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Long-haul flights are always a mix of excitement and curiosity, and this one didn’t disappoint. As part of my EuroBonus Millionaire trip, I got the chance to fly Aeromexico’s Business Class from Seoul to Mexico City on their Boeing 787 Dreamliner. What made it even cooler was being able to try out both the 787-8 and 787-9 cabins, complete with their famous Sky Bar. For 114.000 EuroBonus points, I was all set for this epic journey, which included a quick stop in Mexico City before heading to Buenos Aires.
Aeromexico had a hectic 2024 with plenty of announcements, including the relaunch of Club Premier as Aeromexico Rewards, and the start of a new route to Seoul, their second asian route. Here’s a full breakdown of how it went—from check-in to landing!
| Route | ICN-MEX |
| Flight | AM91 |
| Cabin | Business |
| Equipment | Boeing 787-8 |
| Aircraft | N967AM (10 years old) |
| Flight Time | 13h 25m |
How I Booked This Flight
While arranging my EuroBonus Millionaire trip, I wanted to start my return to Argentina from Seoul (my last Asian stop), and I found availability on the recently-opened route from Seoul to Mexico, and working out the dates, I could have a 23h stopover and connect with a flight to Buenos Aires the next day. For all of it, I paid 114.000 EuroBonus points in Business Class. I was also excited because I could try and compare both ther 787-8 and 787-9 with the Sky Bar.
Check-In & Security
I spent the night at an airport hotel (Ibis Styles Ambassador Incheon T2), so I arrived at Terminal 2 around 8am, 5 minutes after a short shuttle ride from the hotel, and 3.5h before my flight. The check-in by Aeromexico was clearly marked in aisle H. I used the SkyPriority lane which was empty. The process was straightforward and the agents were nice and kind. They could also check me in on my second flight to Buenos Aires, so I got both boarding passes at the same time.
After that, I went through security, which was extremely slow. All the queues were stuck and getting longer as more people started gathering for their flights. This didn’t happen to me at all a few days ago when I took my flight to Beijing, it was all very efficient and straightforward. After queueing for one hour, some passengers started to sneak in and jump over to the front of the line because they were about to lose their flights.
Once I got through the machines, the second hell started: passport control. I queued for another 15 miuntes to get to an automated machine (which worked last time), but it failed matching my passport with my boarding pass and sent me to another 15 minute queue with an agent.
The whole process took about 1.5 hours, thankfully I arrived with plenty of time to the airport, otherwsie I can understand how many people lost their flights.
KAL Lounge at Incheon
Once at the airside I headed to the KAL Prestige Lounge that I was curious to try last time. It’s located on the second floor. There was no queue to get in, compared to the Martina lounge in front, but the lounge was packed, extremely busy, noisy, and chaotic. You could tell it was rush hour. It was hard to find a place to seat, and the food buffet areas were full of people. Luckily this time, unlike with the KLM Crown Lounge, the food selection was really good and was replenished permanently, so it was easy to fech some stuff.
Check our dedicated post on the KAL Prestige Lounge Incheon with all the details (coming soon).
Boarding
After half an hour, I headed to Gate 257, a 15-minute walk from the lounge. I got there 5 minutes before boarding time, right when they announced that boarding will be delayed by another 10 minutes. I enjoyed my time watching the plane and getting some amazing views from the terminal.
They started calling Zone 1 first (SkyPriority), so I could board among the first passengers. We boarded through the center door.
Cabin & Seat
My seat was 4A, a window seat at the front of the cabin, and to the left of the center door. The galley was behind the seat, but luckily there was no lavatory next to it, so it felt quiet the entire journey. As this is Aeromexico’s ‘old’ 787 configuration, the layout was 2-2-2, with the drawback of no direct aisle acces, so you have to jump over your neighbor. The seat brand/model is [FIND OUT], similar to what United, Copa, KLM and many others use to have.
The seat itself and cushion are comfortable. Legroom is OK, but slightly constrained when in bed mode, compared to more modern cabins where there is plenty of space for the feet. The aisle seat has a bit more of room than the window seat. At the seat, there was a bag with the bedding kit (pillow and duvet), headphones, and a seat cover that acts as mattress pad/extra cushion, which is really nice and soft.
Even though the cabin design is over 10 years old, the IFE screens are still large, responsive, and bright. There’s also some storage space underneath the screens which is handy.
One nice touch was that, on the armrest and along with the menu, there was a handwritten card welcoming us to the flight. The menu was only for the main dish right after departure (lunch), and not so extense. The pre-arrival options were not listed there.
In the central armrest, there was an also very responsive headset, the seat controls, and a pocket full of magazines. The tray table was very straightforward to take out. It’s a bit thin and weak when fully extended, though.
Bedding
The bedding items were wrapped in a plastic bag, unlike other recent flights that are using reusable bags with zipper. It was interesting to see that the headphones were along with the bedding instead of a separate container or area. Along with the items there was a card with instructions to install the seat cover.
Welcome Drink
As the cabin was getting ready and all passengers boarded, we were offered a glass of water or juice (no alcohol).
We pushed back on time while a satefy video played in three different languages (Spanish, English and Korean).
Since we left the gate, between pushback and taxiing, it took as about 20 minutes to get us in the air. The morning was very bright and sunny, with beautiful views.
Amenity Kit
The amenity kit was made by Etro with plenty of recycled materials including plastic and leather. It was a quite complete kit including slippers, an eye mask, dental kit with toothbrush, toothpaste and mouth wash, a hair comb, ear plugs, hand cream, lip balm, and something that greatly surprised me which was a small 48-page notebook (“field notes”) along with a pen. Nice touch!
WIFI
Most of Aeromexico’s 787 have been enhanced with WIFI onboard. I remember flying with them nearly 10 years ago and that wasn’t available. The bright side is that they use modern equipment from Panasonic which works fast and has good coverage. The same system that China Airlines had on my recent A350 flight with them. The downside is that Business Class passengers only get a 2h voucher for the entire 14h flight. I didn’t ask the crew if they were willing to hand out another one. However, I think it should be complimentary for the entire flight, as it was with China Airlines.
The system was straightforward to use and it took a few clicks to apply the voucher. You could register and create a new account (recommended), in case you want to switch devices with the same voucher or bought package. The prices were USD $5.99 for 1h, or USD $21.99 for the whole flight. One nice aspect is that the whole plane gets free internet access for messages (WhatsApp, iMessage and Facebook Messenger only, no pictures or videos).
Lavatories
The Business Class cabin has access to one front lavatory, and two rear lavatories right along the galley. The toilets were well lit and cleaned often by the crew. This 787 doesn’t have a window inside as the layout with other airlines, but it did have nice touches like some flowers and cream.
Meal 1
A few minutes after takeoff the crew asked for our main dish preferences. Unfortunately, by the time they reached our row they had already ran out of everything except for the korean option (bibimbap). Of course it wasn’t too big of an issue for me, but in both of my flights with Aeromexico I basically had no option for any of the meals, I had to ‘take whatever it was left’ because there were too few of the other meals loaded.
What was surprising to me was that in this first leg, I was in row 4 out of 9, so basically all other passengers had no options either. On my second flight, I was recommended to pre-order the meal online, something that is poorly advertised by Aeromexico. Unlike with China Airlines, you don’t get any reminders via email, during check-in or in any other form. My advice is to remember to pre-select meal options in general unless you are fine taking any of the meals whatsoever.
First, a hot towel.
For starter, there was a plate of cheese, crackers and raw salmon.
The main dish was Bibimbap (Korean), which was very decent and tasty.
For dessert, there was a peach and guyava panna cotta and icecream.
Sleep
After lunch, the entire cabin was dimmed. This flight is funky when it comes to the timezones and differences. We took off before noon, it lasts almost 14 hours, and arrives on the same day, one hour earlier than we took off. Going via the Pacific you basically “go back in time”. Given this major shift, I had decided to have lunch and try to sleep as much as possible, so that I could stay awake during the day in Mexico. I was still too tired and jetlagged from the previous days, so I managed to sleep a solid 7h-8h in total (very rare for me). Luckily this made the trip feel short.
Galley Bar
During the flight, the gally has some trolleys with snacks that are changed every couple of hours, there’s quite a few stuff to choose from, and later along the flight there’s also cut fruit, chocolate-covered strawberries, etc.
In one of my trips to the lavatories, I went back to the Economy Class cabin and had a walk around the plane, which to my surprise, was tidier than I expected on this ultra long flights.
Pre-arrival Meal (Breakfast)
About two hours before arrival, the crew started handing out hot towels before breafkast. They also offered coffe or tea.
As with the main dish, I had no option other than this salmon quiche, which was tasty but definitely not my go-to option when it comes to breakfast. The other two options (not available) were yogurt with granola or a cheese omelette. The tray also had fruit, jam, butter, and croissants.
Arrival
The day was a bit overcast that day in Mexico City so the approach was cloudy, but still pictoresque. The path felt very smooth, and the crew was very gently preparing the cabin for landing. We got some nice views of the city was we came down. We arrived at Terminal 2 of Benito Juarez Airport, which is Aeromexico’s main terminal. The terminal itself was a bit chaotic and noisy, but at the same time the arrival was organized and a great timing. There was no one at migration/passport control, so I went through the controls in under 2 minutes.
Video
Summary
All in all, I had a great experience with Aeromexico. While the cabin on their 787-8 is not the most modern, and the airline has a more comfortable configuration on their 787-9, it’s still solid and does the job for this very long leg. I was surprised by how much I slept, and the extra seat cover/mattress pad made the seat more comfortable. The crew was extremely polite and friendly, and the food was decent. The downside was the lack of options for both lunch and breakfast, as they ran out of alternatives very quickly. Other than that, it was a great flight, and I wouldn’t hesitate to fly with them again. My two pieces of advice for Aeromexico travelers would be to pre-order meals and consider that sometimes passport control and transit in MEX can be chaotic.