The Worst Customs & Immigration

slow? Ever been to SVO (Moscow)?

Absolutely. No American or European port of entry has ever
been anywhere near as bad as SVO. I've spent three hours in
line for passport control, and that's with lots of pushing.


Casey

have to say, though, that the issue with SVO isn't the speed of the
immigration official, it's the NUMBER of them (sheesh, 3 for a 777???) and
then another load comes in off another airline...

"Henry" wrote in message
...
"DALing" daling43[delete]-at-hotmail.com wrote:

slow? Ever been to SVO (Moscow)?

I have, yes. Did you ever go through pass-control at Dhahran-DHA? (And,
by the way, from what I hear, the new King Fat airport at
Dammam--DMM--is no better.)

cheers,

Henry

"Miguel Cruz" wrote in message
...
I guess, but I've been experiencing this for about 20 years, and with a US
passport I'm probably not a likely candidate for asylum. Either they
intentionally hire nasty people for the job, or something about it
(training, endless negative experiences with visitors, etc.) makes them
nasty. If I am not actually going to the UK, or taking advantage of their
competitive Africa airfare market, I will always try to get a flight that
connects through some other European hub so I can avoid them.

If you are connecting (assuming that you are not transferring airports),
then you would not proceed through immigration or customs.

Like I stated in another message on this thread, immigration officers are of
a 'make my day' mentality. And I can assure you that a non-US passport
holder in the US will often get similarly obnoxious treatment!

Regards, Howard

"frogged" wrote in message ...
"JMS" wrote in message
...
I'm interested in hearing where you think the worst/rudest airport customs
personnel are. For me, it's got to be Australian airports.



Detroit Michigan where only Asians (Chinese) and the Irish girl who dared to
have a Beijing boyfriend had to open up all their luggage, where I got
manhandled off the citizen line to the immigrant line three times by staff.

I've worked for an airline for close to 30 years and what i find that
the authorities can't handle are one and two day trips half way around
the world to have a beer with a mate or a one day surf in Hawaii. My
wife and I once traveled to IST to visit our Son for a day and back to
Australia (DRW) with a domestic connx to PER. The search took several
hours, he went thru everything I even found some money i had squired
away in my wallet which i had forgotten about. Finely a supervisor
emerged from his office showed the searcher a print out of some sort,
they mumbled a few words looked at us then came over to us and said we
can go.
Another time i went to Hawaii for one day, the customs guy wanted to
know why I had only hand baggage. explained to him that being in
Hawaii for only on day what else would you need besides a towel and a
pair of board shorts. He was a very nasty person, with him I think it
was a Haole thing.
Cheers

Howard Long wrote:
"Miguel Cruz" wrote:
I guess, but I've been experiencing this for about 20 years, and with a US
passport I'm probably not a likely candidate for asylum. Either they
intentionally hire nasty people for the job, or something about it
(training, endless negative experiences with visitors, etc.) makes them
nasty. If I am not actually going to the UK, or taking advantage of their
competitive Africa airfare market, I will always try to get a flight that
connects through some other European hub so I can avoid them.

If you are connecting (assuming that you are not transferring airports),
then you would not proceed through immigration or customs.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no, at least at LHR. I don't understand the system
really. But yes, normally it comes up when switching airports.

Like I stated in another message on this thread, immigration officers are
of a 'make my day' mentality. And I can assure you that a non-US passport
holder in the US will often get similarly obnoxious treatment!

Quite possibly so.

miguel
--
Hundreds of travel photos from around the world: http://travel.u.nu/

"Craig Welch" wrote in message
...

My record was 2 hours at Tokyo.

I agree that NRT can be awful. Last time I was there in August they have one
guy on the non-Japanese immigration line while four or five European 747s
land at about 9am in the morning. All others are on the Japanese passport
holders' side (read: Japanese Voters).

Kind Regards, Howard

(Miguel Cruz) wrote in message news:LTnEb.18527

Slowest lines: Vietnam

Tan Son Nhat (Ho Chi Minh City) is an utter pain, but Noi Bai (Hanoi)
is, ahem, relatively efficient for Vietnam, possibly because fewer
people arrive there and the new terminal seems to have extra staff.

George W. Russell
Hanoi

"Miguel Cruz" schreef in bericht
...
JMS wrote:
I'm interested in hearing where you think the worst/rudest airport
customs
personnel are. For me, it's got to be Australian airports.

Meanest immigration: UK

Not for citizens of an EU country!

Nicest immigration: Singapore

Agree. No questions asked, they scan the passport, stamp it and you are on
your way.

Lamest facilities: USA

Lines can be long at US airports, but facilities still better than in most
poor countries.

Slowest lines: Vietnam

Not in Hanoi. Have entered painlessly 4 times in the last 3 months. Max.
wait 5 minutes or so.

Sjoerd

Sjoerd wrote:
"Miguel Cruz" schreef:
Lamest facilities: USA

Lines can be long at US airports, but facilities still better than in most
poor countries.

Sadly, I'd say a fair number of desperately poor countries give the typical
US international arrivals path serious competition.

Between the endless wandering down narrow, twisty, basementy corridors, the
queues that frequently and dangerously back up into escalators and stairs
(this is particularly bad at PHL), the computer systems that are always
going down, and the crazed xenophobes they often hire to bark unintelligible
orders at confused arriving passengers in the immigration queuing area, it's
a complete embarassment.

miguel
--
Hundreds of travel photos from around the world: http://travel.u.nu/

"Jason" wrote in message
On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 07:22:55 +0800, "JMS" wrote:

As I live in Singapore and travel frequently I can atest to your
statement
about Singapore having the nicest immigration and customs. In a couple of
hours my family and I begin our yearly journey to Australia for
Christmas.
I am dreading my arrival to confront the meanest customs and immigration
people I have ever encountered.

So now it's Customs AND Immigration! In
it was only Customs. Working yourself into a lather by the looks of
it...

Care to offer substance to your allegations?

Seems to me that you are doing all the lathering. I am Australian and
although do not live there now, often travelled out and back into the
country. I have often had my belongings thoroughly searched, and subjected
to inane questions and encountered rude staff. Now that is my opinion. Shame
you're unable to contribute meaningfully to this discussion by sharing with
us your opinion.

As a side note, I returned from Australia yesterday and was quite pleased
with the interactions I had with Immigration staff. We were not checked at
customs, which has been a very rare occurance.




Cheers,

Jason.