US Entry and Departure

[agedpom]

I have been reading some awful reviews about arrival and departure experiences at US International Airports.
It seems as if every time you enter or leave the airport you are face with interminable delays.
What is the experience of AFF members?
Are there any US International airports where the experience is similar to Australia?
Is there such a thing as an Express service or Priority service card? Is it honoured?
Is it better to arrive from Europe or Asia/Pacific?

 

[drewbles]

I really enjoy arriving into SFO (on an International flight). Nice terminal, the staff seem friendlier, and easy to move around the terminals on the train.

Worst arrivals is MIA. Absolutely horrendous for international/Caribbean flights. It's not even organised chaos, it's just chaos.

LAX is also unpleasant. TBIT is better than it used to be (and thankfully VA moved out of T5 for arrivals; sharing that with 2 x DL 777 arrivals at the same time as 2 x VA 777 arrivals often resulted in the tiny arrivals hall being crammed to overflowing).

ORD wasn't much fun either, but i've only done that once.

Out of all of the ones i've done, i'd put SFO as the closest to an AU airport that i've arrived into. No difference where you arrive from, if it's international, you're all going to be arriving into the same place generally.

LAX did briefly have express (I recall being handed one on VA when at T5, and it was then handed in when I got off the plane, and we were all directed to the same queue, no idea why they bothered). If you have an APEC, you can usually use that though.

 

[Kiwi]

Just been through Miami and it was chaotic. Got to be careful to allow enough time from lounge to gate.

 

[QF029]

The US has no outbound formalities apart from the normal security clearance which can be time consuming but some airports have separate lines for FF's and J/F pax.

 

[Milboo]

Last month I:
- arrived TBIT LAX from SYD - no queues at all, 3 people in front of me at immigration and then customs.
- departed T3 LAX - 1 person in front for check in in both normal and priority lanes (Aero Mexico) about 10 mins for security queue
- arrived in EWR from YYZ - cleared immigration in Canada so no need to queue.
- departed T4 JFK - airport was busy but 1 person in front in bag drop only. Was big security queue but I got moved to the TSA Pre Check queue so was there max 10 mins.
- departed TBIT LAX - used priority lane and was front but only 3 people in normal lane. Don't remember queuing for security.

So generally I found the airports to be pretty efficient and fast moving and really no different to what I have experienced departing SYD.

Contrast this to standing in queue for over an hour in Mexico City for a flight to Havana.

 

[Grooba]

Agreed with drewbles, MIA has got to be the worse entry point I've encountered.

A close second is PHL. Arrived on a BA flight from LHR last year, just behind 2 other arrivals from asia. My longest ever wait to enter the US, a tick under 2 hours. Needless to say I'll avoid PHL where possible in the future!

Surprisingly I've never really had a long/bad experience at LAX. Certainly not saying it's a great arrival port however with all the nightmare stories I've read about I consider myself lucky at LAX (probably jinxed myself now).

 

[Boris spatsky]

My best experiences have been SFO, HNL and DFW. My worst have been LAX, JFK, ORD and DFW (on a bad day) - all over 2 hours to get through customs.

 

[Kiwi]

I have arrived in the US at HNL a few times. I have always found it to be a good way to go.

 

[erkpod]

I arrived yesterday on VA1 into TBIT yesterday. Plane to street (with luggage) in 45 minutes. People sighted/heard from VA1, QF11, ANA & a flight from Seoul.

 

[The Rok]

I have often spent 2 hours +++ in MIA. Quickest has been Atlanta, and JFK not so bad.

 

[Awesom Andy]

Not a regular traveller to the US, but I cleared JFK T7 arrival and SFO arrival in under an hour. Although I did get lucky once at LAX domestic, land side with checked-in luggage in 20 minutes. Should've bought a lottery ticket that day.

 

[Industrial]

My last trip was from Melbourne to LA and return, the wait times were worse in Melbourne than in LA TBIT.

 

[RooFlyer]

The generic issue with US airports is lack of staff and confined spaces, therefore long queues, and having a chaotic feel. If you arrive at a domestic carrier's check-in area, you may be met with multiple queues snaking out of the area, and you have to figure out exactly which queue is which!

Outbound:
Nearly always separate check-in queues for high staus pax, eg QF honoured by AA staff, no problems. Highest status check-in queues not too bad re wait time. There are sometimes separate queues for high status pax through security, but can be slow (probably no different from Australia). Security is always thorough; full body scanners very common.

Inbound:
I've never seen any 'priority' for immigration or customs. My main experience is LAX and US pre-clearance in Canadian airports. For LAX, if you are in F or J, and know the system, you can be through pretty quickly. I've gone from plane to outside curb in under 15 minutes by: fast walk to immigration hall; picking a more distant queue (most people joint one of the first they come across); avoiding queues with pax from Mexican flights (they get grilled pretty closely by immigration); bags come out on a separate carousel pretty promptly; choose one of the customs quests on the left. (But I guess most people have time through the terminal of more like 30 to 60 minutes).


In my experience SFO the best of the US, LAX one of the worst. Boston not bad, but have had good and bad experiences there (coming from LHR).

 

[auriga]

Maybe do a pre clearance in Ireland?

 

[drewbles]

I have often spent 2 hours +++ in MIA. Quickest has been Atlanta, and JFK not so bad.

I despise MIA. I had a 3 1/2 hour connection to BOS arriving in from LHR. Our a/c came in at the gate the furthest away from the immigration area. When we approached it, a TSA agent asked if we were on the BA flight that arrived, we all nodded and were directed to keep walking to the next immigration check point, as that one was closing (was processing people from another flight). We then walked around 400-500m to another area, were cleared... and then directed back to the immigration area that had closed, to go back to the baggage collection area. The carousels there were then 3-4 deep with offloaded bags next to them, and the carousels themselves were full, with no more bags coming out. There was literally no where to put more bags, and people were jumping over rows of bags to get to their own bags. I spied my bags somewhere in the mess, and managed to get them... after around 20 minutes.

I made a bee-line upstairs, and managed to catch my connecting flight somehow, but only as the flight was at the gate closest to the security checkpoint.

If i'd been in economy, forgeddaboutit. MIA needs expanding I feel.

 

[smit0847]

I've only done LAX and it was pretty unpleasant (very disorganised).

Heard very good things about SFO and DFW.

 

[Quickstatus]

Flew into LAX on QF11 (A380). Just behind a Korean a380. So stuck at immigration for over 1 hour. I got the impression that the Korean air pax had no idea about filling in the immigration forms. me no speak english. So delays were augmented by this.

My friend who is WP1 and also CL, (not just CL due to their connections) when he arrived QF11 a few days later, had this experience:
Met at aircraft door by Qantas agent who escorted him through immigration, got his bags for him, and escorted him through past bag dropoff through T4 security to remote terminal bus to american eagle to catch a connection. he said all up 30 minutes from aircraft door at TBIT to Remote gate via bus at terminal 4.

However he did not get his upgrade from J to F because bonjovi had booked out all the seats in F!.

 

[drewbles]

I've only done LAX and it was pretty unpleasant (very disorganised).

Heard very good things about SFO and DFW.

My arrival into DFW saw me queuing for around 45 minutes to clear immigration. The arrival hall itself is nice, but the queue was not.

 

[TomVexille]

I agree with the others that MIA is a zoo.

LAX has been okay to me the last few years.

ORD CBP was severely understaffed when I arrived back in July.

 

[Foreigner]

I can live with Customs and Border processes on arrival. The frustration I experience is with TSA on departure.