When Travel Agents Take a Vacation

Our vacation this year was to Mexico. The same Mexico you read horror stories about in the newspaper. The same Mexico it is supposed to be unsafe to travel to. The same Mexico that makes the news on TV on a nightly basis. But the Mexico we visited is not THAT Mexico. It is the Mexico where you can still have a safe, cost effective vacation.

Our vacation to Mexico started with me attending a bridal exposition in Cerritos in May. The show was to promote weddings in Mexico and inform us (agents, wedding coordinators, photographers) of the venues offered for weddings in Mexico, which, by the way, are legal in the U.S. and the rules and regs of getting married in different parts of Mexico.

At the end of the presentation my name was pulled in the drawing for the grand prize...1 free round trip ticket on AeroMexico and 2 free nights, with transfers, at Chichen Itza in The Lodge at Chichen Itza in one of their bungalows (concierge level). I sent my husband a text message and told him we were going to Mexico for our vacation.

We decided on going in November, and adding something on either side of Chichen Itza: 3 nights in Merida with a side trip to Clestun Biosphere Reserve and 4 nights in the Riviera Maya at El Dorado Royale. We used our transfers to go from Merida to Chichen Itza and from Chichen Itza to the Riviera Maya.

A couple of months prior to taking our vacation, AeroMexico contacted me and told me they would be closing their Los Angeles office in a few days and it would be nice if I would tell them what I wanted to do with the free ticket. We decided my husband should have the free ticket and I would fly on the Amigo ticket (a discount offered to travel agents only). Now, the "free" ticket isn't completely free. The taxes need to be paid and they are usually around $100. or more. The Amigo ticket is discounted, but is a ticket that requires all taxes be paid along with the cost of the actual ticket. I told the person at AeroMexico what I was looking for, a flight from LAX into Merida and a flight from Cancun back to LAX. The flights we agreed upon were good, both routed through Mexico City, but that was expected. The arrangements were made and the information emailed to me.

I looked the emailed itinerary over carefully and then called regular reservations to get seats assigned. I like an aisle seat, my husband prefers a window seat. Our usual routine is to each get what we like and hope no one sits between us. I called AeroMexico four different times to check out seats and our itinerary. We had a very minor schedule change, but, other than that, we were good to go.

To get to LAX I called the car service I use when I don't feel it's convenient to drive. The company is Go Fly and they are wonderful. We were picked up at home on Nov. 2 and taken to Terminal 2 at LAX. We checked in and the agent at the AeroMexico ticket counter appeared never to have seen an e-ticket before. She wanted some "additional identification". She was holding each of our passports and I explained that was pretty much all we had. She then asked if we didn't have some sort of company ID from AeroMexico. I understood then, and explained that my husband was holding a free ticket and that I was using the Amigo ticket agents are entitled to use. With much laughter all around, she then understood, but seemed to still be confused about what to do with us. Finally, we got checked in and had our bags checked in and headed upstairs to wait for our flight to board.

It is NOT a good sign when the the person at the ticket counter seems confused! We arrived in Mexico City and deplaned, going down to the immigration hall and on to baggage claim. Passing through immigration and collecting our luggage we went on to customs. I looked at our bags and saw they were only checked through to Mexico City...NOT a good thing. We decided our safest plan to have our bags arrive with us in Merida was to go upstairs with the bags, check in again, and have the bags checked through to Merida with us watching. So...onward and upward!

We found someone to check us in upstairs and she seemed to hesitate a great deal with my husband's ticket. I explained, yet again and in Spanish, that his ticket was FREE and I was traveling on the Amigo fare. The agent mentioned something about waitlisting and I explained that, no, neither of us were wait listed. These were confirmed seats. More hesitation and a lengthy trip to speak with another agent. Then the four of us, me, my husband, the agent we were dealing with...and yet another agent...examined the free ticket again. As luck would have it, the FREE ticket was not due to leave Mexico City for Merida until Nov. 4, while my ticket was to arrive in Merida on Nov. 2. I then explained, at length and in Spanish, about calling and reconfirming multiple times; about checking in at LAX, about conversations with the representative in the Los Angeles office, which had now been closed for two months. All to no avail, the tickets were not the kind you could use to fly stand by, even though the flight to Merida was wide open, and it was my fault for not catching the error when it first happened...despite reconfirming 4 times and not having anyone else catch the error.

At this point, those of you who know me, know that I was having a very hard time being civil. Being polite at all times in business dealings in Mexico is a necessity, and it was going through my head that I really needed to remain calm. With some bickering back and forth the agent agreed to go and talk to a higher power and see what could be done with my husband's ticket. Whoever the higher power was, he or she decided my husband should go with me to Merida that night, and the tickets were fixed, luggage sent off to be boarded on the plane and I was scolded once again. I then requested the return portion of both tickets be checked to make sure we had confirmed seats on the return...we did.

We were now free and clear. I was now concerned we might miss our flight, as the transaction had taken a great deal of time. We got to the departure hall and found our flight on the board, but no departure gate was listed yet. We sat a while, happy that disaster had been averted. Went to a farmacia and purchased two bottles of water and talked about the possibility of needing Pepto for later, deciding we really didn't need another thing to carry with us.

Back to checking the flight on the boards, no departure gate yet. I walked up to a gate agent and asked about our flight. They directed me to an information desk. We walked over and checked and found our flight was delayed but would be soon arriving and then departing for Merida. Hummm, sounding like Jamaica..."soon come". We looked for a place to eat and decided on the busiest restaurant/bar. The food was OK, not like the restaurants there used to be in the Mexico City airport, but OK nonetheless. I asked for a Margarita and was given a list of flavors that sounded like we were at Baskin Robbins. I explained a classic, regular Margarita, frozen, with salt, would be just fine. The waiter insisted I should order two and give one to Jaime because they were two for the price of one. With great patience and a smile I explained that Jaime did not really WANT a Margarita, but I certainly did, and one would be just fine. The waiter persisted and explained they were two for one and I should have two. The waiter is fortunate he escaped with his life. I snarled at him and told him to forget the Margarita and just give me a Coke like my husband. Lucky man!

VH1 was cranked up full volume in the restaurant with no one listening or paying attention except us. I was enjoying the music videos but could not hear announcements of departing flights, it was getting late, and I was getting nervous. I told my husband we needed to finish eating and get back out to the departure hall. Once again in the departure hall, there was no sign of our flight. I found a flight crew sitting around and asked if they were the crew for Merida. They were not, their flight was going to Cancun and it was delayed coming in. I was beginning to sense a pattern here!

We waited some more. At this point, my biggest fear was that our flight would be canceled and we would be forced to spend the night in Mexico City. First, I would lose one night's deposit at the hotel we had in Merida, but, far more important, I was not sure I would be able to get our tickets validated again for the next day. We waited some more and my husband went to the men's' room. I walked up to another gate agent and asked about our flight and was told a gate was assigned. I could see people assembling by the gate and the boarding call was being given...and my husband was in the men's' room. Hummmm...so I went in the men's' room and told him to get a move on, we were leaving! At a certain age, and I AM that age, I figure it's more important to catch a flight than to worry about who else might be in the men's' room!

We boarded the plane, hours past our scheduled departure, and were off to Merida and unexplored territory. Neither of us had ever been in Merida and we were both curious about what we would find. I was also curious about the chances of our hotel being open when we arrived.

The plane landed in Merida around 1:30am and we disembarked to a heat beyond anything I had imagined. I knew it would be humid and by November, I thought some of the heat would have abated. It must have been 90 degrees at 1:30am with 85% humidity. The air was practically liquid. We still needed to claim our luggage and get a taxi to our hotel, which was in the center of town. Getting a taxi means lining up outside the airport and buying a ticket, then lining up and waiting for a cab that is designated as "yours". Finally, in the dark and humid night, we were on our way to our hotel. We pulled up in front of the hotel at 2:20am. It had been a very long day. The cab driver rang the bell at the entrance with no response. I was hoping he wouldn't dump us and our luggage and leave and he didn't. He said not to worry, someone would answer and in a few minutes they did.

Walking into the hotel lobby I was pleased to note that it looked just like the photos I had seen on TripAdvisor. Very Mexican colonial, a fountain, a cozy little lobby bar that doubled as a breakfast room, and the desk clerk had our reservation. On the spot I reserved our excursion to Celestun Biosphere, and then we were shown up to our room. I had reserved the Master Suite. The photos on TripAdvisor were beautiful, and the room looked just like the photos. A small living area, marble steps leading up to the very large bedroom, nice size TV, beautiful bathroom with Jacuzzi tub and dual shower heads. And at what must have now been 2:45am all I wanted to do was go to sleep. The air had not been put on, so the room was hot and stuffy. We turned on the air. It was very loud...I no longer cared! Then, I noticed the wilted boutonniere on my nightstand, a damp towel on our chair, the maid's tip still uncollected in an envelop...and two empty Coke cans, not ours, in the bathroom wastebasket. I called the front desk and the young man came back up to our room. He took the towel away, but didn't seem terribly upset that the room had been used. At this point, I didn't care.

My husband decided he needed a shower before he could sleep. There was no hot water. He is FROM Mexico and should know by now, the hot water tank (the boiler) is usually turned off late at night, not to be turned on again until early in the morning...he took a cold shower. The bed was beautiful but hard...and we both slept until morning.

This is part I of a two part blog on our vacation. Please stay tuned! All I can tell you is that our vacation got MUCH better in fairly short order, and I decided it was probably best not to ever send non-Spanish speakers on AeroMexico flights routed through Mexico City. I also freely acknowledge that the person at AeroMexico who booked my flights was probably under a great deal of stress and I don't blame her for our difficulties. I got a vacation, she got a pink slip. "Fixing" the problem in Mexico City was difficult, but it got done. Sometimes, you have to remember if you are actually on a vacation...you won!

Until next time,
Sonia

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