MIA's New Immigration Hall Is A Disaster (photos)

797 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:17 pm

As much as I love MIA, mostly for being my second home-airport, I must point out that the new central immigration hall is a complete and pointless disaster.

The last 6 times I have gone through MIA, I have had to wait over 2.5 hours to get through passport control. Lines are miles long and it's the most inefficient and slow process I have ever seen.

Today I decided to write this post as my parents are on a queue that goes OUTSIDE the hall for several hundred feet. They have been waiting for 45 minutes without moving and, again, have not even entered the hall where another thousand passengers are waiting to get their stamps on their passports.

Here are two photos I received from my parents:

Moreover, officials said they won't expedite those passengers who have connecting flights.

How much does this inefficiency cost to the airlines? Is it fair to travel and go through such process?

This is just outrageous.

797

canyonblue17 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:21 pm

Look forward to seeing these photos on the next episode of Airport 24/7: MIA.

Polot · Sat May 18, 2013 5:24 pm

Quoting 797 (Thread starter):
As much as I love MIA, mostly for being my second home-airport, I must point out that the new central immigration hall is a complete and pointless disaster.

Is this MIA's fault, or CBP's for not having enough agents? Having the biggest, shiniest, best designed immigration hall in the world means nothing if there are only 2 immigration officials staffing it and thousands of passengers going through it.

varig md-11 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:25 pm

Is it the new hall dealing with AA and its partners?

I flew twice from Europe with AF this winter and I never encountered such a situation: one hour at worst

Are connecting pax processed in the same queue than those exiting at MIA? it was like that like 10 years ago but I thought they would separate the 2 kind of pax like they do in IAD for example.

797 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:28 pm

Quoting varig md-11 (Reply 3):

Correct. This is the central hall used mostly for AA flights.

Air France, Alitalia, LAN and others use the J concourse (southern) concourse hall which is different and perhaps more efficient.

797

trex8 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:30 pm

Aren't photos in international arrivals areas prohibited for security reasons? I've never seen CBP people seize a phone or camera yet but I have seen lots of people told off at ORD. I could be wrong on the technicaities but AFAIK they are forbidden from when you exit the plane till you clear customs and leave the security area.

Mcmax · Sat May 18, 2013 5:30 pm

Do passengers who have Global Entry have to wait in that queue to get to the immigration hall, or are they allowed to move on ahead? (I selfishly ask this question as we will be arriving back from Paris next month via Miami.)

--Max

STT757 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:34 pm

Effects of sequestration furloughs, don't like it write your Congressman.

varig md-11 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:34 pm

Quoting 797 (Reply 4):
Air France, Alitalia, LAN and others use the J concourse (southern) concourse hall which is different and perhaps more efficient.

Indeed the only time I used AA coming from Europe we were stucked 2 full hours just to get passport stamped.
It seems things are more organized at J. Maybe flight scheduling on J side make things easier.

MaverickM11 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:36 pm

Gotta save that money to make sure we have enough FAMs and TSA agents doing nothing, and dumb videos welcoming everyone in the customs hall

Quoting trex8 (Reply 5):
Aren't photos in international arrivals areas prohibited for security reasons?

Yes. But a) what security reasons are they? They don't want people to see it's such an incompetent sh!t show it defies logic? and b) who cares?

MAH4546 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:39 pm

Its not a disaster. The government isn't providing an adequate number of CBP employees at MIA, JFK, LAX and every other major airport. Nothing to do with the facility - which if adequately staffed by the federal government has the capacity to provide the fastest and most efficient immigration processing among major U.S. airports.

goosebayguy · Sat May 18, 2013 5:45 pm

Unlike other countries America is so backwards at letting transiting passengers through without having to pass through immigration. Add in sequestration and the problem becomes far worse. Passengers won't make connecting flights. This means waiting until the next day to fly out leading to increased costs etc. Naturally this is also a great way to kill off tourism and the local economy.

trex8 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:45 pm

Quoting MaverickM11 (Reply 9):
Yes. But a) what security reasons are they? They don't want people to see it's such an incompetent sh!t show it defies logic? and b) who cares?

I think they are worried about terrorist attacks and people trying to figure out the building and sneak through the system. At least thats a more legit concern than all the airline cabin staff who freak out when a pax takes photos on the flight or ask for the registration of the plane they are on which is painted in big letters outside and required to be displayed by federal law on a certificate by the door for the travelling public to see!!

MaverickM11 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:46 pm

Quoting goosebayguy (Reply 11):
Add in sequestration and the problem becomes far worse.

Quoting STT757 (Reply 7):
Effects of sequestration furloughs,

This long predates sequestration. It'd make more sense to blame Sandy

Polot · Sat May 18, 2013 5:48 pm

Quoting goosebayguy (Reply 11):
Unlike other countries America is so backwards at letting transiting passengers through without having to pass through immigration.

Unfortunately unlike other countries America doesn't have passport control when leaving the country, so allowing transit passengers through without having to pass immigration is always going to be a challenge as you have to find an acceptable way to keep them away from domestic passengers/flights.

flyby519 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:48 pm

Perfect example for this thread:
US Aviation Failing? We've Scr* Ourselves (by 744lover May 16 2013 in Civil Aviation)

797 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:49 pm

Quoting Mah4546 (Reply 10):

Thanks Mark. Though I must say these lines have been a constant at MIA ever since this new hall opened. I found the old one far more efficient.

I just got a word from my parents that someone (not in a uniform) apologized for lack of personnel...

This is ridiculous. This will harm the industry like nothing else.

797

SCQ83 · Sat May 18, 2013 5:57 pm

That's sick.

My last time there (March) I was coming from GIG and I didn't see anything like that... and this was early morning with plenty of LATAM flights arriving. Insane.

goosebayguy · Sat May 18, 2013 6:04 pm

Quoting Polot (Reply 14):
Unfortunately unlike other countries America doesn't have passport control when leaving the country, so allowing transit passengers through without having to pass immigration is always going to be a challenge as you have to find an acceptable way to keep them away from domestic passengers/flights.

Yet other countries manage this but America seem's to avoid dealing with it. Its a bit like trying to buy petrol with a foreign credit/debit card. The petrol pumps just won't accept anything without a zip code. Yet Canadians who are neighbours have postcodes. America just doesn't do international very well.

BestWestern · Sat May 18, 2013 6:17 pm

Quoting Mah4546 (Reply 10):
Its not a disaster.

It is a disaster. Many of these people will vote with their wallets and fly via another airport the next time.

Quoting JoePatroni707 (Reply 18):
Its all Obamas fault and the sequestration.

Actually, I blame Syria.

Polot · Sat May 18, 2013 6:24 pm

Quoting goosebayguy (Reply 19):
Yet other countries manage this but America seem's to avoid dealing with it.

They do it by having dedicated international departure terminals and domestic departure terminals. To do that in the US you will have to basically redesign every major airport in the country. That is not feasible- especially since domestic flights make up the bulk of flights in the US unlike many other countries.

BestWestern · Sat May 18, 2013 6:28 pm

Quoting Polot (Reply 21):
They do it by having dedicated international departure terminals and domestic departure terminals.

Very few countries have dedicated International and Domestic terminals.

miaskies · Sat May 18, 2013 6:29 pm

watch the news much? read the paper?

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/Flyers-...ternational-Airport-198785821.html

Not just a MIA/AA problems - Major airports throughout the country are being faced with the same issue. Blame D.C.

yellowtail · Sat May 18, 2013 6:31 pm

Quoting varig md-11 (Reply 3):
I flew twice from Europe with AF this winter and I never encountered such a situation: one hour at worst

ITs the same long lines in a shiny new building.

Quoting Mah4546 (Reply 10):
Its not a disaster. The government isn't providing an adequate number of CBP employees at MIA,

True , but it is not nearly as bad at other airports.

Quoting 797 (Reply 16):
Thanks Mark. Though I must say these lines have been a constant at MIA ever since this new hall opened. I found the old one far more efficient.

I ahve been thru the new hall about 15 times since it opened and never been out of there in less than one hour.

Quoting bestwestern (Reply 20):
It is a disaster. Many of these people will vote with their wallets and fly via another airport the next time.

If I can I go via ATL or DFW these days.

MesaFlyGuy · Sat May 18, 2013 6:34 pm

Quoting canyonblue17 (Reply 1):

My first thought as well!

sankaps · Sat May 18, 2013 6:45 pm

Quoting Polot (Reply 14):
Unfortunately unlike other countries America doesn't have passport control when leaving the country, so allowing transit passengers through without having to pass immigration is always going to be a challenge as you have to find an acceptable way to keep them away from domestic passengers/flights.

The UK does not have departure passport control either, but they manage to handle int'l-int'l connections without requiring pax to go through immigration. The issue is much more the latter point you make, which is the US has not figured out (or not really given much priority to finding a way) how to manage the separation of domestic and int'l pax.

Quoting Polot (Reply 21):
They do it by having dedicated international departure terminals and domestic departure terminals.

No, that is a rare luxury at most major airports. It is usually done within the same terminal by having properly thought out separation and flow control.

hiflyer · Sat May 18, 2013 6:53 pm

CBP staffing was a problem 12 years ago at MIA...and continues today. It does not make a difference how many booths they put in if they do not staff them....sequestration is johnny come lately to this dance....and it is not just MIA....without being able to transit....long waits for non US.....our contemporaries do far better

Cubsrule · Sat May 18, 2013 6:53 pm

Quoting sankaps (Reply 26):
The UK does not have departure passport control either, but they manage to handle int'l-int'l connections without requiring pax to go through immigration. The issue is much more the latter point you make, which is the US has not figured out (or not really given much priority to finding a way) how to manage the separation of domestic and int'l pax.

Nor does Canada, and they have to manage THREE 'sterile' flows of passengers (international, domestic and transborder). They spent some money to do it, but the Canadian hubs work just fine.

797 · Sat May 18, 2013 7:11 pm

Just heard from my parents. Total time in line, 3 hours 12 minutes.

The flight from Caracas was only 2 hours 50 minutes. This is insane!

797

Planesmart · Sat May 18, 2013 7:22 pm

Quoting Polot (Reply 21):
They do it by having dedicated international departure terminals and domestic departure terminals. To do that in the US you will have to basically redesign every major airport in the country.

No. You start with just one. Passenger volumes and revenues increase. Then upgrade another.

scbriml · Sat May 18, 2013 7:26 pm

Quoting Polot (Reply 21):
They do it by having dedicated international departure terminals and domestic departure terminals.

This is true only in a minority of airports. Certainly not true at Heathrow or Gatwick (which I suspect both better MIA's pax numbers).

airbazar · Sat May 18, 2013 7:27 pm

Quoting 797 (Thread starter):
This is just outrageous.

MIA and LAX are a nightmare and I avoid them like the plague.

Quoting STT757 (Reply 7):
Effects of sequestration furloughs, don't like it write your Congressman.

BS. MIA immigration has always been a disaster, for as long as I remember and that's going back well over a decade.

Simply put the US immigration policies and procedures at airports is not scalable and it's very innefficient. You can clear immigration at comparably sized airports around the World such as FRA and LHR in a fraction of the time. Here's an example why: I'm a permanet resident in this country. That means the government has more information about myself than it has about any of its own citizens and yet, every time I enter the country I need to be interrogated, fingerprinted, and photographed. Why? That is a huge waste of time and resources.

And then there's the policy of making everyone clear immigration at the first point of entry. It doesn't scale well. More an dmore people are flying and yet airports with CBP facilities remain the same. I understand the need to do that but the money that's being saved at the hundreds (thousands?) of airports by not staffing them with CBP facilities, is not being employed to make the few that have CBP, better.

Quoting 797 (Thread starter):
How much does this inefficiency cost to the airlines?

Not just airlines but the airport itself if more people do what I do and start avoiding it.

N62NA · Sat May 18, 2013 7:28 pm

Quoting 797 (Reply 29):
Just heard from my parents. Total time in line, 3 hours 12 minutes.

The flight from Caracas was only 2 hours 50 minutes. This is insane!

They have my sympathies.

Yet another reason why I AVOID travel by air if at all possible.

flyingturtle · Sat May 18, 2013 7:28 pm

This queue is keeping more illegal immigrants out of the U.S. than the Mexico-USA border fence.

David

jayunited · Sat May 18, 2013 7:35 pm

Quoting flyingturtle (Reply 34):
This queue is keeping more illegal immigrants out of the U.S. than the Mexico-USA border fence.

That is the best comment I have read all day.

lol!!!

goosebayguy · Sat May 18, 2013 7:36 pm

Quoting Polot (Reply 21):
They do it by having dedicated international departure terminals and domestic departure terminals. To do that in the US you will have to basically redesign every major airport in the country. That is not feasible- especially since domestic flights make up the bulk of flights in the US unlike many other countries.

LHR manages this perfectly well. I just get the feeling America really does not see international travel as very important. Yet its a multi billion $ earner especially important in these times.

eksath · Sat May 18, 2013 7:38 pm

Quoting 797 (Thread starter):
As much as I love MIA, mostly for being my second home-airport, I must point out that the new central immigration hall is a complete and pointless disaster.

..and I have done the same thing in the morning at LHR i.e. stand in lines that back beyond the hall into the walkways at LHR after arriving from the US. It has also been a process that took 1.5 -2 hrs to clear UK immigration. I have encountered this a number of times.

So lets start a list. This is not exclusive to MIA. Unfortunately, the US airports are showing this due to deliberate staffing level cutbacks. They are no accident or oversight.

legacyins · Sat May 18, 2013 7:45 pm

Quoting airbazar (Reply 32):
Here's an example why: I'm a permanet resident in this country. That means the government has more information about myself than it has about any of its own citizens and yet, every time I enter the country I need to be interrogated, fingerprinted, and photographed. Why? That is a huge waste of time and resources.

You may be a Lawful permanent Resident (LPR) but you are a Citizen of another Country. There are LPRs who have a Criminal history and depending on the severity, may jeopardize their LPR status. Hence, the finger printing.

Quoting airbazar (Reply 32):
And then there's the policy of making everyone clear immigration at the first point of entry. It doesn't scale well.

Not sure if I understand this one. I can see if the same foreign flight is continuing onto another US City but how would you separate the domestic passengers on the flight from the foreign ones who did not clear?

Quoting goosebayguy (Reply 36):
LHR manages this perfectly well.

I've traveled to the UK where I waited in Immigration lines up to an hour.

Viscount724 · Sat May 18, 2013 7:48 pm

Quoting Cubsrule (Reply 28):
Quoting sankaps (Reply 26):
The UK does not have departure passport control either, but they manage to handle int'l-int'l connections without requiring pax to go through immigration. The issue is much more the latter point you make, which is the US has not figured out (or not really given much priority to finding a way) how to manage the separation of domestic and int'l pax.

Nor does Canada, and they have to manage THREE 'sterile' flows of passengers (international, domestic and transborder). They spent some money to do it, but the Canadian hubs work just fine.

Aren't arriving U.S. passengers mixed in with all other international arrivals at Canadian airports, meaning only 2 flows? The only 3rd flow is for departures to the U.S. (and only at airports with pre-clearance) but the situation being discussed in this thread involves arrivals.

sankaps · Sat May 18, 2013 8:04 pm

Quoting eksath (Reply 37):
..and I have done the same thing in the morning at LHR i.e. stand in lines that back beyond the hall into the walkways at LHR after arriving from the US. It has also been a process that took 1.5 -2 hrs to clear UK immigration. I have encountered this a number of times.

Quoting legacyins (Reply 38):

I've traveled to the UK where I waited in Immigration lines up to an hour.

1. This happens only at certain peak times, and lines longer than 45 min at LHR are not common at all; in fact when things got bad before the Olympics last year, staffing was ramped up and things have stabilized quite a bit since then.

2. There are options for premium passengers and for frequent travelers to use premium lanes and electronic gates, which at least reduces the pain for the most frequent travelers

3. Imagine how much worse it would be if the UK required int'l - int'l connecting pax to also go through passport control in the UK.

brilondon · Sat May 18, 2013 8:07 pm

Quoting miaskies (Reply 23):
watch the news much? read the paper?

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/Flyers-...ternational-Airport-198785821.html

Not just a MIA/AA problems - Major airports throughout the country are being faced with the same issue. Blame D.C.

That is about security not Passport control. It still is the same issues though, long lines due to lack of personnel and available facilities to process passengers.

GCT64 · Sat May 18, 2013 8:29 pm

Quoting airbazar (Reply 32):
Quoting STT757 (Reply 7):
Effects of sequestration furloughs, don't like it write your Congressman.

BS. MIA immigration has always been a disaster,

I agree, and would go further, at many US airports (not just MIA) immigration has been a disaster for a long time. I have had unreasonable queuing times at LAX (T2 and TBIT), ORD, DFW etc. It does now seem to be affecting the Residents queue as much as the Aliens though which, frankly, is a good thing as it now means there may be voter and political pressure to solve the problem.

The solution I generally operate is to clear US immigration in Canada or Ireland

airDFW · Sat May 18, 2013 8:34 pm

I had a 3 hr wait in MIA last time from LA flight. I think the problem is the attitude at MIA more so than at other US gateways.

par13del · Sat May 18, 2013 8:51 pm

Quoting sankaps (Reply 26):
which is the US has not figured out (or not really given much priority to finding a way) how to manage the separation of domestic and int'l pax.

What's to figure out???? The US government decided that everyone setting foot in the country must go through CBP.
Current airport design has to deal with this reality.

The new arrivals hall at MIA was designed to remove inefficiencies based on terminal layouts in an older airport which was expanding due to traffic, they built a hall to handle increased volume.
Unfortunately for MIA, the politicians and their political appointees wanted to punish the people for not forcing their representatives to take their side in the budget battle, so the first services cut were those most detrimental to the public, as they say in the movies, who's laughing now.

sankaps · Sat May 18, 2013 9:00 pm

Quoting par13del (Reply 45):
What's to figure out???? The US government decided that everyone setting foot in the country must go through CBP. Current airport design has to deal with this reality.

Is that the cause or is that the effect though for the lack of separation and flow control of domestic and international in its airports?

[Edited 2013-05-18 14:01:41]

EK413 · Sat May 18, 2013 9:10 pm

Do we have any photos of this shiny new immigration hall?

EK413

mjoelnir · Sat May 18, 2013 9:15 pm

Quoting Polot (Reply 21):
They do it by having dedicated international departure terminals and domestic departure terminals. To do that in the US you will have to basically redesign every major airport in the country. That is not feasible- especially since domestic flights make up the bulk of flights in the US unlike many other countries.

I think you forget Schengen. Most European Airports I have transferred on have to keep traffic inside Schengen and outside Schengen separate. Inside Schengen traffic is also counted as international if you for example fly from HAM to CDG but it is handled like domestic travel as you do not pass immigration. You can mix domestic passengers with Schengen passengers.
The exeption is the UK airports, as the UK is not part of Schengen.
If you look at CDG both terminal 1 and terminal 2 handle both Schengen and outside Schengen traffic, and that it what you will find on most of the Europian airports.

divemaster08 · Sat May 18, 2013 10:11 pm

It is pretty dreadful the new place. I think it is a sort of a mixture of design and lack of staff.

Firstly the new snake line is an improvement over the many lines in the old E, but they then ruin it at the end where you get many people Q'ing up, at the nearest lines so it can create a roadblock. What they need is to keep everyone in the line and have a thing that when an agent is free it displays the number on the screen and someone shows you the way.

On another note, the Customs hall is too small. They have a scrum downstairs inbetween the carousels to get out of customs. If they moved the customs officers into the hallway more, allow more space in the baggage area, then have people enter a single line from the start, then it should move better as its just a mess.

Im sure they need more staff also but I think design is a real issue.

cosyr · Sat May 18, 2013 10:25 pm

Quoting planesmart (Reply 29):
Quoting Polot (Reply 21):
They do it by having dedicated international departure terminals and domestic departure terminals. To do that in the US you will have to basically redesign every major airport in the country.

No. You start with just one. Passenger volumes and revenues increase. Then upgrade another.

Revenues would not increase in the US. No other country in the world has the volume or percentage volume of domestic flights. Even a heavy international airport such as EWR or LAX has more domestic flights than international flights any given day, and the international ones all leave at the same time, so you would have huge buildings dedicated to a couple hours in the evenings.

Quoting trex8 (Reply 5):
Aren't photos in international arrivals areas prohibited for security reasons?

Looks like these lines are long enough that they have not made it to the international arrival's area yet!

varig md-11 · Sat May 18, 2013 10:32 pm

Whether in MIA or not there are things which could be improved in the process of going thru CBP.
As mentioned before we have all ways and technologies to speed up things instead of creating nightmares for visitors bringing money to US economy.
Plus, I noticed the queues on the side of US residents and citizens is becoming nearly similar to the ones for aliens.

Of course we don't know all details but it doesn't look logical from the outside when it comes to CBP process.

Why do we need to be photographed and fingerprintted every time? isnt there a secure database hidden in the rocky mountains with all the data saved and retrievable at light speed?
Say you're a frequent visitor to the US coming from a visa waiver country (my case), what's the problem if by fingerprinting the right hand ONLY, CBP retrieves all your photo, data, history etc etc

That would save enormous amount of time and CBP manpower.
Plus, with the ESTA we must have, they already say "yes you can fly in" from before we check in....

On our side of the pond I find Schengen organisation ridiculous and Immigration at airports a parody, but CBP becomes synonymous of headache and stress which is a shame

Who is online

Popular Searches On Airliners.net