This is our first trip to the area. I've heard that it takes a long time to get through customs in Cancun.<BR><BR>What should I expect? Thanks!

alot will depend on what terminal and the time of your arrival. We only went through the charter terminal once, but I don't remember having a long line. At the main terminal even if alot of planes are arriving, the customs people move you through pretty fast. I think the longest we have ever waited is 1/2 hour and we have been going for 13 years and usually twice a year.

Went through without a problem going(arriving very late flight), leaving Cancun was a blankety-blank disaster.. I will never go through there again. Long, long, long winding lines...AND to top it off when they hand checked our backpack.. our cell phone which was in a secure location mysteriously disappeared..

Another thing, things seem to move more quickly if you have a passport rather than just using your drivers' license and birth certificate. Last summer they had a separate line for the travelers with passports, and even though we arrived at the same time as two other flights, we got through very quickly as few people seemed to be carrying passports

Entrance: no probs, pretty fast<BR>Departure: expect long slow lines, they check (by hand) your checked luggage and your carryon. DO NOT pack curling irons,lighters,matches,sharp objects of any type (including tweezers,nail cutters) in your carryon - they WILL be confiscated, put them in your CHECKED luggage. When we were there there was a LARGE pile of lighters,nail clippers etc by the agents. My friend had a curling iron in her carryon and she had to check the carryon.

Most of the other posters pretty accurately covered your question.<BR>Just one additional thing...<BR>One you are through customs, and you have picked up your luggage, before you leave the airport, you have to go through a line where you will push a button, and a stoplight will either be red or green. If it's green, no problem, but if it's red, they will hand check EVERY piece of luggage VERY thoroughly. We've been going every year for 10 years and only gotten checked once. If it does happen, just be pleasant and they'll check it and you can go on.

It took us nearly 2 hrs to clear immigration on a Saturday evening (queue started at thebottom of the stairs). For our return flight, also on a Saturday, people coming in were queueing up the stairs and along the gates for out-going flights, so I guess they had to wait up to 3 hours. We were told that Saturday is always the worst day, and that improvements "are in hand".

we had absolutely no problem at all -- nothing on the front end, nothing on the back end. family of 4, right in the middle of the spring break crowd. it was fine.

Fixing to go on trip 8, only experienced mild delays, no worse than Atlanta these days. One word to the wise, a young man mentioned on the plane prior to take off to return to US that he had misplaced his birth certificate. <BR><BR>He was escorted off the plane and left in Cancun On the flight home, someone discovered his birth certificate under a seat.<BR><BR>I would not mention this until at least I was back on US soil. Would have been alot easier to correct and communicate

the airport is hot and steamy. Don't change your money there. Go downtown where the rate is better. Also, don't let random porters offer to carry your luggage to yor bus or cab.

The airport has been completely revamped and has A/C everywhere now.<BR><BR>Also, we have been through the Cancun airport more than thirty times and have never had a problem with porters taking our luggage...