mstraveler

Executive summary: utterly inefficient, time consuming and miserable.

Arrived 2:45 CDT on a Saturday with no other planes or arrivals in sight. Deplaned into the heat and humidity walk to the terminal which was also hot and humid. Got into the immigration line (so thankful we were in the front of the plane) and joined the line with just two agents processing all of us as the rest of our full flight deplaned and the line got longer and longer. The opened a 3rd line, with very few people (surfboards? not clear who that line was for) and a single agent so the main line had the same two agents. About now an AA flight landed.

We got through immigration (the line behind us growing longer, denser and hotter and social distancing a "distant" concept). We picked up our luggage and joined the customs line, which was growing, and were confronted with the reality that everyone was being sent to one...ONE ... x-ray machine for all of everyone's luggage. Truly -- ONE x-ray machine for two full plane's worth of people. It was managed by 1/2 agent; the one there seemed to be in charge of both the customs kiosk 10 ft behind her with the dreaded red random screening button and the x=ray monitoring. We were close to the earlier part of that line, still hot, humid and two full planes worth behind us now, and already saw one poor man's luggage being torn apart (literally examining every T-shirt). The man before us got a red light also and undoubtedly suffered the same fate.

There was no sign of any other staff coming to help process two planes worth of arrivals to the country. We were blessed to be out of there in 50 hot frustrating minutes but I suspect the back of the AA flight was lucky to get to their destination by bed-time, much less dinner.

Section 107

I understand being frustrated by understaffing but you seem to be most put out by the heat and humidity (5 mentions in 12 sentences). Which makes me wonder, why did you travel to a sub-tropical location if you don't like the heat? Or were you simply unaware of the normal weather for that part of Mexico?

david55

I wondered the same. May in coastal Mexico can be a unbearable.

JDiver

Central Mexico’s hottest month is May, just before the rainy season begins. Sorry you had an unpleasant experience.

mstraveler

Yes, I did expect it to be hot and humid in Mexico, but did not expect the airport to be stifling and un-airconditioned (no fans etc), and so understaffed so as to have masses of people (some elderly, some with kids) standing with no social distancing for prolonged periods. For the customs part everyone had all of their luggage as well.

Especially during covid I am used to people reporting on arrival conditions at various airports to help others know what to expect. For Mexico we do not need to show proof of negative covid testing, as in Hawaii, (I can only imagine what that would have added to this experience) but I did think it might be useful for future travelers to know what to expect at ZIH. This may be a one-off, but this was worse than my experience at other airports I have entered in Mexico and they have all been bad. I was hoping Mexican immigration had improved over the past few years.