdotally, coming from past work at another airline, aircraft and crew swaps have recently been challenging in Mexico. To be fair, the US forces crews from Mexico (and all other countries) to come off the plane regardless in the US and clear customs/immigration and then reboard, even the same airplane back to Mexico on a 1 hour turn. One of the stations I managed, we handled AeroMexico's ramp and every day customer service would send a Supervisor with the crew to try and expedite them through US CBP and escort back through TSA to the airplane. Usually meant boarding was a rushed affair, or CBP would staff just one officer to process crew and they'd get stuck behind, say, a whole A380 crew that was spending the next 2 days there on layover, when they had a flight back to MEX leaving in 40 minutes.