Have US Immigration Got Their Act Together

my experience of travelling to the US, up the last 18 months at least, was always tainted with a long wait in immigration - over an hour in many cases, experienced at BOS, JFK, MIA & others. However in more recent times i'm finding empty halls & - dare i say it - helpful staff? This seems to be borne out by several recent trip reports also.

So is anyone aware of any changes that have taken place in the way they process arriving PAX? Are VS getting better arrival slots or are we just getting lucky?

[Darren Wheeler]

Not so I've noticed. JFK recently, 2+ hour delay in immigration after VS9.

[mitchja]

Me either!! ORD was a mess the other week when I was there.

When I was at JFK in September it was half and half. Waited for around an hour, but the immigration officer was actually quite friendly - first time in a long time I had experienced that,

[preiffer]

Nope. One of the most deserving facilities and services of a so-called "SkyTrax 1*" should really be the entire US Immigration/entry system (and its staff).

Went straight through at ORD was flying UC tho,but did not look full at all

the MAJORITY of the IOs are ok, I have a visa rather than using ESTA and still get grilled occasionally but in the main its not too bad. The queues however -thats just down to luck.

JFK was awful last time -over 2 hours. MCO is normally OK depending if any other flights have landed. last week we came in behind the BA and VS Manch flights and it took 90 minutes (from PE !!) sometimes I have hit the hall and its been empty and its taken less than 5...........


the worse hell hole by far is Miami, so much so that my lawyer forbade me to use it. She had a cleint an 80+ year old Green Card holding Grandmother detained for 14 hours with no water, food phone call or bathroom break....they finally let her go when she wet herself !!!!!!! avoid at all costs

You can't beat pre-clearance in Shannon. Landing at JFK and going from plane to curbside (with checked luggage) in under 5 mins makes for a very pleasant arrival.

IAD was completely empty when we arrived at the beginning of the month. The Immigration agent was smiley and chatty too.

Was I just lucky?

You can't beat pre-clearance in Shannon. Landing at JFK and going from plane to curbside (with checked luggage) makes for a very pleasant arrival.

Have to agree I did mine in Dublin with Aer Lingus in October recently staff very pleasant and through within 15 mins ,got to JFK and through to taxi 25 mins bonus

Did I read somewhere that Aer Lingus was going to start a Southend Dublin Orlando route?

Unusually for me SFO was a nightmare a couple of weeks ago in all lines. Oh and Mandy, you were lucky.

JFK was brilliant last time there, off plane straight through immigration with a smile and 'have a great stay' bags waiting then straight outside and on our way - just how it should be

I've had a couple of bad experiences at JFK recently on the VS9, 1.5-2 hr waits (and thats when I'm one of the first off the plane). I'll be avoiding that flight now purely because JFK don't like manning their immigration desks at that time of night.

BOS always seems good, straight through a hall of fully manned desks.

My last three flights (I can only remember that far back!!) have been fine. MCO was a bit of a wait in the summer (45 mins) but I expect that.

SFO was 10 min, BOS was 15 mins and EWR was 2nd in line so secs.
I personally have only had an issue with one IO over the past few years and if i'm honest he was doing his job. I had been in out 5 times in 6 weeks, my passport photo doesn't really look a lot like me anymore and the trips we only 2-3 days in length.

My worst experiences have been at LAX and the old LAS terminals which were a nightmare.

I came into EWR yesterday on the VS1. We were a bit early landing (about 25 mins). The visitors line had probably 80 people ahead of us, I think from a Lufthansa flight.

Despite being one of the first off the plane it still took 45 minutes. Desks kept shutting and then reopening for no apparent reason. Sections of the queue behind me were shunted off to the US desks and processed more quickly. ! The first UC passengers had to wait much longer than quite a few in economy. A BA flight was behind us -- bad luck for them.

Despite all this I actually agree with the OP that things are generally getting a bit better. The agents seem more friendly these days (with exceptions!) and in general the airport people seem to be more proactive now about managing the queues -- and aware that standing for 2 hours in a humid hall is actually a problem if you are old, disabled, or with young kids.

As for the EWR vs JFK debate, yesterday was about the same as my VS45 experiences earlier this year. To be honest, it felt like six of one...

Unusually for me SFO was a nightmare a couple of weeks ago in all lines. Oh and Mandy, you were lucky.

I always fly United to SFO and if my plane is slightly delayed I managed to get behind 2 x 380s with most passengers all visas, and 1 747 in the arrival hall. It really could be done a lot different but then again so could UK immigration.

Did I read somewhere that Aer Lingus was going to start a Southend Dublin Orlando route?

They already do. The first flight of the day from Southend EI3301 at 0645 connects with their MCO service. y)