VS005 LHR-MIA 27 Mar 08 (PE)

This is a Trip Report from the Premium Economy cabin

Ground Staff

Food & Drink

Entertainment

Seat

Cabin Crew

[:(!]

After an excellent trip back in January the complete reverse I'm sad to report for the trip to Miami.

PE was lovely as it always is, however, the cabin crew were not - literally had to ask for everything - it was all very slap dash, unattentive, impersonal and just not VA.

Almost felt like a very junior (new) team on that were more phased by working with actual passengers..... hmmmmm... [:?]

Then customs at Miami... good god what a mess... it appears that everyone lands within 5 mins of each other and there is a backlog that holds you from getting into the hall.....

Some 3.5hours later, I cleared immigration... shocking.... won't be heading back to Miami for a long. long time..... [:(!][V]

[Nottingham Nick]

Interesting, consistency (or lack of it) is a very common theme in trip reports. It did seem to have been improving recently, hopefully this is a blip.

If the crew were new, I would have thought they would have been keen to impress and serve real pax. [:D]

The Immigration queues are another common theme. I didn't think MIA was too bad, but I suppose it only takes a couple of delays to throw the whole thing into chaos.

Nick

I've had very bad experiences of US immigration at Miami in the past - people were missing connections whilst in the immigration queue. Some brave souls tried to go to the front of the queue - with travel itinerary - and plead with the immigration officer to be let through ahead of the queue... you can guess the response [was in the 'Visitors' line].

Suffice it to say I am in no hurry to arrive in MIA again off an international flight.

Sorry to hear that you found the cabin crew on your flight to be below par - can only hope the return trip was better.

James

Shame about the cabin crew - even if they were junior, there should have been some more senior people around who would be able to lead by example and ensure that everything ran smoothly and the passengers were looked after

Originally posted by baloobear
Then customs at Miami... good god what a mess... it appears that everyone lands within 5 mins of each other and there is a backlog that holds you from getting into the hall.....

Some 3.5hours later, I cleared immigration... shocking.... won't be heading back to Miami for a long. long time..... [:(!][V]

Sorry to hear about the service experience - however the immigration experience is sadly normal and has been for years. It is the only reason that the no. 1 and I stopped visiting Miami which we otherwise love - just the awfulness of getting through the airport. Unfortunately the TSA and Miami airport seem to refuse to do anything about it.

Originally posted by baloobear
[:(!]
Then customs at Miami... good god what a mess... it appears that everyone lands within 5 mins of each other and there is a backlog that holds you from getting into the hall.....

Some 3.5hours later, I cleared immigration... shocking.... won't be heading back to Miami for a long. long time..... [:(!][V]

Welcome to MIA[}:)]. Worst record for me is 3.5 hours from entry into arrivals hall to clearing immigration - best is 30 mins [:D] (even more shockingly in economy!!).Get a couple of South American flights arriving before you and you won't even get to de-plane. Apologies, but I still love the place[:D].

[mitchja]

Thanks for the TR.

I now also avoid MIA at all costs. It's the worst US airport in my experience especially for arrivals immigration. The immigration staff I've encountered there are rude and un-professional.

Regards

Seems like its a fairly common thing and yup got stuck behind four plane loads of South Americans and an El Al contingency of which 50% at least got their landing cards all messed up.

Crazy thing is that the American national lines was empty but of course it would be too easy to transfer people over there...

Dont you just love the bureaucracy of our American cousins, I wonder how they would feel if we submitted them to the same thing at our borders.....

Anyways, enough about the rant. I'll stick to JFK, LAX, SFO, ORD and EWR from now on - much friendly customs and immigration people too!

Mmmmm, i have to say that Mia has to be the worst airport to fly into as far as immigration queues go. On our last flight to Mia, thankfully without the children, me and hubby were delayed for 3 hours at LHR and waited in line at immigration for just under 5 hours after landing. As much as i love Miami, the long lines have put us off going again in a hurry especially as we would have the children with us.