Best / worst airports for U.S. immigration processing

[Janann]

We had a really easy time with immigration this week when we were coming back from Mexico, so I thought it would be interesting to post your best and worst airports for immigration into the U.S. The ease of immigration might be something to consider when planning a trip.

Best: San Diego. Its not a huge airport, and I suspect that most people are coming from Mexico. Despite the college-age spring break crowd that was in line, it was very easy, and the place did not give me the usual disoriented and lost feeling that I normally get at some point in the immigration process.

Worst: Tie between DFW and Miami. Miami is chaotic, and DFW just seems to take forever.

 

[Karen G]

We had a good experience returning from Mexico on Saturday at the John Wayne airport in Santa Ana, California. It was our first time to try our new Global Entry Trusted Traveler status. There were two kiosks where one inserts his/her passport, touches a screen for fingerprints, and has one's photo taken. Since this was our first experience with the kiosk we were not expecting a photo to be snapped. My husband was standing in front of the camera putting my passport in the machine and it took his picture instead of mine. The machine prints out a receipt and mine was rejected because it did not have the correct picture. Fortunately there was an agent nearby who corrected things.

Next time we will be better prepared. It is really a good system.

 

[PigsDad]

Worst: Tie between DFW and Miami. Miami is chaotic, and DFW just seems to take forever.

I think it just depends on how busy it happens to be when you go through. We came back from Cozumel via DFW on Saturday, and it took all of maybe 5 minutes. The kiosk system was so convenient and easy (we do not have the Global Entry Trusted Traveler status),

So on my list, DFW would be in the "best" category.

Kurt

 

[m4travels]

We have been extremely lucky with all of our U.S. entries except Miami; that seemed to take forever a few years back but they were also working on that portion of the terminal. We weren't quite sure we would make our connecting flight and we had 2 1/2 hours.

Our fastest was John Wayne airport in Santa Ana where from touchdown to outside to pick up the shuttle van was a total of 12 minutes. I never knew luggage could arrive so quickly.

Houston and Orlando have been very quick as well.

In August we'll be entering via Tijuana and walking across the new bridge from the airport to the U.S. side and then taking a taxi/Uber/Lyft to downtown San Diego. Looking forward to that experience!

Michael

 

[Passepartout]

Smallish, deserted airports are easiest. But they ALL suck if you are seated in the back of a jumbo jet and 3-4 others have landed a few minutes before yours. Those serpentine lines at JFK, LAX, MIA, HOU, PHL, can take a while.

Jim

 

[x3 skier]

Using Global Entry has made this a non-problem to me.

Cheers

 

[Karen G]

In August we'll be entering via Tijuana and walking across the new bridge from the airport to the U.S. side and then taking a taxi/Uber/Lyft to downtown San Diego. Looking forward to that experience!

Michael

We talked with a couple who live in San Diego and had walked across the bridge to the airport for a flight to Cabo on the Mexican airline Volaris. They thought it was a great experience.

 

[Janann]

So on my list, DFW would be in the "best" category.

Maybe it just feels like the worst for me because it is my final destination, and I just want to get home!

 

[Ken555]

Dublin! Not even a line...my global entry seemed unnecessary...


Sent from my iPad

 

[Karen G]

Does the Global Entry designation work in other countries besides the U.S.?

 

[Pompey Family]

The longest I've waited was in Philadelphia. Miami was a nightmare. Chicago was a lot better than I expected. Hilton Head was nice!

Nowhere can be as bad as Heathrow though.

 

[Ken555]

Does the Global Entry designation work in other countries besides the U.S.?

The US operates customs and immigration in certain foreign airports.


Sent from my iPad

 

[Karen G]

The US operates customs and immigration in certain foreign airports.


Sent from my iPad

Which ones?

 

[am1]

Aruba, nassau, big Canadian airports, a few in Europe.

 

[Luanne]

The US operates customs and immigration in certain foreign airports.


Sent from my iPad

I thought, but I'm not 100% sure, that Global Entry works when you are entering the US? Isn't it a TSA thing? We have it and used it when coming back from Vancouver, BC, where you clear Customs in Canada rather than in the U.S.

 

[Luanne]

Aruba, nassau, big Canadian airports, a few in Europe.

When you enter the U.S. from Canada you clear Customs in Canada. I believe the Global Entry, and Customs are run by the U.S.

 

[Passepartout]

Does it REALLY matter one way or another? It's not like you have a lot of choice when booking a flight. I choose a flight based on where I want to fly from and to, and what it's going to cost. Where I have to pass through security, either upon boarding or upon arrival into the U.S. matters very, very little in the overall scheme of things.

Jim

 

[moonstone]

My sister flew from Belize City to Toronto via Atlanta in January. The lines at Immigration in Atlanta were so long that 19 passengers on her flight who were also going on to Toronto missed their connecting fight.

There was a woman in the group who had another connecting flight in Toronto who was nearly hysterical. She got the attention of a security person and explained that she was going to miss her flights due to the line ups. They told her just stay in line and hope for the best!

They had over a 2 hr layover which Delta obviously thought was enough time. The CR at the Delta desk was going crazy trying to rebook all 19 people on different flights that evening. She said it happens there all the time! They asked for volunteers to stay over night but most people declined (I don't know what the incentive was).

Sister & another couple ended up on standby on another flight 3 hrs later but since they only had 10mins notice that they could get on that flight their luggage didn't make it. Delta delivered it the next morning.


~Diane

 

[Ken555]

Which ones?

http://www.cbp.gov/border-security/ports-entry/operations/preclearance


Sent from my iPad

 

[Karen G]

http://www.cbp.gov/border-security/ports-entry/operations/preclearance


Sent from my iPad

Thanks. That's helpful.

 

[Karen G]

Does it REALLY matter one way or another? It's not like you have a lot of choice when booking a flight. I choose a flight based on where I want to fly from and to, and what it's going to cost. Where I have to pass through security, either upon boarding or upon arrival into the U.S. matters very, very little in the overall scheme of things.

Jim

Of course I don't pick a flight based solely on where I have to clear customs but I'd like to know ahead of time if our point of entry uses the kiosks for Global Entry or not. I don't want to wait in the wrong line if the kiosks are available.

 

[Passepartout]

PHX has a special line for Global Entry, and about a dozen regular kiosks for those who are US citizens with minimal stuff to claim and no forbidden items. Piece of cake.

Jim

 

[ronandjoan]

Our experience was so bad in SFO last week I was actually considering not going to Mexico again. Then, I thought of the SNA flight which had connected PVR to SEA and thought I would definitely try that next time.
When you do not have a nonstop flight to a US city from Mexico, you have to go through customs in the city you stop in , even though you return to the same plane = as we had to in SFO. We have done this before and it was not as bad, but it was really bad this time.
It was more complicated since all the bags for a Portland flight, different than ours, had ben loaded onto our plane, so those poor people who were in Portland even had it worse than we, because you have to take your bags and recheck them through the US domestic TSA system. What the Portland people did then, is unknown, because they did not have their bags when they arrived in Portland!
After rechecking the bags, we had to exit from the secure area and return to the ticket level to go through security again, to go to the exact same plane we were on! Usually, it was moved to the domestic side, so we only have to go through US security, but this time, since the plane was already delayed two hours, it stayed on the international side. So, not only did all the new passengers in the US, going from SFO to SEA have to go through international security TSA examination, so did we (again), and it was the slowest we have ever seen a security line and that was after we through the initial check and just waiting to go through the X-ray and whole body scan. It all was terribly unorganized, unnecessary and frustrating. And all of that after having to wait 40 minutes in the initial customs check in line.
Next time, we will NOT go through SFO. SNA sounds great!