The Boeing 737 MAX, despite being one of the
newest airplanes out there, is also arguably one of the most controversial. But in spite of its
rather troubled past, the plane has gone through rigorous recertification processes and can now
be considered one of the safest planes out there. Today, I take my first-ever flight on the
737 MAX with Aeromexico from Mexico City to Guatemala City. This video will cover
the connecting experience in Mexico City, the flight itself, and also the
arrivals process in Guatemala. I’m excited to be sharing this journey with
you all and hope you will enjoy the video. We’ll pick up where we left off a few weeks ago,
arriving at Mexico City’s Terminal 2 from Chicago. Even if you’re just connecting, all
internationally arriving passengers must clear immigration. Today, the process
took no longer than ten minutes but this of course varies depending on how busy the
airport is. After clearing passport control, everyone has to proceed to baggage
claim. Before you leave baggage claim, you have to put all your bags through a
quick screening which doesn’t take very long. Then, you get into a line to get your documents
checked by an officer before proceeding back upstairs to go through a full security
checkpoint. Now because of my “cultural attire”, I was put into secondary screening which wasn’t
too bad. Despite my bag being completely searched, the officer was ironically the friendliest person
I met during my entire time in this airport. The entire process from getting off my inbound
flight to re-entering the secure area took about 30 minutes which wasn’t bad. However, I
will say, compared to the other international connecting experiences I’ve had, such as
in Doha most recently, I felt some parts of the connection process in Mexico City were a bit
unnecessary but nothing to really complain about. I had a roughly two-hour layover, the
majority of which was spent walking around and having lunch. This was definitely
one of the best tuna sandwiches I’ve ever had. Terminal 2 at Benito Juarez International was
opened in 2007 and currently serves Copa Airlines, Delta, and most Aeromexico flights with
a handful of Aeromexico domestic flights still operating from Terminal 1. The
central area of the terminal right by the moving walkways offers the best view
of the apron and back there we can see our aircraft for today. Today we’re flying the
first ever 737 MAX delivered to Aeromexico: a MAX 8 registered XA-MAG. Ever since Aeromexico
took delivery of this plane in 2018, its fleet of 737 MAX aircraft has grown to 51 planes with
eight more on order. What a symbolic scene this was to capture all of these 737 MAXs on the apron
right alongside the first one ever delivered. Terminal 2 isn’t very big meaning it’s pretty
easy to navigate even for first-timers like myself. But that also means it tends to
get rather crowded during peak hours. The architecture of the terminal is also really
unique. Despite all the natural light, it feels like you’re trapped inside a steel box
but let me know what you think of the design. This afternoon, we’ll be onboard Aeromexico
678, the second flight from the bottom. I also have to say, I’m a big fan of these
ticket jackets that Aeromexico hands out. I really wish more airlines would do
this just like the good old days. Boarding started about 30 minutes prior to
departure and I would be boarding in Zone 5. Despite boarding being divided up into
zones, you can expect the entire process to still take a good amount of time because the
line always stops and moves pretty slowly. The vast majority of Aeromexico’s 737 MAX 8s
have 166 seats with 16 in Clase Premier and 150 in Clase Turista. There are two MAX 8s in an
all-economy layout used exclusively on domestic flights: XA-DAE with 174 seats and XA-MFN
with 189 seats. The 737 MAX has the newer slimline economy seats. These are really similar
to those found on American Airlines for example. Today I’m in 22F which cost an additional $12
to reserve thanks to my Basic Economy ticket. I found the seats to be fairly comfortable with
adjustable headrests and good padding. However, it was weird to see how loose the seat
cushions were at some of the seats. The seatback features a touchscreen entertainment
monitor with a headphone jack and USB port. Below is a tray table and seat pocket. Now I’m
5’11” and usually keep my backpack with me at the seat. Still, I found the legroom
to be pretty good. Unlike the 737-800, the 737 MAX does feature universal power outlets
but only two per three seats. Just like the -800, however, there are personal air vents in addition
to the usual call buttons and reading lights. Out of curiosity, I opened up the safety card
and found it pretty cool how Aeromexico folds the air sickness bag and places it inside
the card, I’ve never seen that before. Also if you ever wondered what a 787 and 737
hybrid plane would look like…here you go. Aeromexico's entertainment system is rather organized and easy
to use. I especially like the fact that if any kids are using the system, they can simply switch
the system to “Kids Mode” at the push of a button. The system can only be controlled by touching the
screen and the main adjustments are located in the bottom right corner. There’s a very good selection
of entertainment options, however, on this flight there was a catch that I’ll explain later on. A
really cool feature of the entertainment systems on these newer planes is the presence of Bluetooth
connectivity. So theoretically, you don’t even need to plug earphones into the system, you could
pair your own wireless headphones or AirPods to the system which is a really cool new feature
that many airlines like United have rolled out recently. Another part of the entertainment
system that interested me was the “About” tab and especially the “Fleet” section. Aeromexico
has quite a sizable fleet of just under 150 planes and I never previously realized that its
mainline fleet consists of only Boeing aircraft. The “About” tab also features a section on
Aeromexico’s destinations and while scrolling through this out of pure curiosity, I noticed
something rather strange. If you look closely, two cities (that I could tell at least) are totally
missing from the U.S. and Canada destinations, notably Denver and Chicago. Not sure how these got
left out, especially Chicago since that’s been an Aeromexico destination for decades now. There’s
also a section on Travel Documents, but it’s basically useless since it’s just pictures with
no real explanations of what documents these are. Another feature of the entertainment system is the
ability to message other people at their seats and of course, a 3D interactive inflight map. The
map is very high-quality and there are various ways to adjust it if needed. Of course, there
are also various viewing options, and up here, you will find all of the flight metrics that are
displayed in both the Metric and Imperial systems. Another awesome feature is the ability to see
what major cities you’re flying by and read some information about what makes those places unique.
There’s also a World Clock and an overlay that shows your distance from either your destination
or any of these Aeromexico destinations. One common drawback that I’ve noticed across
many entertainment screens on various airlines is that the screens are all fixed in place so you
can’t tilt them. But in reality, this is what it looks like when the seat in front reclines so
the viewing angle doesn’t get super distorted. And a nice perk about this flight that I
surprisingly had on both flights back to the States as well was that the middle seat
remained empty, meaning I had all the more room to store belongings and also stretch out.
Now the inflight WiFi on the 737 MAX is actually a totally different setup as compared to the
737-800. I had no idea about this at the time so I didn’t cover the WiFi on this flight
but I will in one of the future videos. Earbuds were offered by the crew but I decided not
to take them. I had these Delta earphones that I brought along that worked much better anyway. Now
recall how earlier, I said there was a catch with the entertainment system on this flight. I never
saw this coming, but literally, all of the shows were dubbed in Spanish. Now this is not the case
for all Aeromexico flights, I assume that because we’re flying between two majority Spanish-speaking
countries, by default most passengers will speak Spanish hence why everything is dubbed in
Spanish. The weirdest thing was that there were options to change the language and even the
subtitles but they weren’t working on this flight. In anticipation of the refreshment service, I
opened up my tray table only to realize this is pretty much half the size of the one on the
737-800 which was weird but for this flight where this was the extent of the service, it wasn’t
such a big deal. I went with water as my choice of drink and all passengers received a small packet
of peanuts. Service-wise on a 90-minute flight, this is really similar to what you’d get in
the States and I wasn’t expecting much anyway. The rest of the flight was rather uneventful.
The weather seemed to have cleared up along the way, setting the scene for a
beautiful approach into Guatemala. This was my first time ever going to Guatemala,
and the anticipation was really building up since I didn’t know what to expect once we landed. Now
before coming, I had seen that the approach into Guatemala City is really unique when RWY 02 is
in use. As you can see, the flights would do a teardrop approach where they’d fly over the city
and airport before making a tight 180 to land on RWY 02. It’s also not hard to see why this is
called a “teardrop approach”. Unfortunately, we did not get this approach today. Because of
the wind, we’d be landing from the other side on RWY 20. That’s not to say the views weren’t
stunning though, of course not, just watch. So my first flight on the 737 MAX, it’s a cool
plane. Obviously, not much different on the inside from the 737NGs but still I was really glad to
have finally flown the MAX. As for Aeromexico, the experience onboard this flight
from Mexico City to Guatemala City was a solid 9/10 and I’ll leave the
full explanation in the description. The arrival process into Guatemala is a little
convoluted but nothing horrible. Of course, you’re supposed to fill out a declaration upon
arriving in the country which should be handed out onboard your flight. Now today, even though
the crew did walk around handing out declarations, I for some reason didn’t take one which didn’t
really matter since everyone fills one out anyway before passing through customs. The arrivals
channel takes you past some bathrooms and also currency exchangers before some escalators take
you down to the customs hall. It’s here where if you haven’t filled out the declaration, you
do it and then pass through passport control. It was a rather quick process and then it was
off to baggage claim to collect my bag. But once you do get your bags, you’ll have to
get into a line where you hand your claim check tag to an airport official. Then
you have to get into another line where you hand a copy of your declaration to another
officer before finally being allowed outside. But then, that’s it, Bienvenidos a Guatemala!
Thank you so much for joining me today and if you enjoyed the video, don’t forget to drop a like and
subscribe if you’re new to the channel. Stay tuned for more future videos rolling out over the coming
weeks but until next time, take care, and adios.