BajaNomad - Recent CBX crossing

Recent CBX crossing

Alan - 11-27-2020 at 12:41 PM

Plan ahead because it is taking a little longer than in the past. Southbound in October wasn't too bad but of course it was a 0600 takeoff. However, northbound last Saturday was a different matter. It took nearly two hours from landing to walking out CBX in Otay Mesa.

Volaris Flt #581 was back to its usual 1630 landing time but now it coincided with a flight from Mexico City and both flights luggage used the same carousel so it took a bit longer to retrieve our bags. Next there was actually a pretty significant line to get into the CBX corridor since 2 flights were being processed through. Once in the corridor all the escalators were shutdown? No idea why but that forced everyone to use the elevators which were limited to four people of immediate family at a time. This resulted in a pretty good line building up at each bank of elevators. When we finally got to CBP there were only 2 officers to process everyone.

Just thought I would offer a heads up because so many of us have people picking us up from CBX now because it is so convenient

JZ - 11-27-2020 at 02:57 PM

What the hell is up with that.

That better not be normal.

RocketJSquirrel - 11-27-2020 at 05:45 PM

Or... walk the escalator? Unless you have some heavy luggage.

Alan - 11-27-2020 at 07:22 PM

Quote: Originally posted by RocketJSquirrel

Or... walk the escalator? Unless you have some heavy luggage.

They were actually blocked off with Yellow Hazard flagging

BajaBlanca - 11-27-2020 at 07:59 PM

Oh, bummer. Please let this be an anomaly.

mtgoat666 - 11-27-2020 at 09:59 PM

It’s Mexico, sometimes the escalators don’t work, sometimes the government positions are underfunded/understaffed

JZ - 11-27-2020 at 10:23 PM

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

It’s Mexico, sometimes the escalators don’t work, sometimes the government positions are underfunded/understaffed

You have never even used the CBX. So pls exit the thread with your generic comments. TIA.

defrag4 - 11-28-2020 at 02:20 AM

glad i travel light, my backpack and I made it through on that same Saturday with no line no waiting heading into USA via CBX

the escalator situation was very silly

i never did find a place to get my FMM to tell MX i was leaving the country (temp resident) asked a few MX immigration officials about it but got nothing but shrugs in return

oh well, turned around and came right back a few hours later, no issues

[Edited on 11-28-2020 by defrag4]

chuckie - 11-28-2020 at 03:16 AM

HORRORS! Inconvenience GRINGOS? How dare they?

BajaBlanca - 11-28-2020 at 07:40 AM

Prepandemic: Last year, right after xmas, my sister and niece took a trip to Mexico City for a week.

Their return to the U.S. was OK, but they almost missed their flight because of the same situation mentioned above. Many, many travelers, not enough staff and folks were in tears. She said it was total chaos.

bajatrailrider - 11-28-2020 at 09:49 AM

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

It’s Mexico, sometimes the escalators don’t work, sometimes the government positions are underfunded/understaffed

. . California Dmv works so much better :no:

mtgoat666 - 11-28-2020 at 10:21 AM

Quote: Originally posted by bajatrailrider

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

It’s Mexico, sometimes the escalators don’t work, sometimes the government positions are underfunded/understaffed

. . California Dmv works so much better :no:

I have heard people complain about CA DMV, but I have never had a problem with DMV. Has always worked well for me, never had a long wait, paperwork has always been fine and on time (but I am also smart enough to avoid peak times).

I also have AAA, so sometimes use AAA for stuff...

Sorry you had a bad experience, bajaretread. Perhaps,if you had your chit in order, and could write in intelligible English, then dmv would have worked out for you, eh?

bajatrailrider - 11-28-2020 at 10:38 AM

silly blow hard go to AAA office now to reg car . Wait outside side in line for hours . Get real you must be
mixing up your AA meeting you have missed. You post such crap here. Drunk or hung over witch is it or both. :light:

wilderone - 11-28-2020 at 10:56 AM

On the news a couple weeks ago that the CBX crossing is expanding. I understand, too, from financial news that once pandemic is under control, pent-up demand for travel of all kinds will explode.

apple - 11-28-2020 at 11:09 AM

Bring your Sentri or GE card if you have one. Last time I crossed back north via CBX it took a while, but we could have skipped the customs line entering the US if we had brought our cards with us.

JZ - 11-28-2020 at 11:42 AM

Quote: Originally posted by apple

Bring your Sentri or GE card if you have one. Last time I crossed back north via CBX it took a while, but we could have skipped the customs line entering the US if we had brought our cards with us.

So they have a separate line at CBX? I never noticed it, but there has never really been much of a line anyway..

DawnPatrol - 11-28-2020 at 01:23 PM

Picked up my daughter an son-in-law at CBX last night (Friday 11/27) . Their flight from Cancun-Guadalajara-TJ came in at Midnight.
You would think that it would be a breeze.
NOT
The US Customs wait was an hour and a half! For 95% of the time they only had ONE Agent working the line, which was backed up over the walkway into the TJ airport.

There were a couple other flights that must have come in late.
CBX had tons of people there and of course the many people coming to pick up their relatives.
There must have been quite a few red-eyes as there were people going INTO the CBX to catch flights at 1 and 2AM

And to make it worse it took them 45 minutes to get their luggage off the carousel. Probably because they had limited baggage guys

Then they wouldn't allow you to take bags down the escalator to Customs, so everybody had to use the elevator! And of course because of Covid they only allowed a few at a time!

CLUSTER F--K

Maybe research other flights coming in around the time of your flight and make sure a bunch don't show up at around the same time?

Alan

Disclaimer: I have used it myself in the past and have had very fast crosses

[Edited on 11-28-2020 by DawnPatrol]