Best Ways to Book Aeromexico Business Class with Points and Miles

If you’ve ever traveled to Mexico, there’s a good chance that you flew on Aeroméxico, the country’s national airline and largest commercial carrier. While Aeroméxico boasts being the world’s most punctual airline, it’s not known for providing a luxurious experience compared to other global carriers. So, if you find yourself flying in Aeroméxico economy class, you may be left unimpressed with your experience.

If you want a more pleasant experience on your next Aeroméxico flight, you might consider upgrading to business class, which is known as “Clase Premier” on Aeroméxico. However, these Clase Premier business-class tickets can have high cash prices, especially on long-haul flights between Mexico and certain cities in the United States, as well as other Aeroméxico destinations. Luckily, by using points and miles, you can book Aeroméxico Clase Premier flights at low out-of-pocket costs.

In this article, we’re going to explain the best ways to book Aeroméxico business-class award flights with points and miles. We’ll also discuss what you can expect when flying in Aeroméxico Clase Premier.

What to Expect in Aeroméxico’s Clase Premier Business Class

The Aeroméxico fleet consists of five different aircraft types. The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft are used for long-haul flights—including flights to New York, Los Angeles, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam and Tokyo. The Boeing 737 MAX and Boeing 737-800 aircraft are used to operate short- and medium-haul flights between Mexico and destinations in the Americas. Finally, the Embraer 190 aircraft are used to fly domestic routes within Mexico.

As expected, business class on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft is the best in the Aeroméxico fleet. The 787-9 Dreamliner has 36 Clase Premier seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, whereas the 787-8 Dreamliner has 32 Clase Premier seats in a super diamond configuration. All of these seats convert into fully flat beds, ensuring you’ll arrive at your destination feeling well rested.

Clase Premier cabins on Boeing 787 Dreamliners also feature soft LED mood lighting, increased oxygen flow and 60% noise reduction within the cabin. These features are designed to reduce eye strain and lessen the effects of jet lag.

Every Clase Premier seat on Dreamliner aircraft features a touch-screen seatback entertainment system, giving you access to hundreds of hours of movies and TV shows. This screen is 18 inches in size on the 787-9 aircraft and 16 inches in size on the 787-8 aircraft.

The Clase Premier cabins on these 787 Dreamliner aircraft also feature full self-service bars—known as “Espacio Premier”—which include wine, spirits, beer, soft drinks, water and light snacks, such as sandwiches, nuts and fruit-and-vegetable trays. Whenever the seatbelt sign is off, you can freely walk up to this bar and take whatever you like.

Passengers flying in Clase Premier on long-haul flights will also receive a complimentary amenity kit, which varies based on whether you’re flying between Mexico and Europe or Asia or flying between Mexico and a destination in the Americas.

Of course, business-class passengers on long-haul Aeroméxico flights also receive complimentary meals and beverages. Clase Premier passengers will have the option of several entrees, all of which were designed by renowned chefs. You can either preselect your meal online up to 24 hours before your flight or choose your meal once you board your flight. Here are some examples of the meal options that might be available in Clase Premier:

• Braised short rib with red wine sauce, grilled asparagus and potato puree
• Chicken breast with lemon butter, mushroom risotto and tomato
• Four cheese ravioli with Alfredo sauce and lemon zest, topped with parmesan cheese
• Grilled cod with red quinoa, lemon butter and parsley

Passengers in Clase Premier can also request complimentary beverages from the in-flight staff at any time, including champagne, red wine, white wine, spirits, beer, coffee, espresso, tea and soft drinks.

When flying in Clase Premier, you can also freely access Aeroméxico Salones Premier in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara and Merida. These lounges offer complimentary à la carte food, snacks, coffee and a full bar. They also include free Wi-Fi access and a business center.

Aeroméxico Clase Premier passengers on international flights can also access SkyTeam alliance partner lounges around the world. To see if there’s a SkyTeam partner lounge at a specific airport, you can use the 10xTravel Lounge Finder tool.

Passengers ticketed in Clase Premier also receive other perks at the airport, including exclusive check-in and boarding lines, priority deplaning and priority baggage services. You’ll also have a baggage allowance of up to two 70-pound checked bags, plus a carry-on bag and personal item (totaling 30 pounds) on almost all routes. On routes between Mexico and Asia, you’ll be allowed three checked bags of up to 70 pounds each.

When flying in Clase Premier on medium- or short-haul routes—operated on Boeing 737 or Embraer 190 aircraft—you’ll be entitled to priority airport benefits, Salones Premier lounge access and the same baggage allowance. You’ll also have complimentary access to alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages during your flight.

However, you may not receive many of the other amenities mentioned above, such as amenity kits, the Espacio Premier self-service bar and lie-flat seats. Clase Premier seats on these short- and medium-haul aircraft are comfortable recliners, but they don’t lie flat.

How to Book Aeroméxico Clase Premier Business Class with Points and Miles

Now that we’ve covered the amenities that you can expect when flying in Clase Premier, let’s look at the different ways that you can book Aeroméxico Clase Premier flights with points and miles.

Aeroméxico Rewards

The best frequent flyer program through which to consistently find Aeroméxico Clase Premier award availability is the airline’s own Aeroméxico Rewards program, which is a transfer partner of several major U.S. credit card rewards programs. The following table includes the credit card points that transfer to Aeroméxico Rewards and their respective transfer ratios:

As you can see, American Express Membership Rewards offers the most favorable transfer ratio out of all of these transfer partners. In fact, we wouldn’t recommend transferring credit card points to the Aeroméxico Rewards program unless you’re transferring them from American Express Membership Rewards.

With Amex’s elevated transfer ratio, you can often find around 1 cent per point in value, or slightly more, for redemptions through the Aeroméxico Rewards program. However, when transferring Capital One or Citi points to the Aeroméxico Rewards program at a 1:1 ratio, you’ll typically get considerably less than 1 cent per point in value.

If an award flight offers less than 1 cent per point in value, then you’re better off booking that flight with points through your credit card’s travel booking portal instead of transferring them to Aeroméxico Rewards.

For example, we found a round-trip Aeroméxico Clase Premier business-class itinerary between Los Angeles (LAX) and Mexico City (MEX) for 347,100 points plus 4,106 Mexican pesos (about $224USD) in taxes and fees.

If you were to book the same flights with cash instead of points through the Aeroméxico website, it would cost you about $2,509.

Thus, factoring in the taxes and fees you’d have to pay for the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 0.7 cents per point, which is poor. This is the same value you’d get for your Capital One miles or Citi ThankYou Points, since both programs offer a 1:1 ratio.

On the other hand, if you were to transfer points from Amex (which offers a 1:1.6 transfer ratio), then the award rate for this redemption would essentially be 216,938 points (347,100 / 1.6 = 216,937.5). So, when using Amex points, the value of this redemption would actually be about 1.1 cents per point.

While this value still isn’t impressive, it’s slightly better than the value you’d get for your Amex points if you purchased these same flights through the Amex travel portal. You’ll get about the same value for most Clase Premier award flights through the Aeroméxico Rewards program.

There are also Clase Premier routes available from other U.S. cities. For instance, we found a round-trip Aeroméxico Clase Premier business-class itinerary between New York (JFK) and Mexico City (MEX) for 320,600 points and MXN$4,106 (about $224) in taxes and fees.

If you book the same flights with cash instead of points through the Aeroméxico website, they would cost you about $2,424.

So, accounting for the taxes and fees paid for the award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 0.7 cents per Aeroméxico Rewards point.

Once again, though, if you consider Amex’s favorable transfer ratio, this redemption actually provides acceptable value. Factoring in the 1:1.6 transfer ratio, the rate for this redemption would effectively be about 200,375 Aeroméxico points (320,600 / 1.6 = 200,375). Thus, when transferring Amex points, you’d get a redemption value of about 1.1 cents per point.

Credit Card Travel Booking Portals

Despite the fact that Aeroméxico is a member of SkyTeam alliance, there aren’t many (if any) SkyTeam frequent flyer programs through which you can book Aeroméxico Clase Premier awards on long-haul routes. You can find Aeroméxico economy-class award availability through the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program but business class isn’t as likely, depending on your location.

So, in many cases, your best option for booking Aeroméxico Clase Premier tickets with points will be to utilize your credit card’s travel booking portal. Regardless of which credit card you have, these travel portals almost always offer a fixed value of 1 cent per point, which is low compared to the value you can get through certain transfer partners.

However, these portals do allow you to book almost any available flight with points, including Aeroméxico Clase Premier seats. For example, we found a round-trip Aeroméxico Clase Premier itinerary between Mexico City (MEX) and Los Angeles (LAX) for 118,264 miles through Capital One’s travel booking site.

As you can see, the cash price for these flights was $1,183, which translates to a value of 1 cent per point. Once again, this value is unimpressive. However, the advantage of these credit card travel booking portals is the abundance of award availability.

For instance, there were many other Clase Premier seats available through Capital One’s travel booking site on the dates that we searched.

So, unless you have an Amex card and want to get slightly more value by transferring your points to Aeroméxico Rewards and booking your Clase Premier award through that program, using your credit card travel booking portal is the best way to book these awards.

The Bottom Line

If you’re one of the millions of people flying between Mexico and the U.S. every year, then you may want to improve your travel experience by flying in Clase Premier, Aeroméxico’s top-tier cabin class that offers business-class-level amenities. Some of these amenities include complimentary skin care products, a self-service bar complete with snacks and drinks, comfortable lie-flat seats and airport lounge access.

Booking Aeroméxico Clase Premier tickets with cash can be rather expensive. But, by booking these flights using points and miles, you can still experience Aeroméxico’s business-class product while keeping your out-of-pocket costs low.

Unfortunately, finding Aeroméxico business-class awards through partner programs seems to be impossible. So, if you want to book these awards, your options are either to book through the Aeroméxico Rewards program or through your credit card’s travel booking portal.

In general, we’d only recommend transferring Amex points to the Aeroméxico Rewards program. All of the program’s other transfer partners offer less favorable transfer ratios, meaning you’ll typically get poor value per point. So, in most cases, the best way to book Aeroméxico Clase Premier business-class awards will be through your credit card’s travel portal at a rate of 1 cent per point.