AeroMexico Salon Premier Club, Terminal 2 MEX

01: Introduction: Tijuana to Mexico City on AeroMexico
02: Cross Border Xpress bridge, Tijuana Airport
03: AeroMexico 787-8 Premier Class (business class) Tijuana to Mexico City
04: Presidente InterContinental Hotel, Mexico City
05: 3 things that surprised me about Mexico City
06: AeroMexico Salon Premier Club, Terminal 2 MEX
07: AeroMexico 737-700 Premier Class (business class) Mexico City to Tijuana

It didn’t even occur to me that I might have lounge access as part of my itinerary until I was standing smack dab in the heart of terminal 2 at MEX with two hours to go before my flight with no place to sit and relax. Mexico City Benito Juárez International Airport is one of the most chaotic airports I’ve ever been in, with very limited quiet / secluded seating options throughout the entire terminal. I certainly wasn’t expecting that, so it was only natural for me to start thinking about how to get into a lounge of some sort. Any lounge would do – I just needed a quiet place to sit!

Since I had a Premier Class boarding pass for my flight to TIJ this morning, I thought I’d trudge on up to the AeroMexico Salon Premier club on the second floor and see if they’d let me in. Knowing that it’s pretty much impossible to get into the lounge on any domestic US first class ticket, my hopes weren’t very high as I made my way up the staircase. But it never hurts to ask, right?

Much to my relief, I discovered that a Premier Class ticket does grant access to the lounge, even on a domestic intra-Mexico route like the one I had today. Very unexpected, but very welcome as well.

Unfortunately, once inside, I quickly discovered that it was just as busy and chaotic in here as it was out in the main terminal. Finding a place to sit was difficult, made even worse by a handful of other travelers who were sprawled out on the huge couches along the back wall taking up valuable seating space. Oh well – I did find an empty chair with an adjacent table nearby so it wasn’t a total disaster.

My first impressions of the lounge were pretty good despite how crowded it was. It is a very large and open space with high ceilings, and the layout is broken up into sections for dining, lounging, and working.

Food options weren’t all that great. The self-serve cold food bar was nearly picked clean by the time I arrived, with the only options left being a few pieces of fruit, some stale danish, and an assortment of pre-packaged granola bars and nuts. I was really looking forward to a healthy bowl of cereal, but there was none to be found. A small bag of peanuts and a glass of orange juice would have to do.

Note that there is also a hot-food “restaurant” in this lounge with limited Mexican-style items such as quesadillas and tortas. I use quotation marks simply because I’m not sure what else to call this section – it’s broken off from the main lounge as it’s own separate room, but it’s very small with bar-style seating and it did seem a bit awkward and cramped. It looked more like a smoking lounge than a place to eat. I didn’t try any of this food simply because I had a hankering for healthy cereal that no quesadilla on earth could quench.

Another nice thing about this lounge is the fact that there is a full spa for those who seek complete detachment from the stress of being in a noisy airport. I didn’t go in, but it looked really nice and tempting from the outside.

Despite the crowds and lackluster food options, I did find this Salon Premier Club to be a really nice alternative to grinding it out in the main terminal below. The noise and activity levels inside were much lower, and there were plenty of places to plug in and recharge mobile devices. I certainly wouldn’t call it “heaven”, but it was a decent place to hang out for a while before my flight.