Well it aint great but no need to worry, hopefully you won't be spending too long in there. I can't remeber too much as we didn't see too much upon arrival and for departure we just couldn't wait to leave the country!

It is pretty awful. Expect to wait on average 1.5 to 2 hours to clear immigration, gets your bags and then go through customs who open every suitcase.

Check in also takes over an hour as they also open and check every case before you get to the check in desk.

Travelled through Cancun airport end of may, early June this year.

Too be honest, I expected the worst and it wasn't as bad as that, but not much better either.

Didn't start off to well as we were virtually last off the plane, and another 2 planes had landed at the same time so the queue's were quite bad - didn't even make it into the immigration hall at first as we were queued out of the door and by the planes

To be fair, there were only 2 immigration booths open for the first half hour and by the time we had made it inside they had opened another 2/3 so we waited about an hour in total.

Lugguage had already arrived by the time we had got to reclaim, although luggage had been strewn all over the place so we did have to do a bit of searching to find our cases.

Then went through the traffic light system. This is where you put your cases through xray machine (again, wouldn't have been too bad but we were stopped as the other 2 planes cabin crew were given priority, so had another 10 min wait), and then press the button. Luckily, both me and partner got green so straight through, but I have heard if you get red its a baggage search.

On the way home it wasn't as bad. Yes, all luggage is hand searched prior to booking in, but its only a couple of minute search per bag, but just make sure all underwear or items of a personal nature are either in bags or at the bottom, or all the airport may see

Not much in terms of places to eat (remember seeing v. small Mcdonalds or burger king and a dominos, as well as a few 'dodgy' looking cafe types) or shop and quite small duty free, but plenty selection of tequila

All in all, not the best airport experience you will ever have, but nothing to get too stressed about

Hi Carolynn,

We were at Cancun airport last September. Luckily I had read about the long wait before we went so knew what to expect.

On arrival we had to queue for a while (over an hour), which wasn't great after a long journey,so I would try to get off the plane and into the terminal as soon as possible to get near the front of the queue! Also you need to fill in a little card which you are given on the plane & when you are waiting to get into the terminal building there is a man who checks them and sends you to the back of the queue if you don't fill it in properly / sign it in the right place, so try to fill it all in on the plane & I would ask the cabin crew to check its ok.
I don't know if this is always the case but on the way back everyone's suitcases got manually searched apart from those who had upgraded to Thomas Cook premium, which luckily we had done & we went straight through at a priority check in aisle. So Im not sure how long that would take, especially if you were one of the last coach loads to arrive. If I went back to Mexico I would definately book a private transfer to the airport on the way back with plenty of time before evryone else gets there.

(Im not trying to put you off!)

Hope you have a great holiday, Mexico is fab once you get out of the airport.

I am planning a trip to Cancun in March 08 as a suprise for my wife,can anyone advise on the proccedures at Cancun Airport,do we need a visa??
any help appreciated.

It's interesting to read experiences transiting through Cancun. The other side of the country, Puerto Vallarta anyway is nothing like that. I suppose its due to the numbers of American tourists visiting the area and therefore a greater level of security. PVR was like going through Blackpool in comparisson.

qatarman, entry requirements here. We got our tourist cards given out to be filled in on the plane. There's a departure tax to pay of £26 but I believe this is now collected by the airline when you book the holiday.

Darren