In late October, a member of the Simple Flying team had the opportunity to travel between
Mexico City International Airport (MEX) and Lima International Airport (LIM) onboard Aeromexico’s
flight AM48.
We visited the Mexican carrier’s Salon Premier in Terminal 2 and flew inside the airline’s
Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft.
Today’s video will be a flight review of the whole experience, with its ups and downs.
Are you ready?
Let’s get into it!
Let’s first go over the process of arriving at the airport.
Aeromexico mainly operates its flights from Terminal 2 at Mexico City Airport.
However, the airline does have a few domestic services from Terminal 1, which can lead to
inefficiencies for passengers, since moving between the two terminals at this airport
facility can be quite bothersome if you’re unfamiliar with the hub.
The flight AM48 leaves daily from Mexico City Airport to Lima International at 23:55 from
Terminal 2.
We arrived three hours prior to departure time, despite not having to check in luggage.
Why would we do this?
Well, it’s because we wanted to review the airline’s international Salon Premier, located
on the second floor inside the airport.
Indeed, Aeromexico also has a domestic “Salon Premier” at Mexico City Airport’s Terminal
2.
So is a trip to this Aeromexico lounge worth it?
Well, the Salon Premier is nothing too fancy, but it does the trick.
It is also not particularly well-illuminated at night and currently does not serve hot
meals due to COVID-19 pandemic precautions.
Because Mexico has recently removed all face mask restrictions inside airports and aircraft,
we should expect Aeromexico to resume hot meals sometime in the future- maybe around
the time you’re watching this video - fingers crossed!
Aeromexico has Salon Premier in several airports throughout Mexico.
Beyond Mexico City, the airline has these lounges at the airports of Guadalajara, Torreón,
Chihuahua, and Monterrey.
By the time of our arrival, the first floor of the Salon Premier was almost full, with
only a few seats at the bar.
But, as a tip for people looking to avoid a crowd, we found the second floor of the
Salon Premier to be almost empty!
Indeed, our flight reviewer was able to choose the seat that best suited them, with close
access to a power outlet.
This allowed them to stay in the one location for a couple of hours.
Aeromexico’s Salon Premier may have had better days in the past, but we expect the
quality of service to increase in the near future.
The last few years have been chaotic for Aeromexico and the Mexican airline industry.
First, Aeromexico sold an equity participation in Club Premier to Aimia, a Canadian company,
in 2012.
With this deal, both companies divided the ownership for several years.
Earlier this year, Aeromexico announced its intention to repurchase the 48.5% ownership
from Aimia and be in complete control of the loyalty program.
Another turbulent event for Aeromexico involved the current government canceling the construction
of Mexico City’s New International Airport.
Why is that important?
Well, that airport was supposed to substitute Mexico City International, and Aeromexico
would have moved all its infrastructure to the new hub, including the Salon Premier.
A couple of years after Mexico canceled the construction of the new airport, the COVID-19
pandemic hit the aviation industry.
Aeromexico had to file for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy process which led to the economic and operational
optimization of the company.
Thus, with these turbulent events, we can only hope that the best is yet to come for
the Mexican carrier.
Moving on to the actual flight, our flight reviewer flew to Lima onboard Aeromexico’s
Boeing 737 MAX 8 registration XA-MAY.
This aircraft is just about three and a half years of age, delivered to Aeromexico in 2021.
The jet had its first flight in 2019, and, when examining its age, its clear that the
delivery of this aircraft was halted due to the global grounding of the MAX over the course
of 2019 and 2020.
This aircraft is one of over 30 737 MAX 8s and one of nearly 90 737s.
If you’re interested in the overall fleet of Aeromexico - do be sure to check out our
Aeromexico fleet analysis video, which was published at the start of September 2022.
This plane was delivered to the airline in June 2021 and has the capacity to carry 166
passengers: 132 in economy, 18 in A.M.
Plus, and 16 in Clase Premier.
Our review flew in economy, in seat 25A.
Aeroméxico's economy seats and pitch are quite comfortable at 31 inches.
However, it should be noted that traveling on an overnight flight can be exhausting if
you’re hoping to sleep most of the time.
In the end our flight reviewer was able to sleep for two hours at most during the six
hours spent in the cabin.
Our flight reviewer was 1.75 meters or 5.8 feet tall, which is a little bit over the
Mexican average.
The seat pitch is ideal for people at around this height.
However, anyone taller than this may suffer just a little bit.
There's an entertainment system in the back of each seat.
There's also an USB port and a headphones port.
Aeroméxico's IFE system is quite good although it’s believed that there are fewer movies
available onboard the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft than onboard Aeroméxico's 787 fleet, or at
least that’s what was perceived on this trip compared to the last time our reviewer
was onboard an Aeroméxico 787 (which was in 2021 flying between Mexico City and Bogota).
Nonetheless, the movies and television content available seemed to be more than enough to
have a great trip.
The flight from Mexico City to Lima is roughly five and a half hours and covers a distance
of 4,245 km - or 2638 miles.
If we move on
to the actual inflight service, we would have to say that it was overall pretty good.
The crew had to deal with a medical emergency onboard when a female passenger seemingly
had low blood pressure.
The crew requested a doctor onboard and brought an oxygen tank to the patient.
Demonstrating solid training and the ability to remain calm under pressure, everything
was resolved without the crew having to divert.
Our kudos to Aeromexico for taking good care of this passenger!
Around an hour and a half after taking off, the crew began the onboard service.
On offer were two meal options: chicken or pasta; we chose the latter.
The pasta was really tasty, and well-received.
In the last few years, our flight reviewer has been onboard several Aeromexico long-haul
flights, and their food has always been outstanding in taste, both pre- and post-COVID-19 crisis.
If you’ve flown with Aeromexico before - do let us know if your experience of the airline’s
meals match up with our own!
Eventually, the flight arrived at Lima.
Being an overnight service, we touched down without incident at around 05:30, perfectly
on time.
Overall, the service by Aeromexico was flawless.
I can’t say the same about our arrival in Lima.
Lima International Airport is currently administrated by Lima Airport Partners (Lap), which is currently
building a new Terminal, Air Traffic Control Tower, and runway.
LAP is also performing maintenance works on its runway between 02:00 and 05:00, which
may be leading to some chaos early in the morning.
Our flight arrived at the same time as several other international services, which led to
an overcrowding of the customs area.
Despite our flight landing at 05:30, we were only able to leave Lima Airport after 08:30!
Three hours later!
All of this delay was 100% due to the long queues at customs.
Making matters worse, the airport’s WiFi was inactive during this entire time.
In October, both Mexico and Peru removed all restrictions regarding the use of face masks
inside closed spaces.
While all of Aeromexico’s crew still used their face covers, around 80% of the passengers
made the decision to fly without masks.
For context, the flight had a load factor of about 90%.
The same happened at the airport with most travelers no longer using their face masks.
We flew back to Mexico City on Thursday, October 20th.
This time the experience at the airport was faster.
The flight left on time, and the service onboard was, once again, flawless.
On this service, Aeromexico served hot cakes and omelets for breakfast.
We chose the first, and it tasted quite good and is highly recommended!
The landing at Mexico City Airport was quick, and there were no delays.
Our flight reviewer went from the plane to the street in about 10 minutes!
Passing through Mexican customs, can sometimes be a nightmare but overall, the arrivals process
on this particular trip was flawless!
What do you think about Aeromexico?
Have you been onboard a flight operated by this airline?
Let us know your experience in the comments below.