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Los Cabos Airport Is Short On Staff, Should You Be Worried?

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The head of the company that runs the Los Cabos airport revealed that the facility is currently operating with fewer immigration officers than it previously featured, which could lead to delays for passengers. So far, there have been certain delays reported, particularly in the first days of the year in which an increased number of flights arrived and took off from the San Jose del Cabo airport.

Shuttles and Cars Outside of Los Cabos Airport during the day.

As we move further away from the holiday season, the hope is that the delays will become less frequent, with flights to and from the Cabo airport coming back down to their usual number of passengers. Still, Francisco Villaseñor, the head of the airport in San Jose del Cabo, has made a plea to authorities to increase the number of immigration officers at the facility to help avoid long lines, particularly upon arrival to Los Cabos. Long lines in Los Cabos have recently appeared at immigration and customs.  

Sign at a México airport

Francisco Villaseñor detailed the issues that the airport is currently facing in an interview with local media where he mentioned, “We will keep asking relevant authorities for help. The biggest issues have been seen in immigration. However, at the beginning of 2022, we had been training more staff members to cater to the number of arrivals. At that time, we were able to deal with the influx of passengers because, for the first time, we had 27 immigration modules occupied. Our personnel was shortened, though, and this led to problems.”

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Airport Security in Mexico with people walking through and having their belongings checked.

How Concerning Are The Issues For Future Los Cabos Travelers?  

So far, there hasn’t been a major outcry from tourists heading to Los Cabos regarding this issue. In fact, traffic jams on the road to the airport and not at immigration have seemingly been the main concern for travelers in the last few months. The Cabo airport, though, can have long lines at immigration, particularly on weekends and specific days in which multiple airlines arrive at the facility. 

Long line a toll booth causing traffic jams

One of the ways that travelers can get ahead of this problem is by contacting the shuttle company that they hired to pick them up from the Cabo airport or drive them to the facility. Since these are the companies that have to deal with these issues on a daily basis, they’re typically better informed than anyone else when it comes to the lines at the Cabo airport. 

Marriott Hotel Van

Another reason to contact shuttle companies when arriving or departing from Los Cabos is to check for traffic issues on the road to the airport. Traffic jams on the road to the airport due to renovations on the road or even protests being held in the area can cause problems for travelers, particularly for travelers trying to make a flight out of the Cabo airport.   

Local Backroad Traffic

Delays Don’t Seem To Be A Daily Issue Yet

The statements made by the head of the Los Cabos airport seem to be more preventive than anything else. It looks like he’s trying to ensure that immigration officers return to their previous number as soon as possible. Multiple Mexican airports have been plagued by this problem resulting in delays of up to 2 hours at immigration in places like Cancun, which recently installed e-gates to combat the problem. Currently, the situation in Los Cabos doesn’t seem to be as severe. As previously stated, though, during weekends and other days in which multiple airlines service a route to Los Cabos, the lines do increase considerably.

many people waiting to check in at the airport

Another thing that travelers who haven’t contracted a shuttle service can do on the day of their flights is to monitor traffic through apps. Many of the traffic issues on the roads leading to the airport appear without warning. Also, travelers can track the number of flights that are set to land or take off from the Cabo airport at the same time as their flight to get a sense of how crowded immigration or customs might be. With that information, perhaps they’ll choose to arrive at the airport early or make different arrangements to get from the airport to a hotel or Airbnb.

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Reye

Sunday 15th of January 2023

The situation at the San Jose del Cabo airport was extreme total chaos on Saturday Jan 14. As usual, although aircraft parked at a bridge, stairs were used. No escalators were functioning for the 100 + steps to the immigration hall. The mass of people trying to get through customs (not immigration) filled both the customs hall and baggage hall. There were NO airport officials present to control the crowd. A fight among passengers broke out. In total there were 4 or 5 customs officers at 3 in the afternoon to handle the masses of incoming travellers. The airport needs to hire more staff as well as spread out/stagger the available landing windows for aircraft. The experience was so bad it was dangerous and definitely above any legal crowd capacity for fire.