During my recent trip to Mexico’s beautiful Riviera Nayarit to write feature articles for TravelAge West, I flew American Airlines in and out of Puerto Vallarta’s international airport, which sits just across the state border from Nayarit. This is a review of my experience in the airport and onboard.
THE FLIGHT: Puerto Vallarta Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport (PVR) to Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), American Airlines, Boeing 737, economy class
THE DEPARTURE: As the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect nearly every aspect of the travel experience, it’s a good idea to allow extra time for arrivals and departures. The Puerto Vallarta airport, like most, is receiving far fewer flights than usual, which makes for a less-crowded terminal, but there are still instances where there may be delays in certain aspects of the airport experience.
Since I wasn’t checking luggage, I checked in at the kiosk and there was no line, it was a very quick experience. The kiosks had a QR code that could be used to scan the health form that’s now required for all passengers flying from every Mexican airport, for both domestic and international flights from Mexico.
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I have a guilty pleasure that I sometimes indulge when flying from Puerto Vallarta: Carl’s Jr. We don’t have that chain in the eastern United States where I live, so for me it’s exotic and wonderful experience to consume thousands of calories and who knows what else exists in those tasty burgers. This trip was no different, so right after checking in, I took the escalator upstairs and headed right toward that yellow star logo. Even Carl’s Jr. was a bit different during the the pandemic; they took my temperature and gave me hand sanitizer at the counter, and every other table was blocked. The burgers, however, tasted the same as always.
I was surprised to see a rather long line waiting to get through the security screening area. It was, in fact, the longest line I’d ever seen at the Puerto Vallarta airport, and it took a good 20 or 25 minutes to get to the actual security folks. The delay may have been related to the fact that some people didn’t have their health form completed, and had to get a paper copy at a table set up in the hallway. Also, there was no social distancing whatsoever between the passengers standing in line. I learned to stand far behind the person in front of me, and then use my wheeled suitcase to keep extra space behind me.
My flight boarded on time; again, there was no social distancing.
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THE FLIGHT & INFLIGHT SERVICE: As we boarded the aircraft, flight attendants distributed clear plastic bags, each filled with a small bottle of water, a sanitary wipe and Biscoff cookies (which I love even more than Carl’s Jr.).
Economy seats on the American Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft featured individual setback screens with a large menu of on-demand entertainment.
There was no inflight service during the flight. The plastic bag we got at boarding was it.
THE ARRIVAL: We landed on time at Dallas/Fort Worth. There were no health forms distributed or required by the U.S. government. For the second time at DFW during the pandemic, I found a surprisingly long line at the Global Entry section of the immigration processing area. The line ground to a halt after the only agent working the line (who seemed to be questioning and reviewing every person) disappeared with a passenger. It took more than 10 minutes to get through, which is a lot compared to the usual two minutes or so that I’d spend there. At least the TSA PreCheck area for my connecting flight had no line at all.