Review of United flight from Mexico City to Washington in Business

UAL

UA - United

Flight taken on 30 November 2024
UA1567
10:06 03h 51m 14:57
Model Airbus A320
Class Business
Seat 2A
YGeorgeW
575 · 24 · 3 · 16

A Quick Trip to Mexico City


This is the return leg of my quick Thanksgiving trip to Mexico City.


Flight routing


photo mex

Mexico City Airport (MEX)


Mexico City Airport was a bit confusing for my first time departing from there–I wasn't quite sure if there was a fast track lane, but that turned out to be unnecessary since I happened to get to the airport right as there was a lull in passengers and got through very fast.

Then I followed the signs to the various lounges.


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Inside where the signs point you is a stair case that takes you to various floors, the United Club is on the top floor.


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United Club (MEX)


I was a bit surprised to find out there is a United Club in Mexico City.  I guess UA flies here from all of its hubs except for Denver and there might be some connecting traffic from Avianca flights.


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After Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations were in full force.  I half expected to hear Mariah Carey blasting through the lounge.


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More Christmas decorations, these were cute.


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The United Club is essentially one long room with a buffet and dining area at the end.  The restrooms can be found down a corridor right by the entrance.  In my 45 or so minutes here, I was surprised at how many passengers there were.





There were a variety of beer and spirits for self service as well as other chilled beverages and a coffee machine.


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The breakfast buffet was fine for a small outstation lounge (honestly better than the United Club in D that I used on my way in), but I had eaten at the hotel and skipped the breakfast here.


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Yogurt, cereal, fruits, etc. here:


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WiFi in the lounge was fairly fast well.


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UA1567


It was about a 15-20 minute walk to my gate, and it was already chaos when I got there.

Boarding began at 9am with no clear announcement, but other than wheelchair users, there weren't any other preboarding calls. Then suddenly at 9:04 1Ks were called (but what about small children or Global Services?).


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I would be flying on N446UA, a 26-years old A320-200 this flight.  It has the same 2-2 configuration as the previous flight.


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I was in 2A again.


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Plenty of leg space as before:


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Here's a cleaner shot of the outlet and little cubby beneath.  It was cleaned up better this time compared to the previous flight.


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The purser, Jae, offered us a choice of water of sparkling wine as a PDB–I opted just for water.

Then I got a text message at around 9:37am that departure was going to be delayed until 10am because of a technical issue.  The captain announced that there were some paperwork issues that was going to cause a 15-20 minute delay.  One thing that I do really appreciate is that compared to most other airlines, United's flight crew is very proactive about communicating delays and the reasons for those delays.


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Ultimately we pushed back at 10:06am and took off 22 minutes later.


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Service began 20 minutes after takeoff.  I again preordered, but the choices were really bad this time for a flight blocked at over 4 hours.


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I finally got my breakfast tray about 50 minutes after takeoff.  Compared to the IAD-MEX flight, this wasn't half bad.


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One of the nice thing the crew did on this flight was keeping the lavatory clean.  On these longer narrowbody flights the lavatories can get disgusting sometimes.


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We landed at IAD at 2:53pm ET and reached our gate a mere 4 minutes later (only 7 minutes behind schedule).  However, with international arrivals, you have to use the people mover and that didn't start moving until about 15 minutes later.  It was then another 15 minutes to get to immigration to curbside (even with Global Entry).  By comparison, Mexico City was lighting fast.  C'mon guys, we gotta have a better showing at the capital city.

Display all

Product ratings

Airline

United 5.9

  • Cabin6.0 / 10
  • Cabin crew7.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi5.0 / 10
  • Meal/catering5.5 / 10
Lounge

United Airlines Red Carpet Club6.9

  • Comfort6.0 / 10
  • Meal/catering6.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi8.0 / 10
  • Services7.5 / 10
Departure airport

Mexico City - MEX5.9

  • Efficiency7.0 / 10
  • Access6.5 / 10
  • Services5.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness5.0 / 10
Arrival Airport

Washington - IAD6.9

  • Efficiency3.0 / 10
  • Access7.0 / 10
  • Services8.5 / 10
  • Cleanliness9.0 / 10

Conclusion

Lounge: I was surprised there was a United Club in Mexico City and despite being smaller, I thought it was a better showing than many in the United States.

Cabin & Seat: This was the exact same seat as the previous flight, so same sentiment here about this being a rather tired product already.

Service: Jae was a lovely purser, but slightly slow with things. I wasn't in a particular hurry at any point, so this was just fine.

Meal & Catering: The catering was marginally better than the IAD-MEX leg, but United continues to lag behind on this front.

Bottom Line: All in all, it was a perfectly fine flight, though the arrival process makes me wonder if I should have taken a one-stop return flight through IAH to DCA. IAD has possibly the worst international arrival situation of any major US airports. That said, IAH is also pretty awful, so maybe not.

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Comments (3)

  • Thanks for sharing this series, definitely nothing compelling about UA’s product that makes you want to splash cash on. Another good example about how slow US carriers are with fleet refurbishment with this pair of 20+ year old pre-merger A320s. By the time they get enough MAXs and A321neos to replace the aging domestic fleet, these older planes will be close to 30 years old. Catering has at least returned to pre-pandemic standards, but that isn’t saying much since your meal in QR Y on a 3h flight looks visually better than what UA offers in J. AM probably would have been the better choice, but understand the need for PQPs. If it is any consolation, the longer SFO-MEX gets the same A320s.

    I guess UA flies here from all of its hubs except for Denver and there might be some connecting traffic from Avianca flights.

    LAX doesn’t have MEX service

    • Thanks for reading, NGO85

      Catering has at least returned to pre-pandemic standards, but that isn’t saying much since your meal in QR Y on a 3h flight looks visually better than what UA offers in J

      It was honestly better tasting as well.

      LAX doesn’t have MEX service

      That's interesting, I would have thought that UA at LAX would definitely have a MEX flight.

      • Pretty sure MEX was cut before the pandemic, likely due to all the AM/Y4 competition on the west coast. They still serve leisure destinations (CUN/SJD/PVR) and maybe still MRY/GDL.

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