Navigating the Cancun Airport

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Cancun, Mexico is a wonderful place for a warm and sunny getaway; however, its airport is not so friendly.  Like most airports it is pretty straight forward right up to the point of going through customs at which point things start to get a little bit tricky.  This blog is dedicated to helping you through the craziness.

 

At some point on the flight to Cancun you will be given an immigration form as well as one customs form per family.  Fill these forms out as fully as you can. Don’t leave anything blank!  Once your flight has arrived, you will be taken to the immigration area where your passport will be stamped and they will give you the bottom half of the immigration form to carry with you.  You must carry this form and your passport with you.  If you lose this form, you will have to purchase a new one at $30.00 per person.  After clearing this hurtle, you will go immediately to baggage claim to retrieve your luggage.

 

This is where things get a little bit tricky.  You will take your bags and your customs form and hand it to a clerk who will then look to make sure you have filled everything out correctly.  If not you will be asked to fill it out and return to the line.  Once you have it filled out correctly and hand it off to the clerk you will be asked to press a button.  If it is green, you are golden and on your way to the next hurtle.  If it is red, you will be searched.  Sometime they like to play a little game with it and you might be asked to push the button more than once.  Just be aware.

 

Now you are out of customs and free to proceed to your destination, right?  Technically, yes, but it is not that simple.  Between you and your hotel transfer (whether booked by your travel agent or provided by your hotel) there is a gauntlet that you must pass through.  Even knowing that this laid between me and my previously booked transfer, I got stuck in the gauntlet!  There are people dressed very officially and claim to work for the government that want to stop you and “help” you get “more familiar with” Cancun and find your transfer.  Whatever you do, DO NOT STOP until you are outside!  Your transfer will be waiting for you outside and more than likely will have a person waiting with a sign with your name on it.  The people standing between you and your transfer are there to sell you something or trap you into doing something (like sitting through a timeshare pitch).  They will not get you to your transfer more quickly!  Keep your eyes down and walk into the light, my friends.  Walk into the light!

 

Be aware that departures from the Cancun airport are also a bit tricky.  They do not post which gate your flight will depart from until one hour before departure.  Sometimes it’s closer than that.  Keep an eye on the monitors.  They will not announce the gates from the overhead speakers.  They only post them to the monitors and leave it up to you to figure out which gate your flight departs from.  I have to admit that as a travel agent, I have never seen it done quite this way before.  Made me a little nervous but we made it out alive and well.  Now, to just figure out how soon I can return and soak up some more of that beautiful sunshine!