Aeromexico operate two flights per day from Madrid to Mexico City. For this flight, we’d be travelling on the 787-8. The airline do also operate the 787-9, which I’d be travelling on a couple of days later. As such, I was excited to see how they’d compare.
For the last couple of years or so, Aeromexico has periodically been offering quite good value (โฌ600 – โฌ800) one-way itineraries from Barcelona to Sรฃo Paulo in business class. These flights involve a short domestic trip from Barcelona to Madrid, from where you’ll fly to Mexico City. Usually, it’s possible to also pay around โฌ50 – โฌ100 extra to extend the stopover in Mexico City to a couple of days. This review covers the first part of the trip, and our Aeromexico Madrid to Mexico City experience in business class on the Boeing 787-9.
Aeromexico Madrid to Mexico City Check-in & Lounge
For this leg of our journey, and our Aeromexico Business Class 787-8 flight to Mexico City, we’d be starting our trip in Barcelona and connecting through Madrid Barajas Terminal 1. This meant we didn’t need to check-in again at Madrid. I have used Aeromexico’s check-in area before though, and found it to be fine. If you’re flying in business class, you will be able to use the fast-track security lanes.
Once you’ve passed security, and cleared immigration, you’ll have access to the Sala VIP Cibeles business lounge. In general, I find Barajas to be a rather miserable airport if you’re not using Terminal 4 or T4s.
This said, the Cibeles lounge is fairly fine. It’s particularly unique as it has an outside terrace but it is prone to feeling quite full during peak times. This was the case during our visit, at around 9am and it’s definitely less attractive than Iberia’s lounge in T4S.
Aeromexico Business Class 787-8 Cabin
We boarded on time, and were able to use priority boarding. which worked well.
The Aeromexico Business Class 787-8 cabin is configured in a 2-2-2 layout. This definitely makes it feel more ‘crowded’ than their 787-9 cabin which is 1-2-1. This said, if I’m travelling with someone else, I really like to be able to sit next to them, but still have access to a window seat! So actually, I was quite looking forward to trying it out. This said, if I was travelling solo, I’d much prefer to be travelling in a cabin with a 1-2-1 layout.
Waiting on our seats were a blanket, pillow and some headphones. Shortly afterwards, we were also offered an amenity kit. I really like the Aeromexico amenity kits. As well as the standard eyemask, earplugs, dental set, lipbalm and moisturiser, they include a useful notepad and pen and the quality of everything was good.
We were seated in 3G and 3E. On this aircraft, the cabin has 32 lie-flat seats. Overall, I found the seat itself to be good. This cabin definitely doesn’t feel anything like as spacious as Iberia’s a350 in Business. I’m not a huge fan of the colour scheme, and thought the cabin looked a little dated, but overall it was fine. I managed to spend 4 or so hours of the journey sleeping, and found the seat comfortable in lie-flat mode, although the footwell does feel a little narrow.
Connectivity and IFE on the Aeromexico Business Class 787-8
Although I don’t usually make much use of the in-flight entertainment system onboard a flight, I did briefly check-out the options for our flight. There were a few different choices including a variety of films, tv shows and series. The screen quality was good, although I mostly used the system to track the flight progress through the moving map.
It’s also worth quickly noting that Aeromexico offers free messaging on iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp through their wifi service onboard. I believe this is the case regarldess of cabin – and it’s a nice touch, even though I do kind of enjoy taking some hours to disconnect on a long-haul flight.
Aeromexico Madrid to Mexico City Business Class Service
Service throughout the flight was friendly. Upon boarding a welcome drink of either water, orange juice or champagne was offered.
This was a daytime flight, which I tend to prefer. The crew were responsive to any requests for additional drinks, and I have no complaints.
Food and Drinks on Aeromexico
I really appreciate the fact that Aeromexico allows you to both view the menu you’ll be offered onboard, as well as pre-order your main meal online prior to departure. This also has another advantage – you’ll benefit from a greater number of choices before departure, as the airline offers some additional options.
Before the main course was served, a starter was offered. This wasn’t hugely exciting – consisting of some cured ham and cheeses. Bread, crackers, butter and olive oil were also offered. The quality was fine but it was pretty unmemorable as far as starters go.
After the starter was finished, the crew came round with the main courses. I had pre-ordered the braised short rib. On this flight, the pre-ordering seemed to work efficiently (this wasn’t the case on my next Aeromexico flight, however). This was served alongside a plain salad bowl. Overall, it was okay. The beef was a little on the dry side, but the red wine sauce was quite good.
For dessert, ice cream was offered alongside a small bowl of red berries.
Overall, the food offered was at the lower end of my experiences in business class. It all just felt a little ‘low effort’.
As you’d expect in business class, Aeromexico offer a full range of wines, spirits, beers and soft drinks. The champagne served is Jacquart Mosaรฏque Brut. Disappointingly, I wasn’t ever offered a menu featuring the full range of drinks available. When I asked for a red wine, I was offered a couple of options – and went for the French Bordeaux – which was fine.
As I slept for the final hours of the flight, I didn’t get to try out the pre-arrival snack, so can’t comment on this.
Aeromexico Madrid to Mexico City Conclusions
Overall, I had a good flight and enjoyed the Aeromexico Business Class 787-8 product. The 787 itself isn’t my favourite aircraft, and while I enjoyed being able to grab a window seat while still being seated next to my travel companion, if I’d been travelling solo I wouldn’t have liked the cabin configuration so much.
The food and drinks served on this flight were fine. They certainly didn’t stand out, but the pre-ordering option, when it works, is a nice feature. If I was able to find another good value fare with Aeromexico, I wouldn’t have any problems flying with them again.
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