sailboatvagabond

My husband and I are living on our sailboat in Mexico this winter and flew home for the holidays. We returned to Cabo December 26 on US Airways flight 536 and while going through the immigration process after arrival had our worst travel experience ever.

We had booked a shuttle for 4:30 to La Paz (2.5 hours away), and when we got to the very long immigration line around 3:30 it looked like we wouldn't make our shuttle. We waited in the line about 10 minutes. I was getting very worried. I was very sick. I was (am) battling a respiratory illlness and was having trouble breathing. In the last 48 hours I had been prescribed both steroid pills and a broncho dialator inhaler to help me breathe.

I approached one of the immigrations workers and told him about my trouble breathing, our upcoming shuttle to La Paz at 4:30 and is there any way we could go to the front of the line? It was clear I was in a bad state and he told us to go up to the front. We left our place in line and when we went to the front the lady there was very upset we had come to the front, would not listen to the reason why, and told us harshly to go get back in line. We did. We resumed our place in line, explaining to the folks around us what had happened and asked if they were ok with us getting back in line. They had no problem with it.

About 30 seconds later another immigrations employee, a complete jerk, came up to us and told us we had to go to the very back of the line. We tried to explain what happened, it was obvious from my breathing I was in a bad state, he just insisted we go back to the very end of the line. We are not ones to make a scene so we just went to the back of the long line. Again.

I was so anxious by that point. I went to the bathroom and sobbed uncontrollably. It was important to get on that shuttle and get to our boat. It's so difficult to move from place to place when it's hard to breathe.

This is the worst part. I couldn't stop crying throughout our entire 60 minute wait in line. My husband comforted me but no immigrations workers payed any attention to our distress until we got to the front of the line. With tears streaming, I apologized to the immigration officer checking us in. At that point, several people seemed very concerned and wanted me to explain to the manager what had happened. We didn't have time. We hoped the shuttle had waited for us and we really wanted to get outside and hoped it would be there. They told us about a feedback form online for the Cabo airport or for immigrations that they wanted me to fill out. I told them I would. I looked everywhere for it today and couldn't find it. Does anyone know where I can find this?

We ended up missing our shuttle. My husband arranged a bus, which smelled like urine and got us to La Paz late that night. It was such a stressful experience. We're both very experienced travellers and thought the trip would go smoothly through Cabo, boy were we wrong.

I could not believe the callousness of the complete jerk who insisted we once again go to the end of the long line when I was obviously sick and we had already waited through part of the line and had gotten permission from another immigrations worker to go to the front.

SJOGuy

I find immigration at Los Cabos Airport to be ruthless about enforcing its no-cuts-for-any-reason rule. I've never tried, but I've witnessed it. This is what you encountered. Everyone waits his turn. I can't say I disagree with that. Everybody in that line had places to be, family to meet, hotels to get to, transportation to take. You wait your turn in these situations.

The airport website has a "Contact Us" link:

www.aeropuertosgap.com.mx/en/contact-us.html

This is the site for the operator of several airports in Mexico, Los Cabos included. Quite honestly, it looks to me like something that will disappear into the vortex and never be answered. Or they will say this is an immigration complaint not the airport's doing. But you can try if you feel you have a complaint.

sailboatvagabond

Thank you for the link, sjd guy. Yeah, I had never asked for special treatment in an airport line but that feeling of struggling to breathe had me feeling desperate to not extend what had already been a difficult day of travel.

I suppose I could contact the airport, but you're probably right. They were so callous in person, they won 't care about my email. Perhaps they'll just get a good laugh out of it. It seems that is the kind of people they are. Best to avoid cabo. There are other ways for us to get to the boat.

SJOGuy

Fly to La Paz then.

Doc Savage

I hope you feel better soon.

Unfortunately, you got the results of years of other people trying to cheat and sneak to the front of the line; now, excuses aren't listened to because too many people lied in the past. I can't really blame them for enforcing the rules, having seen for myself too many "miracle flights" where pax suddenly became able to walk off the plane, but not on.

I hope your boat was OK.

Safe Travels,

Doc

sailboatvagabond

Thank you Doc for the well wishes, and also to SJD guy for your input. It's helpful to know why immigration workers are acting so ruthlessly in cabo. I usually assume people are telling the truth, but you're right, some aren't. I've only flown into cabo twice and it seems you both have more experience than myself with cabo. Your input helps and thank you for taking the time to reply.

Yes, flying to La Paz or taking the overnight bus to San Carlos are options for us to access the boat. Our boat is in great shape and I'm currently relaxing in a lovely bay near La Paz! I love Mexico and am happy to be "home".

I thought more about it and the whole "ruthless" attitude these guards are expected to have. I don't think sending a complaint is a good idea. I see two possible outcomes. My complaint is ignored, or the first guard is reprimanded for telling us to go to the front of the line (he wasn't ruthless as he was probably trained to be). He was the only one who had empathy and compassion for a tourist in trouble and I would not want this to come back on him.

SJOGuy

I am curious, then, how you were going to manage the 2.5-hour shuttle ride.

Did you have a phone number where you could contact the shuttle company and let them know you might get out of customs later than planned?

The people at the airport were doing their job as they have been trained to do. I think you realize that. If you have a gripe -- and I'm not 100% convinced that I agree your complaint is justified -- it's with their superiors. My times flying into SJD, I've been impressed with how efficiently immigration and customs moves along. It was the day after Christmas. It's going to be a lot busier than usual there.

Los Cabos is always going to have a larger selection of flights than La Paz. A lot more airlines fly there, and you'll probably find cheaper fares too.

swise

This is an old thread, but I wanted to share my very different experience at Los Cabos...

We flew in May 18. The line at Immigration was long. We were three adults and three kids, ages 4, 4 and 2. Kids were in strollers content with their electronic devices, so we were fine and able to wait. However, about 2/3 of the way through the line, a woman from Immigration told us and a few other families to come forward to the front of the line. We were kind of confused, since our kids were not fussy, and we were in the home stretch. But we appreciated the offer and took it. A minute or two later we were through and on to Baggage Claim.

Customs had no wait.

Soon after we were on our shuttle to San Jose.

I will say in all of my international air travel (10 countries or so, entering by air), the immigration line at Los Cabos was the longest. So this is something to keep in mind for first timers. If you've got small kids, a stroller is handy, and an ipad or iphone or other gadget is very advisable. You might want one (or both) for yourself, too!

SJOGuy

I'm probably one of the few people who can say he flies to SJD for work. It's a busy airport and it serves almost entirely leisure travelers. I think some of them aren't experienced flyers and don't know general procedures for international travel. They seem to have "line police" who don't even let you into line unless you've filled out your landing forms fully. I like that system. I've also seen guys strip off their shirts while still in the passport lines. Getting ready for the beach, I guess.

I never really did get the OP's complaint in this thread.

JohnnyAwesome23

I have come to believe that there are some airports, that need to have a line for "This is my first time, I need help..." After a delayed LHR-PHL flight, I saw a girl on my flight start crying because she was going miss her connection and wanted to abandon her bags assuming they would just send her, the bags. Not looking forward to the inexperienced travelers, on a ride down to CUN in a few weeks.

Boraxo

swise and SJOguy can you enlighten us with your arrival times?

I am sure there are certain times that are better than others. We travel to SJD every August, and it seems like the lines have been better the last couple of years. But we tend to arrive mid- afternoon, which maybe is not as jammed (no doubt it helps to fly in F to get a spot near the front of the line )

Also wondering if things have gotten worse or better since the hurricane gutted the airport last year...

nnn

Sorry to hear OP's troubles. By way of contrast, we fly to PVR every year (SFO flights tend to arrive late afternoon) and the immigration lines have always been quick for us.

The best is driving into TJ. You don't even stop! (Unless things have changed in recent years.)