*Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions expressed in this article are mine personally and do not reflect the views of any company or business described within my blog. I have not been compensated by any company or website mentioned within this blog in exchange for the review.*
This post is the first chapter of the Mexico series I plan to review. (See Mexico blog post for details.)
AIRLINE:
We used Aeromexico for our flights to Merida, Mexico from Memphis, TN. To be frank, I will never make the mistake of using this airline again. Allow me to clarify. The flight itself was pretty standard. The plane was clean and had all the standard features. The on-site staff were polite and helpful. There was nothing over-the-top good or bad about the flight experience. It was the booking process itself that forever turned me away from this airline. It was an absolute nightmare!
I booked our round-trip flights in August of 2017 for flights leaving February 28, 2018 with a 2 hour layover in Atlanta, GA and a return March 7 with the same length layover. During the 6 month period prior to departure, Aeromexico changed our flight times over FIVE times! Now, I realize changing a flight time by a few minutes to maybe an hour is pretty normal and to be expected. The changes Aeromexico made, however, were HOURS differences. This caused me EXTREME anxiety because the company would change one flight, but not the connection. So the layover times would easily become extremely long or short. Also, I was coordinating car rentals and hotel arrivals dependent on the flight arrival times that kept changing. What made this whole ordeal worse was that even though Aeromexico changed our itinerary without notice multiple times, I was only allowed to make one adjustment ONCE without paying $200+ per person. I wasn't told this rule until I called to make a second adjustment after they altered our itinerary for the THIRD time. Maybe it's just me, but when I pay to be on a certain flight at a certain time, I expect to actually be on that flight at least close to that time. Apparently Aeromexico doesn't agree with that philosophy!
This inconvenience was on top of the fact that their telephone hold time was always greater than 20 minutes. I waited on hold for 45 minutes the first time I called! Once I did reach a customer service agent, it was a gamble as to whether they spoke English or not. If not, I would have to wait again for an English-speaking agent. Half the time after reaching an agent, they told me I had to email the complaints department to have the flights adjustment looked at. That process took days to get a response.
Personally, when we fly into Mexico in 2020, I will definitely be flying with Delta. Delta offered similar flights to the ones I book with Aeromexico for about $40 more total. I previously chose Aeromexico for the price difference. I will never make that mistake again. My sister booked her flights through Delta with the same arrival date and time as mine and had none of the adjustment issues I did. She was even upgraded to first class on the return flights.
CAR RENTAL:
This is a topic I spent many, many hours researching. There are so many conflicting stories about this on TripAdvisor and travel blogs. This is what I know from first-hand experience. I booked a 4 door Volkswagon Jetta for 8 days through Mex Rent a Car and would have paid $231US total. That's including FULL COVERAGE insurance and ALL fees! We did pay an additional $200US deposit that was returned promptly when the rental was over. The reason I say we would have paid that is because we chose to upgrade our rental once we got there. We were not coerced into this. We simply decided that with the amount of driving we planned to do, four adults would be much more comfortable in an SUV. This upgrade only cost $60US more. We were given a new Kia Sportage, which was perfect.
I performed HOURS of research on several different rental companies and their fees. I found out that all of the rental prices advertised on sites such as Expedia, Travelocity, etc are BEFORE insurance and fees. Many of these travel sites advertise these prices as all-inclusive, but I learned quickly that once you call the actual rental company, they don't accept the travel site's insurance and you must either purchase the rental company's insurance or pay the enormous deposit required to rent without insurance. US auto insurance is not accepted in Mexico. I found only a few car rental companies offering low deposits with all inclusive or disclosed insurance rates. Hertz and Firefly both offer deposits as low as $200US with rates in the $200-400US range for an 8 day rental. We chose Mex Rent a Car for their location. They are located across the parking lot from the airport. It's literally walking distance, but they do pick you up at the terminal and drive you across the parking lot...LOL.
The Mex Rent a Car agents were all extremely friendly and helpful. I can't remember the guy's name specifically who helped us, but everyone we encountered from that company was top-notch. When we arrived, all the paperwork was printed and ready to sign. Granted, we upgraded vehicles so they reprinted the new paperwork, but the point is, they were extremely organized and efficient. The mechanics in the garage checked all the fluids and washed the car before releasing it to us. They even loaded ALL our luggage for us. We never had the first issue driving all over the Yucatan in the vehicle. I read about all the bribery and dangers of driving in Mexico before we left and was definitely on high alert at first. However, we drove on highways, local streets, and even through Cancun and were not stopped by authorities the first time. We put over 300 miles on the vehicle during the 8 days. When we returned the car, it took less than 5 minutes to finalize the paperwork and return our deposit ($200). I would highly recommend Mex Rent a Car Merida to anyone!
Hotel Transportation:
A few times while staying in Cancun we used the hotel arranged transportation and taxis due to the convenience of not having to worry about parking. They were always courteous and helpful. I never once felt unsafe. Tip: you can barter with the taxi drivers to get lower rates. So don't settle with the first price they give you. Likewise, make sure you ask the cost BEFORE getting in the car. We never paid more than $10US for any taxi ride. On the other hand, the hotel arranged transportation was always the same flat rate of $15US regardless of where you wanted to go (within the Cancun area). We were able to call the front desk to arrange in advance or simply walk to the lobby and the concierge summoned the service. We never waited longer than 5-10 minutes. Most of the time while staying in Cancun, we used the hotel arranged transportation to go into downtown and then used a taxi to return to the hotel. When we left the hotel zone, we drove ourselves.
This transportation system worked very well for us on our last adventure. When we return in 2020, we plan to stay mostly in the Cancun area and most likely won't bother with a car rental since most tours include transportation. Outside of the terrible booking experience with Aeromexico, we didn't have any trouble with transportation. All of the service providers we encountered were extremely courteous and went out of their way to be helpful. There's so much information I gained in planning this trip. I hope this helps to calm any concerns others may have regarding transportation safety in the Yucatan. We loved our experience and look forward to returning. Please feel free to email me with any questions you may have and I will be happy to help in any way I can.
