Feb 26, 2013, 9:19 am
Last edit by: getagb
Please edit or add information to this wiki as necessary.
Bienvenido to the Cancún International Airport / CUN master thread. Please feel free to add observations and suggestions, naturalmente. And you can also PM the original poster as a way to call attention to something in the original post that needs modification or change. ¡Gracias!
Link to ASUR official Cancún International website in English (mostly useless, lists arriving and departing flights)
Link to fake Cancún International Airport website (useless and grossly outdated)
See post #1 in this thread for more extensive information.
Terminals "Terminal 1 is used by some low-cost and charter domestic airlines; Terminal 2 is used by all of the scheduled domestic airlines and some international flights; and the new Terminal 3 handles primarily international operations of airlines from North America and Europe." (Wikipedia)
Terminal 1: Charter flights, and Magnicharters, TAR and VivaAerobus.
Terminal 2: Mostly domestic flights, some international arrivals from USA/Europe. Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeroméxico, Aerotucán, Air Transat, Avianca group, Copa, Cubana, Finnair, Interjet, LatAm, Southwest, Tui group, Volaris,
Terminal 3: The primary arrival terminal for interational flights from USA and Canada. air berlin, Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, Air Europa, Air France, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Delta, Frontier, Interjet, JetBlue, LOT, Lufthansa, Spirit, Sun Country, United, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, WestJet.
Terminal 4: The newest terminal, some flights from United States, Canada, Europe, and South America. AirEuropa, Airfrance, Condor, edelweiss, Eurowings, Frontier, Icelandair, Interjet, Lufthansa, Southwest, Sun Country, Thomas Cook, Virgin Atlantic, Westjet
Some may be seasonal, see others at Wikipedia (link)
Transport:
Most recommend arranging transport in advance; see the thread in limos, taxis, transfers here. The airport authorized taxis are charitably described by some as a "taxi mafia", and unless you know how to deal with this ilk avoid them. Uber/Lyft is not allowed to pickup at the airport, although they can dropoff.
N.B. Members are reporting lengthy delays checking in (high demand times suggest 2.5-3.0 hours prior to departure) and delays on arrival for immigration and customs, particularly during high traffic times / high season. This can vary according to demand - spring break, Christmas plan for long lines.
Travelers from the USA no longer need to complete an FMM form on arrival, just the passport and flight# is enough to get through immigration.
Bienvenido to the Cancún International Airport / CUN master thread. Please feel free to add observations and suggestions, naturalmente. And you can also PM the original poster as a way to call attention to something in the original post that needs modification or change. ¡Gracias!
Link to ASUR official Cancún International website in English (mostly useless, lists arriving and departing flights)
Link to fake Cancún International Airport website (useless and grossly outdated)
See post #1 in this thread for more extensive information.
Terminals "Terminal 1 is used by some low-cost and charter domestic airlines; Terminal 2 is used by all of the scheduled domestic airlines and some international flights; and the new Terminal 3 handles primarily international operations of airlines from North America and Europe." (Wikipedia)
Terminal 1: Charter flights, and Magnicharters, TAR and VivaAerobus.
Terminal 2: Mostly domestic flights, some international arrivals from USA/Europe. Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeroméxico, Aerotucán, Air Transat, Avianca group, Copa, Cubana, Finnair, Interjet, LatAm, Southwest, Tui group, Volaris,
Terminal 3: The primary arrival terminal for interational flights from USA and Canada. air berlin, Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, Air Europa, Air France, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Delta, Frontier, Interjet, JetBlue, LOT, Lufthansa, Spirit, Sun Country, United, Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, WestJet.
Terminal 4: The newest terminal, some flights from United States, Canada, Europe, and South America. AirEuropa, Airfrance, Condor, edelweiss, Eurowings, Frontier, Icelandair, Interjet, Lufthansa, Southwest, Sun Country, Thomas Cook, Virgin Atlantic, Westjet
Some may be seasonal, see others at Wikipedia (link)
Transport:
Most recommend arranging transport in advance; see the thread in limos, taxis, transfers here. The airport authorized taxis are charitably described by some as a "taxi mafia", and unless you know how to deal with this ilk avoid them. Uber/Lyft is not allowed to pickup at the airport, although they can dropoff.
N.B. Members are reporting lengthy delays checking in (high demand times suggest 2.5-3.0 hours prior to departure) and delays on arrival for immigration and customs, particularly during high traffic times / high season. This can vary according to demand - spring break, Christmas plan for long lines.
Travelers from the USA no longer need to complete an FMM form on arrival, just the passport and flight# is enough to get through immigration.
CUN / Cancun International Airport master thread - what you need to know
Feb 22, 2016, 1:08 pm
#107
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: MSP
Programs: DL DM & 2MM; Marriott Ambassador;Lifetime Titanium; IHG Spire Elite; Hilton Diamond; Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 116
"before spring break" is very fluid in Cancun, as the college spring breaks begin much earlier than high schools, and MANY college students begin descending upon Cancun in early March. So, the specific date you are flying becomes relevant. Any time in March is busy, so two hours is a bare minimum for non-status flyers.
Mar 6, 2016, 7:08 am
#108
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 14
Last Saturday I used a Delta eboarding pass at Cancun. I had carry on only and did online checkin via smartphone on shuttle to airport. Security had no problems with it but was paged at gate to view actual passport. Regular checkin kiosks were pretty backed up so just another option for those of us traveling light and minimize airport time.
Mar 6, 2016, 7:11 am
#109
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 14
Anyone know what the rather large construction project going on there is for? Seems like at the least there is some taxi ways and something large enough to be a terminal, but just couldn't get a good view of it as its a good distance from terminal 3 and we took off going straight away.
Mar 7, 2016, 1:49 pm
#110
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Danville, CA, USA;
Programs: UA 1MM, WN CP, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Gold, IC Plat
Posts: 15,722
I know it sounds overly conservative but I would allocate 1.5 hours for non-elite checkin at CUN if you are flying on a peak date. If you have extra time there are plenty of second-rate restaurants and bars to kill time. We know people who arrived 3 hours before their flights and missed them.
The issue is not the security lines (which move fast - maybe 10m is the longest I've seen) but checkin.
Mar 7, 2016, 3:43 pm
#111
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 14
That echoes our experience on Delta Saturday. We got there 2 hours ahead (would have been 2.5 except for some issues with the resort staff getting the bill screwed up) and while we were OK, it seemed tighter than we would have liked due to long bag drop lines.
Mar 9, 2016, 1:59 pm
#112
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2000
Programs: UA Million Miler (lite). NY Metro area.
Posts: 15,082
Update
Street to gate in under 10 minutes. YMMV.
Apr 4, 2016, 9:08 pm
#114
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Radisson Rewards Gold, Best Western Diamond Select
Posts: 1,856
Cancun checkin/security lines on holidays
I'm flying back from cancun at 610 pm July 4. I'm curious if check in and security lines are better in the evening than the morning and afternoon.
Apr 5, 2016, 7:52 am
#115
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 13,573
July 4 isn't a holiday in Mexico.
I have found Cancun to be unpredictable when it comes to check in lines, but have never had a long wait at security (5 mins max, even when the entire terminal seems like chaos of snaking lines for check in).
I have found Cancun to be unpredictable when it comes to check in lines, but have never had a long wait at security (5 mins max, even when the entire terminal seems like chaos of snaking lines for check in).
Apr 5, 2016, 8:16 am
#116
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Radisson Rewards Gold, Best Western Diamond Select
Posts: 1,856
It's a holiday in the US so I think a lot of Americans would be there over the weekend. Agreed regarding the security.
Apr 6, 2016, 3:19 pm
#117
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
July 4 is during a relatively high season, and ime the processing for outbound passengers can vary quite a bit.
Apr 10, 2016, 8:23 am
#118
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Louisville, KY, USA
Posts: 2,583
As was said earlier, check-in not security is the issue at CUN. Delta, as do most airlines, has an elite line for check-in. Problem is that everybody on Delta is elite. There are seat of the pants earned elites, credit card elites and paid ticket elites. On really busy days the elite line still moves faster than the other but not by much. My recommendation is to always reach CUN at least two hours before flight time (same for other international airports) and in high season (Christmas, New Years, spring breaks) two and a half if elite and three if not. There is a lounge in the international waiting area and plenty of seats and places to shop and eat. BTW even for non-elites two and a half hours early is enough but there are times where that is uncomfortably close. I always get to airport early. Annoys the wife, but once saved us.