Review of AeroMexico flight Guadalajara Mexico City in Economy

Airline AeroMexico
Flight AM 225
Class Economy
Seat --
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 01:25
Take-off 02 Sep 16, 09:10
Arrival at 02 Sep 16, 10:35
AM   #70 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 101 reviews
MrMax
By 816
Published on 29th October 2016

BACKGROUND

Hi Everybody! Welcome to my flight-report series on my trip to Mexico last month. I booked these flights with Aeromexico at the last minute from SFO-MID (Merida), via GDL on the way there and MEX on the way back. I had one-hour connections both ways. Originally, my routing looked like this:

SFO - GDL AM 663
GDL-MID AM 2107
MID-MEX AM 516
MEX-SFO AM 664


However, we missed our connection at GDL (long story, will explain later in flight-report), we rerouted GDL-MEX-CUN instead of GDL-MID for the remainder of our journey, while retaining the MID-MEX-SFO itinerary on the return leg. Our routing now looked like this:

SFO-GDL AM 663 HERE
GDL-MEX AM 225 HERE
MEX-CUN AM 445 COMING SOON
MID-MEX AM 516 COMING SOON
MEX-SFO AM 664 COMING SOON


Here's our old routing:

photo screen shot 2016-10-24 at 10.01.19 pm


And here's our new one:

photo screen shot 2016-10-24 at 10.03.00 pm


Also, this flight-report is dedicated to the AM customer service team at GDL who helped reroute us on this flight. A big shout-out should also go specifically to Carlos, who went above and beyond by calling our hotel to let them know to cancel our airport transfer.






FLIGHT REPORT



After a delay and a go-around on AM 663, and a long customs line (took 1 hour to clear) line made me miss my connection at GDL, I proceeded to the customer service line. The wait was long
(about 20 min) but the agent was very helpful and rerouted us to CUN through MEX. Now instead of flying GDL-MID (there's only one flight a day), we flew GDL-MEX-CUN.

Security at GDL took less than 30 seconds!!! WOW!

GDL domestic terminal:

photo img_6037photo img_6038photo img_6039


Security checkpoint as seen from elevator going to departures level.

photo img_6040


Domestic gate area:

photo img_6054 2photo img_6054


Windows aren't great for spotting:

photo img_6046


FIDS:

photo img_6052 2photo img_6052


My BP is on real AM stock paper (nice design too):

photo img_6057


Volaris plane (A320?) resting:

photo img_6041


Volaris taxis to the gate:

photo img_6049

Magni Charter Airlines 737-300 (XA-UXT) going to CUN

photo img_6043


My plane XA-AMU (737-800) is at the gate:

photo img_6060


A company 737-800 is resting at a remote stand:

photo img_6063


A company E175LR (XA-ACF) is taxiing, in what I think is the best spotting photo that I have yet to take:

photo img_6045


A company ERJ145 (XA-YLI):

photo img_6065


My flight is boarding at gate 16 :

photo img_6047


I board through the glass jetway. I am one of the last pax on the plane.





Fuselage shot of my 737-800:

photo img_6060 2


Boarding shots:




I take my seat (It's a middle seat, oh well. Never mind, this is a short flight). The cabin is much cleaner than on AM 663 (SFO-GDL).

Legroom:

photo img_6070


IFE welcome screen.

photo img_6071photo img_6078 2



Setback pocket contents:

photo img_6074


The safety video is played:

photo img_6075


Taxiing at GDL:




Moments before takeoff, the IFE is turned one. Here's the home screen.

photo img_6079


Takeoff (Wow! The 737s engines are really powerful!):




We reach our cruising altitude quickly. Here is a photo with a mountain in the background:

photo img_6090


My tray table:

photo img_6094

I don't mind the ad, but the tray table is very dirty and needs to be cleaned. This is a consistent problem with AM.


Very soon the FAs start a very quick beverage service. They had no choice but to be fairly robotic, so I will excuse the lack of formalities. I ask for a tea with extra milk.

photo img_6097

What I got (not pictured) was neither extra, neither was it milk. It was just one small package of creamer. Never mind, my request was probably lost in translation during the fast-paced service. Also, the tea that AM serves is very poor quality.


I was given an apricot flavored breakfast bar also:

photo img_6096

Overall, the beverage service was fine in terms of quantity, however the breakfast bar was quite small and was bad quality, as was the tea. AM needs to focus more on the quality of it's catering. Firstly, better tea would be a definite improvement. Secondly, the breakfast bar was very small and tasted artificial. Maybe AM should find better snack offerings on these morning flights (maybe a stroopwafel like UA) while keeping the offering (peanuts) on afternoon and evening flights.

The only feature of the IFE that I used was the moving map, which worked fine.

photo img_6091 3photo img_6091


Airbrakes deployed in flight during the initiation of decent to MEX:

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Almost there!

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Final approach:

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Landing:




Domestic lineup at terminal 1:

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:photo img_6119 copy 2photo img_6119 copyphoto img_6119

Widebodies: IB 346 operating IB 6402 to MAD, and LH 346 probably operating LH 521 to MUC

photo img_6120 2photo img_6120 copy 2


Currency conversions display at T2:

photo img_6123


FIDS at T2:

photo img_6122


SUMMERY



AM is a good airline for Mexican domestic travel although admittedly I've never travelled on their much cheaper rivals (Volaris, Interjet, etc)

Crew is helpful and efficient. However, on AM CONTIGO, language skills are a problem.

IFE is good. The PTV touchscreens are very responsive and the display size is large. The selection is good too, and the system is easy to navigate.

The cabin is clean (except for the tray tables), comfortable, and modern.

The catering, however, is not perfect. The quality could be improved on.

GDL is great as a departure airport, but my bad experience at customs brought it's efficiency score down to 4.5/10 despite my good experience with security.

MEX is good too. No complaints there.

Thanks for reading this FR and place drop me a line in the comments section!

See more

Verdict

AeroMexico

9.0/10
Cabin9.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi10.0
Meal/catering8.0

Guadalajara - GDL

6.8/10
Efficiency4.5
Access5.0
Services9.5
Cleanliness8.0

Mexico City - MEX

7.9/10
Efficiency9.0
Access5.0
Services8.5
Cleanliness9.0

Conclusion

AM is a good airline for Mexican domestic travel although admittedly I've never travelled on their much cheaper rivals (Volaris, Interjet, etc)

Crew is helpful and efficient. However, on AM CONTIGO, language skills are a problem.

IFE is good. The PTV touchscreens are very responsive and the display size is large. The selection is good too, and the system is easy to navigate.

The cabin is clean (except for the tray tables), comfortable, and modern.

The catering, however, is not perfect. The quality could be improved on.

GDL is great as a departure airport, but my bad experience at customs brought it's efficiency score down to 4.5/10 despite my good experience with security.

MEX is good too. No complaints there.

Thanks for reading this FR and place drop me a line in the comments section!

Related

2 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 372738 by
    NGO85 SILVER 1963 Comments
    For a flight that is shorter than SFO-LAX, the drink service and bar is not too shabby.

    You were lucky to get an AM bird with the new cabins and IFE, kind of a waste on a short hop like this. Would’ve been better on the previous flight.

    Other than the disgusting tray table, really can’t see too much wrong with AM, thanks for sharing this FR with us!

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