[yckjayl]

On February 10, 2025, I was denied boarding on Aeroméxico flight AM640 from Mexico City (MEX) to Boston (BOS) despite arriving at the airport at 11:40 AM for a scheduled 12:55 PM international departure.

The reason? The ground staff insisted that I provide EVUS registration, which is only required for B1/B2 visa holders entering the U.S. I clearly informed them that I was traveling on a valid J-1 student visa, for which EVUS is not applicable.

Despite this, I was forced to apply for EVUS on the spot, which took over 60 minutes and directly caused me to miss my flight. My wife—who was on the same reservation and traveling with me—was allowed to board as a “last-minute exception,” even though I had all her immigration documents with me. She was later detained by U.S. immigration upon arrival in Boston because of this.

Aeroméxico has since refused to:

Take responsibility for wrongly enforcing an inapplicable immigration rule

Acknowledge that the delay was caused by their staff, not by my lateness

Refund my original ticket ($503)

Compensate me for the $659 I had to pay for a replacement ticket

To make things worse, the staff refused to speak English properly, and when my Spanish-speaking classmate tried to help, they refused to engage with him as well. As a Chinese international student, I felt discriminated against on the basis of both nationality and language.

Aeroméxico's recent response to the U.S. Department of Transportation dismisses the key facts and hides behind rigid ticket rules to avoid accountability for their own procedural failure.

I am sharing this here to warn other travelers—especially international students or non-Spanish speakers—to be cautious when flying with Aeroméxico. I am pursuing this matter further through PROFECO (Mexico’s consumer protection agency) and DOT.

If you’ve experienced something similar, I’d love to connect.