This is part of the Trip Report: The Greatest Diamond Challenge of All Time. Check out how I planned my Hyatt Diamond Challenge and how it cost next to nothing here.
In this report, I will cover:
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- San Diego, California
- Carlsbad, California
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- Mexico City, Mexico
In Los Estados Unidos passengers still don’t get how Southwest boarding works. Passengers complain about Southwest’s cattle call style and can’t figure out what B52 means in terms of where they should line up.
“I’ll never fly this airline again,” is a quote I hear each time I take Southwest. Somehow the boarding process is too complicated for a few people to comprehend. Today I’m flying out of Mexico City and am observing how Southwest’s boarding works abroad.
Like it was years ago in the US, there aren’t dividers separating A 1-10, 11-20 etc. Instead it’s A 1-30 and a mass group of people trying to pretend they are all A 1. I just was told that ‘the line is back there’ even though I am B3 and this guy’s boarding pass read B30. Maybe I’m too conditioned to Southwest in America or maybe he hasn’t flown Southwest before (though he was an American) but one of us is in the wrong.
Overall, boarding was more orderly than a flight out of Shanghai where passengers all make a mad rush for the gate regardless if they are first or peasant class. Still the assimilation to Southwest’s style is far from complete. To that point, the flight attendant just announced in English and Spanish that there is no assigned seating.
Adios Mexico!
<==Back to Centurion Lounge Mexico City – Onto United Lounge Orange County==>
How early did you get to the airport? I’m thinking two hours but that will cut into time for last half day of touring.
2 hours. Plenty of time to visit the centurion by gate 18. Don’t go to the priority pass ones. There’s also a centurion before security.