Flying in Mexico.

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flyingcow
Posts: 18
Joined: 22 Jun 2004, 00:00
Location: Monterrey Mexico

Flying in Mexico.

Post by flyingcow »

After reading a lot of posts regarding service and kinds of aircraft that European aircarriers offer, I want to give you a view of Mexican airlines and what do we expect here from them.
We dont have Ryanairs or EasyJets here. The cheapest aircarrier is not as cheap as some European airlines. For example, a flight from Mexico to Monterrey ( 550 miles, 1.2 hours) will cost you with a discounted airline aproximately $250 dollars and with AeroMexico or Mexicana it costs about $350 usd aprox. Although the service between airlines is very much alike, the diference relies in the airline fleet. Mexicana uses an almost new fleet that consists in A319, A320, B757 and Fokker 100. The 757 are used for long haul flights ( more than 3 hours) while the Airbus is used for high density hubs. AeroMexico uses a fleet of MD80´s, 757,767, and they have just recieved the new Boeing 737-700 with winglets that looks INCREDIBLE!!!. The other carrier is called AVIACSA and it is of lesser quality in airplanes but not in service. They use the 737-200 and the 727-200 Dougan conversion ( with winglets).
Our regional carrier it Aerolitoral and it uses Saab 340 and it has just recieved 5 Ebraer 145 regional jets. The problem with regional flying in Mexico is that it is VERY VERY expensive because there is NO competition. A flight of lets say 1 hour in the Saab will be aproximately $300 euro round trip, the same trip is less than half in the USA since I fly a LOT in the USA and have paid much better rates. Food in better than average and you can have beer without extra cost in all airlines. The VERY good thing about flying in Mexico is that there are extremely punctual and they almost always are ON time. So you can have an idea on how flight between Mexico are I can tell you that the aveerage flight is well below 2 hours and the longest from tip to tip is about 4 hours or so. Flying in Mexico is great but try to avoid flying in the afternoon in the summer months since we have HUGE storms with hail and everything :( and it gets scary!!!. Many of the pilots I know have been trained in Flight safety in Florida. Hope you enjoy it!

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sn26567
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Joined: 13 Feb 2003, 00:00
Location: Rosières/Rozieren, Belgium
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Post by sn26567 »

Flyingcow,

Thanks for this nice overview of (expensive) flying in Mexico.

I would love to see that 727 with winglets!
André
ex Sabena #26567

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Captain
Posts: 515
Joined: 09 Oct 2003, 00:00

Post by Captain »

Good report: flyingcow.


I flew with AeroMexico from Tijuana to Mexico City. Flew on an MD 80 http://www.airliners.net/open.file/598942/M/

The flight was very pleasant whilst we flew down the Pacific coast of Baja California and towards Mexico City. Food was nice and to my surprise they even served Tequila onboard!

Captain

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Avro
Posts: 8856
Joined: 28 Apr 2003, 00:00
Location: Belgium

Post by Avro »

Nice to see how flying is like in Mexico.
Thank god it isn't that expensive in Europe

Chris

chunk
Posts: 764
Joined: 07 May 2004, 00:00
Location: Scotland usually

Post by chunk »

Avro wrote:Nice to see how flying is like in Mexico.
Thank god it isn't that expensive in Europe

Chris
I flew from Mexico City to Merida and then Cancun back to Mexico City last year whilst on vacation and I would say it cost about 200 Euros each ticket. MexicoCity to Merida was in an AeroMexico DC-9 - noisy and uncomfortable, way back was Mexican 757 I think. Flight service is fine on both - better than Continental or AA for sure.

flyingcow
Posts: 18
Joined: 22 Jun 2004, 00:00
Location: Monterrey Mexico

DC-9 of AeroMexico

Post by flyingcow »

Those DC9 are being replaced and all are soon to be out of here! Aeromexico is buying quite a bit of the 737-700 with winglets and I am already seeing them flying around here in Mexico. The DC-9 Aeromexico had were in fact terrible and some of them had already suffered some accidents, I never fly in a DC-9.....old old old and we have better choices. I wish I have the oportunity to fly in the AVRO´s one day, they look so cool!!

chunk
Posts: 764
Joined: 07 May 2004, 00:00
Location: Scotland usually

Re: DC-9 of AeroMexico

Post by chunk »

No kidding they were old!!! I didn't find it that expensive though - like I said about 200 Euro each round trip for my girlfriend and me. Unless we got a 'tourist' price or something....

The DC-9 was horrible....we were right at the back so it was really noisy. Also, my girlfriend pointed out as we were about to get on that there was what looked like a dent or something on the nose...not sure what it could have been but it wasn;t fun. Great views on the way to Merida of the snow capped mountains...was one a volcano...can;t remember.

flyingcow
Posts: 18
Joined: 22 Jun 2004, 00:00
Location: Monterrey Mexico

Post by flyingcow »

Yor are right, it is a volcano and its name is "Orizaba". It is in the state of Veracruz , that is by the way, one of the nicest states in Mexico ( Mexico has 33). I dont know why you had such a cheap airfare, but we all know that good fares happen from time to time. I am flying to Dusseldorf in 15 days and I found in the LH webpage a deal that for $110 euros Lufthansa will take me from Frankfurt to Dusseldorf ROUND TRIP! that is not just cheap for me..it is almost a gift ( train was $200 euros!!!) . In my past flights to Europe I have paid about $500 usd for a round trip from Houston to Paris and to Amsterdam....now I am paying $900 usd from Monterrey to Frankfurt via Atlanta and I was told that it is high season and that the price I got was cheap indeed. MTY-ATL in a CRJ-200 ( almolst 1,100 nm, terrible) ATL-FRA in a 777-200 ( I like it over the A340 1,000 to 1). FRA-DUSS in a A321 (witch I like very very much). Back in Europe after 10 years of not going there!!!!!

chunk
Posts: 764
Joined: 07 May 2004, 00:00
Location: Scotland usually

Post by chunk »

Enjoy your trip to Europe....I certainly loved Mexico and plan to go back at some point though we only saw Cancun, Merida and Mexico City. Cancun was..well...a bit crap but loved the other two - want to go to Oaxaca next time. Tickets here can be pretty cheap - even intercontinental tickets at times if you book at the right time of year. Last year I got Aberdeen - Dubai on KLM for about 450 euro return off season. Other times it is jst as expensive as anywhere!

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