While devaluations have robbed the program of significant value, some decently good pricing does still exist using Aeromexico points.

For this post, I’m not going to get into the details of the elite status aspect of the program and instead focus on the redemption side of the program.

Three bank programs transfer to Aeromexico points, but focus on just one

There are three bank programs that will transfer their points over to pad your Aeromexico points balance. American Express, Capital One, and Citi all offer conversions. Both American Express and Capital One will transfer points immediately to your Aeromexico account; Citi will take up to a week. Keep that in mind if you’re looking to make an immediate redemption.

But between these bank programs, you should stick to American Express Membership Rewards, if at all possible. That’s because while the other two transfer points at a 1:1 ratio, American Express is a more favorable 1:1.6. This is rooted from the old days when Aeromexico based their award prices on kilometers instead of miles. As we all know, 1 mile is roughly 1.6 kilometers, hence where the ratio came from. Despite no longer associating their rewards with kilometers, the ratio remains with American Express. (Don’t tell them about it.)

Aeromexico award flights can be booked 330 days in advance

Aeromexico releases award space roughly in line with when US airlines do the same. That means you’re not going to get an opportunity to book Aeromexico awards before everyone with Delta miles can access them.

Award fees are on the hefty side

Looking to book an award flight with your Aeromexico points? Expect to pay $365 MXN ($18.55 US) if you book on their website. If you book over the phone, the price will jump to $731 MXN ($37.15 US). Some airlines assess a partner booking fee (like Alaska Airlines), but Aeromexico’s fee applies even on their own flights.

On the plus side, your first date change on your award ticket is free. After that, the following fee structure applies for each subsequent change:

• Domestic flights: $1,070 MXN ($54.38 US)
• International flights: $1,930 MXN ($98.09 US)

Canceling flights can be done for free within 24 hours of purchasing if the journey is strictly on Aeromexico. Otherwise, the following fee structure applies for cancelations:

• Domestic flights: $1,930 MXN ($98.09 US)
• International flights: $2,900 MXN ($147.39 US)

This isn’t a program to make a speculative booking. Aside from the one free date change you’re permitted, don’t be looking to this program thinking you can switch around your plans.

Award booked with Aeromexico points are zone-based

Chart for classic rewards

Thankfully, Aeromexico still maintains an award chart… at least, sort of. There are two styles of awards. The first is for their “classic rewards”, which are handled via an award chart and cover flights on Aeromexico and their airline partners.

Oddly enough, they’re supposed to show award charts for other regions, but their website doesn’t want to show anything other than Mexico. And to go with that, I can’t get their website to show pricing for flights that don’t touch Mexico. My understanding is if you believe the partner flights exist, you’ll have to call them up to book. But good luck as I’ve heard service is hit-or-miss.

You’ll want to stick to low season awards as much as possible. That’s because high season rates can be significantly higher than low season. (Just look at that spike for flights to Australia.)

For 2025, the high season dates are as follows:

• Easter: April 10, 2025 to April 28, 2025
• Summer: July 1, 2025 to August 24, 2025
• Christmas: December 12, 2025 to January 9, 2026

For 2026, the high season dates are as follows:

• Easter: March 26, 2026 to April 12, 2026
• Summer: July 12, 2026 to August 23, 2026
• Christmas: December 11, 2026 to January 10, 2027

The classic award chart… in American Express MR amounts

Before we move on, let’s just go ahead and convert that award chart to American Express Membership Rewards amounts. If you’re using Amex MR like I told you to do, these are the effective award rates for the same routes above. Suddenly, the award chart looks more palatable (well, not those Australia rates).

Aeromexico dynamic rewards

If you want to fly on Aeromexico, Delta, Air France, or KLM, you get expanded access to awards at a price. As you might have come to expect with other programs, flights that are expensive with cash will translate to high points prices. While I appreciate the flexibility that I have the option to book with points, I don’t see the value here, to be brief.

What are the sweet spots?

Flights within Mexico

This might not appeal to everyone, but sometimes you find yourself needing to take a domestic Mexico flight. And if this happens, you should be thrilled that you can fly for as few as 6,250 Amex MR points (10,000 Aeromexico points) in economy. If you feel the need to splurge, business class for as few as 14,375 Amex MR (23,000 Aeromexico points) isn’t a bad option either.

US (not New York, Chicago, Seattle) to Mexico

Looking to fly to Mexico for a vacation in popular destinations like Cancun or Cabo San Lucas? Or maybe you want to explore Mexico City? Well, it’s actually quite affordable with Aeromexico points, especially if you transfer in from Amex MR. I’d be more than happy to pay 11,250 Amex MR for economy or 22,500 Amex MR for business during low season. Just go during the shoulder months and you’ll have a good time.

You will pay a higher price if departing from New York, Chicago, or Seattle. You might want to explore departing from other cities if you’re adamant about paying a cheaper fare. For example, consider taking the train from New York to somewhere else like Philadelphia.

Mexico to Europe… almost

It’s getting hard to find award flights to Europe. This is especially true if you are flying from the west coast of North America. Well, one consideration is Aeromexico, which will charge 150,000 points in business class (93,750 Amex MR). Tijuana airport is walkable from the United States (assuming you’re already in San Diego). Can’t find a better option for your flight to Europe? Maybe you might consider heading down to Mexico as part of your journey.

That said, if you’re on the east coast, it’s not a competitive rate. At least not yet. When others devalue more, there might be a chance here.

Round-the-world awards are theoretically possible

Let’s start this section by saying Aeromexico took down their site advertising the benefit. Usually that suggests they’re looking to kill the feature, but I’ve heard reports that it still can be done. You just have to call up Aeromexico and request it. Assuming the agent knows how to process it, you’d just have to feed the segments and dates of the flights you want.

What are the rules? It’s hard to say if they have changed since there is no official site, but the last known rules are:

• Economy class costs 224,000 Aeromexico points (140,000 Amex MR)
• Business class costs 352,000 Aeromexico points (220,000 Amex MR)
• No more than 15 stops along the way
• No backtracking

But there’s a big problem with round-the-world redemptions these days. Many, if not most, award programs want to give the best availability to their own members. That means it will be difficult to find award flights on Aeromexico’s partner airlines to complete your journey. This is especially true when you start thinking about business class redemptions.

So stop listening to other sites saying this will give you remarkable value. The reality is that it will be a challenge both to find the space and also to book it.

Infant awards are 10% of the cash price

Back when we flew internationally with an infant, we ended up sometimes paying a pretty penny to allow our child to sit in our lap. Without getting into the debate on the safety of the lap child, I can say it sometimes got expensive.

With most airlines, you would be forced to pay 10% of the cash price of the ticket. Say you found a flight for 75,000 miles in business class one-way. But if you want to bring your lap infant, you’d have to pay 10% of the cash fare, which could be thousands of dollars. A one-way flight is painfully priced high, and you might pay less if doing a roundtrip, but it’s still quite a dent. I’d say the rough average of what we paid for an infant was around $600 for the ticket.

Sadly, Aeromexico is one of the programs that charge cash for infant fares even when the parents are booked on award flights. That’s always a bummer to see.

There is a field in Aeromexico’s award search that suggests you might be able to add an infant, but you’ll end up with a warning to call after booking to add your child. If you ignore it, like I did, they will forcefully remove your infant from the search without telling you.

How to best search for availability?

I am not a fan of the Aeromexico website. You need to go to a special website to book your award flights. If by some chance you are logged into your Aeromexico account on another site, say the Aeromexico main site to check your point balance, it will error out. And it will continue to error out for 15 minutes until the system logs you out after inactivity, because try as I might, it didn’t recognize me logging out. Ugh.

And I hope you know your Spanish since all results will be in Spanish. It also seems to be that way even if I tell the website I want it in English. You’ll have to use your browser to convert to your preferred language. O tienes una oportunidad para practicar tu Español. The choice is yours.

While you’ll want to go there to book your actual flight, just use the free Amex point.me tool to help search for awards. It will save you a lot of headache as the Aeromexico interface just simply is frustrating.

Do Aeromexico points expire?

Nope, they don’t. It’s nice to find award programs that don’t put a time limit on how quickly to use your points. It’s especially nice given that you have to transfer in Amex MR in increments of 1,000 and you’re likely to have spare change left over. That remainder will be waiting for you to use it up when you book your next ticket.

Just don’t go crazy and transfer everything you have over to Aeromexico. That’s a mistake.

Suggested reading:

• Destinations we’ve visited
• How to Travel with Kids
• How to Book Award Travel Like a Pro