Your Best/Worst Experiences With Customs?

Transpac787 · Sun Aug 31, 2008 5:24 am

BEST:

ORD- Very unlikely, I know. But I arrived from EZE at 500am and from stepping off the 763 to walking out of the customs hall was literally no more than 3-4 minutes.

NRT- It's impressive how easy customs is in NRT, for such a huge airport with so much traffic. But, the Japanese seem to have a knack for making everything so easy and efficient.

WORST:

HKG- Absolutely giant customs hall, with huge lines. I probably hit it at a bad time, but still.

KWI- Customs officials are very nice, just the process takes a very long time, about an hour from start to finish.

SA7700 · Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:12 am

BEST:

SIN & CHC - Fast and efficient. I had no problems whatsoever and were on the curbside in no time.

WORST:

SYD - Arriving from CHC on an EK flight. Immigration was fast and I had my luggage in no time, until a customs official ruined my umpteenth Australian visit. I still wonder what gave me away or whether the custom official just had PMS.... Confused

The old hag walked me over for a full inspection. Whilst everything in my luggage was shucked out and my empty suitcases were sent for additional scans, I was then told that they found positive traces of marijuana on my hairbrush. Absolutely flabbergasted, having never even seen a joint, I was subjected to a battery of unveiled repeated questions by 2 male customs officials. In the background the old hag jabbered the entire time. Just short of a strip search, I was then told by one of the male officials that they were pretty sure that I was not carrying any illicit drugs and were free to enter Australia. After being utterly humiliated, all of them walked away and left me to repack the contents of my luggage.
I'm fully aware that customs officials have a job to do, but the 3 of them, are definitely not a very good advertisement or welcome for other tourists to Australia.

HKG - The same gripe as the OP. Huge lines at customs & immigration when arriving/departing to-or-from HKG.

Gemuser · Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:12 am

Best: CPH, No line, Immigration officer looks a passport 3-4 seconds, stamps it, hands it back with a happy "Welcome to Denmark" smile and we walk away.
Baggage takes 10 minutes and we walk straight to curb side, customs?, what customs?

Worst: LAX, every time. Not less than 1.5/2 hrs to clear C&I, surliest, rudest C&I offers I have ever met. Even those from the PRC were nicer.

Gemuser

bbinn333 · Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:17 pm

BEST :

YYZ Terminal 1

WORST :

MCO

wilco737 · Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:22 pm

Best: PDX (had a 20 min chat with the immigration officer)
Very good as well: IKA The guy there spoke German and helped me with the visa thingy I had to fill out.

Worst: SFO this dude said I need a visa for the US when I am on vacation. It took me 20 minutes to convince him banghead

Worst: ILN as crew I was called a terrorist by the immigration officer! I was so shocked that I didn't do anything about. And no, it was not clear if he was joking or not. But he didn't smile or anything. unbelievable... I've never seen him since then... Otherwise......

WILCO737 (MD11F)
airplane

CrimsonNL · Sun Aug 31, 2008 7:09 pm

Best: Probably at home, wont take more then 15 seconds.

Worst; DTW

Me and my dad flew standby from AMS to DEN, we got on the first NW flight into DTW and there we had to change. A very unfortunate S in front of my name, and another SSSS on my boarding pass. We had a little questioning, then the customs lady started searching our stuff very very slowly (she was kind though) After that we had to walk trough a port with the air sample's being analyzed. And a customs officer started wiping our stuff with some fancy cloth, which was analyzed for explosive samples. Sure I've got nothing to hide, and those folks are just doing their job. But due to our tight connection time we had to hurry a lot, and run trough the terminal (we had 10 minutes to get the flight) For all of you folks who know the DTW terminal.... running from one end to the other after a 7-8 hour flight is no fun! I didn't know there was a tram!

Worst: MIA

Our KL flight was delayed, and arrived 45 minutes late, together with aeroMexico and some other flights, which resulted that the NON AIR CONDITIONED customs hall was filled with a few hundred people. I figure it was 30 degrees Celsius there, after 2 HOURS we finally got through.

[Edited 2008-08-31 12:11:14]

RussianJet · Sun Aug 31, 2008 7:42 pm

Immigration, Customs - different processes.

cragley · Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:27 am

Best : MUC - it took me about 2 minutes to clear customs and immigration.

AMS is always good too and there is never a drama.

Worst : YVR would have to be THE slowest airport in the world to clear customs and immigration. Both times I have visited it has taken me about 3 hours to get out due to HUGE lines.

MSP : my last experience consisted of 3 officers detaining my entire family and subjecting us to questioning for 4 hours before refusing my brother entry on the grounds of 'misrepresentation' but couldn;'t elaborate. I was called a liar and that everything I said was 'bullsh*t'

'So you are telling me that you would get on plane and fly to another country to visit a friend?'

'Sure'

'You are full of it, that is total Bullsh*t'

Honestly, where do they find these people? I have been to the states about 20 times and have never had a problem. This lady made it personal for whatever reason.

I am going through LAX on thursday on my way to Toronto and am concerned that they might refuse me for whatever reason comes to their mind. The head of homeland security was interviewed about their process and said that entry is 100% dependent on the immigration official and that there is no appeal process!!!

Scary! I will let you all know how I go Smile

tennis69 · Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:15 am

Worst ATL - on three different occasions I have had personal items taken from me by force by US customs agents in ATL.

RussianJet · Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:57 pm

Quoting Cragley (Reply 7):
MSP : my last experience consisted of 3 officers detaining my entire family and subjecting us to questioning for 4 hours before refusing my brother entry on the grounds of 'misrepresentation' but couldn;'t elaborate. I was called a liar and that everything I said was 'bullsh*t'

'So you are telling me that you would get on plane and fly to another country to visit a friend?'

'Sure'

'You are full of it, that is total Bullsh*t'

That is IMMIGRATION.

This thread asks about customs. There have been other threads specifically about Immigration experiences.

Customs and Immigration are not the same thing.

PGNCS · Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:22 pm

Best: SNN, LGW, CVG, MSP

Worst: JFK, JFK, JFK, JFK

tennis69 · Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:34 am

Best CAI - their customs people will let anything thru for the right amount of money. I brought bacon and other pork products into Egypt after every home leave and if they looked in my bags the most it ever cost me was 50 EG pounds. No hastles, no problems.

RussianJet · Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:05 am

Quoting Tennis69 (Reply 8):
Worst ATL - on three different occasions I have had personal items taken from me by force by US customs agents in ATL.

Quoting Tennis69 (Reply 11):
Best CAI - their customs people will let anything thru for the right amount of money. I brought bacon and other pork products into Egypt after every home leave and if they looked in my bags the most it ever cost me was 50 EG pounds. No hastles, no problems.

Hmmmm. And what was taken from you in ATL may we ask? You weren't trying to bribe them to allow prohibited items through as well were you?

dlowwa · Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:30 am

Quoting WILCO737 (Reply 4):
Best: PDX (had a 20 min chat with the immigration officer)
Very good as well: IKA The guy there spoke German and helped me with the visa thingy I had to fill out.

Worst: SFO this dude said I need a visa for the US when I am on vacation. It took me 20 minutes to convince him

Ha Ha...I totally agree.

Best: PDX - Have flown in several times from NRT on NW, customs/immigration have always been extremely friendly and talkative... good-natured in general.

Worst: SFO - Returning from Central America, wearing a t-shirt with Che Guevara's face on it (stupid, I know), the first words out of the immigration officer's mouth "So, are you a socialist?" which prefaced a joyless five minutes of questioning about nearly every stamp in my passport. At least I didn't get a secondary check/inspection.

Elite · Tue Sep 02, 2008 1:16 pm

Best experience - PER. . . the Aussies are very strict about not letting any food into the country, but I brought it along anyways and checked "yes" on the pre-landing forms. I was expecting the food to be confiscated, but the customs asked me what I was doing here, I said camping, and then he winked and said "then there's no problem" and let me through.

Awesome Wink

tennis69 · Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:55 am

Quoting RussianJet (Reply 12):
Hmmmm. And what was taken from you in ATL may we ask? You weren't trying to bribe them to allow prohibited items through as well were you?

ATL customs got my cuban cigars on three different occasions and no bribe was even contemplated much less attempted.

signol · Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:14 am

I've never had any really bad (or really good) experiences with customs...
Our first trip to New Zealand, I was only about 12 and travelling with my sister, unaccompanied. We didn't know about the no fruit rules, and had packed a bag of tangerines. Obviously they would have been confiscated, so we ate them there and then in the queue - about 5 each Smile

On another occasion, in LAX, a customs official with a drug sniffer dog asked if we wouldn't mind helping to train the dog by them hiding a drug package in our case. I was fine with it, after remembering the officer's name and number. The dog came and found the package, and we were free to go.

signol

RussianJet · Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:57 am

Quoting Tennis69 (Reply 15):
ATL customs got my cuban cigars on three different occasions and no bribe was even contemplated much less attempted.

I assume you knew they were prohibited, at least after the first occasion they were confiscated. Why did you carry them on two further occasions? If you're silly enough to do that then don't complain about it afterwards.

rwy04lga · Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:44 pm

The best = EDI, BOG, BOM, CPT, IST, JFK....no customs at all.

Worst = NRT......Emptied out all my stuff ONLY because I was alone on vacation (not business) and there for only a week.

RussianJet · Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:13 pm

Quoting Rwy04LGA (Reply 18):
ONLY because I was alone on vacation (not business) and there for only a week.

You don't know that, even if that was what they told you.

rwy04lga · Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:10 pm

Quoting RussianJet (Reply 19):
You don't know that, even if that was what they told you.

That would be the same for every thing else in life, wouldn't it? But that's what he said and I took him at his word. I'm not that paranoid to doubt everything anyone ever says to me.

PS...Don't forget 'There', 'Than', and 'Then'.

Transpac787 · Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:28 pm

Quoting Rwy04LGA (Reply 20):
PS...Don't forget 'There', 'Than', and 'Then'.

What??

Anyhow, I guess you just had bad luck in NRT. I've been through there 4 times now and never had a problem with them. Often times I only stay for a single night too and they never give me weird looks, much less searches, for it. So maybe you just got a customs officer with a chip on his shoulder.

rwy04lga · Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:09 am

Quoting Transpac787 (Reply 21):
What??

Note RussianJet's signature.

tennis69 · Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:42 am

Quoting RussianJet (Reply 17):
I assume you knew they were prohibited, at least after the first occasion they were confiscated. Why did you carry them on two further occasions? If you're silly enough to do that then don't complain about it afterwards.

Of course I know they are prohibited by my gov't and I suppose you think that makes them right in taking by force my personal belongings. I personally do not believe that any gov't should have the right to designate what is legal and/or illegal. To consume a product or not to consume it should be left up to the individual.

Sure they found them 3 times, but they missed them the other 9 times that I have brought them home. So...I guess I have the last laugh.

OHLHD · Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:57 am

My new passport has an " acceptable " error so it is checked every time when I arrive. ( There ís something wrong at the picture section).

Worst: MUC - whenever I arrive there from a Non-Schengen state they check it several minutes and even one time they took me with them. I hold a Austrian passport btw.

Good: CDG - never had a problem there when connecting or arriving! Always friendly. Smile

SOBHI51 · Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:58 am

Quoting Tennis69 (Reply 11):
Best CAI - their customs people will let anything thru for the right amount of money. I brought bacon and other pork products into Egypt after every home leave and if they looked in my bags the most it ever cost me was 50 EG pounds. No hastles, no problems

I don't understand why are you even bribing them,importing pork products to Egypt is allowed.

gffgold · Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:25 am

The silliest customs search I have endured was in AMS arriving from the UK. I asked them just what, exactly, could I possibly bring to Holland from England that wouldn't be cheaper and more plentiful once I arrived there.

Best one was on arrival at NCL after a multi-sector long haul. I was tired, cold and hungry and thoroughly p****d off to find that HM customs had decided to hit that flight in force. There were loads of them stopping virtually everyone. I had 3 times the limit of cigarettes in my suitcase. The dude stopped me and asked if I had any tobacco products. I groaned and told him I'd been on the road for days and needed to have a shower and a sleep. To my astonishment he let me pass unhindered.

andz · Fri Sep 05, 2008 6:01 am

I think any good one is when you don't get stopped!

Worst: On my first trip to Germany in 1990 I flew JNB-FRA-DUS. No problems in FRA but when we arrived in DUS (remember this was a domestic flight) my colleague and I were pulled over, questioned and searched. We were asked why we had so much cash (this was a 2 week trip), our suitcases were tipped out and we had to repack them ourselves, my colleague had bought a bottle of perfume on the plane for his wife and he was told to open the sealed lackaging for them to check it. We were detained for over an hour.

RussianJet · Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:23 pm

Quoting Tennis69 (Reply 23):
I personally do not believe that any gov't should have the right to designate what is legal and/or illegal.

What an astonishing statement. So, I guess you are some kind of nihilist-anarchist then? Beside the point anyway. Whatever you do or don't agree with, you knew they could confiscate them and took them anyway. It's your own silly fault that they took your things, so quit complaining. If you have a 'bad experience' with customs because you broke the law then it only really reflects badly on you, not them.

woody71 · Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:05 pm

Quoting Andz (Reply 27):
Worst: On my first trip to Germany in 1990 I flew JNB-FRA-DUS. No problems in FRA but when we arrived in DUS (remember this was a domestic flight) my colleague and I were pulled over, questioned and searched.

I'm curious. Did you go through customs in FRA or DUS becaue in Europe you go through customs at your final destination not your point of entry. Was it different in 1990?

Best: Breezing through and making your connection or getting to your destination quickly.

Worst: Getting caught trying to bring something in.

RussianJet · Sat Sep 06, 2008 1:15 am

Quoting Andz (Reply 27):
Worst: On my first trip to Germany in 1990 I flew JNB-FRA-DUS. No problems in FRA but when we arrived in DUS (remember this was a domestic flight) my colleague and I were pulled over, questioned and searched. We were asked why we had so much cash (this was a 2 week trip), our suitcases were tipped out and we had to repack them ourselves, my colleague had bought a bottle of perfume on the plane for his wife and he was told to open the sealed lackaging for them to check it. We were detained for over an hour.

Germany, eh? I suppose you mean it was your 'wurst' experience then? Big grin

Baexecutive · Sat Sep 06, 2008 1:43 am

Quoting RussianJet (Reply 30):

Hey, I've got a good experience to report, went to Orlando the other week, waited an age in the queue but when I got to the TSA agent he was as nice as nincepence, didn't even ask why I was there for one day only Wink

novak500 · Sat Sep 06, 2008 1:49 am

Best was YYZ (August 2008), not one question from the customs agent, just sent me right through.

Worst was Cancun (March 2002) spent an enormous amount of time in line as every charter from Canada seemed to arrive at the same time.

RussianJet · Sat Sep 06, 2008 2:11 am

Quoting Baexecutive (Reply 31):
but when I got to the TSA agent

I'm glad to hear it, though I don't believe we ever talked about TSA or other airport security guys!

Baexecutive · Sat Sep 06, 2008 2:32 am

Quoting RussianJet (Reply 33):

Don't Start Wink

tennis69 · Sat Sep 06, 2008 7:50 am

Quoting RussianJet (Reply 28):
What an astonishing statement. So, I guess you are some kind of nihilist-anarchist then?

I am not either. I believe that I, or anyone else, should be allowed to do anything as long as it does not affect the life or property of another person.

andz · Sat Sep 06, 2008 8:18 am

Quoting Woody71 (Reply 29):
Did you go through customs in FRA or DUS

I honestly don't remember, but the flight was a regular domestic flight so there were passengers who hadn't been on an international leg. It was definitely the Bundesgrenzschutz crowd not the police.

Quoting RussianJet (Reply 30):
your 'wurst' experience

Good one

UN_B732 · Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:07 am

I've never had a problem with JFK. Having cleared at T1, T3, T4, and T8; I can't say it's pleasant.. but I've never had to wait too long.

Worst has gotta be SVO when a bank of flights comes in. Spent over an hour waiting at Sheremetyevo "C" when a charter 747 flew in and there was just a huge line of people, with no breathing room. SVO-2 can also get really long lines, but at least there's a smoking area before you clear passport control.

Most pleasant for me has gotta be BOS. Friendly, Quick, Throrough.
-A

Elite · Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:38 am

Quoting SOBHI51 (Reply 25):
I don't understand why are you even bribing them,importing pork products to Egypt is allowed.

I am not sure if you are allowed to just bring them in your suitcase though.

RussianJet · Sat Sep 06, 2008 4:16 pm

Quoting Tennis69 (Reply 35):
I am not either. I believe that I, or anyone else, should be allowed to do anything as long as it does not affect the life or property of another person.

You're obviously entitled to believe what you want, and there are many laws etc. that I don't agree with. However, knowlingly breaking the law and then complaining about the consequences when you get caught is rather different from expressing your disapproval of a law or policy. You seem to openly admit that you have no respect for the law, and you have mentioned bribing officials in Egypt. If you have any problems with customs, I think it's fairly obvious why!

rwy04lga · Sat Sep 06, 2008 5:59 pm

Quoting Signol (Reply 16):
Our first trip to New Zealand, I was only about 12 and travelling with my sister, unaccompanied. We didn't know about the no fruit rules, and had packed a bag of tangerines.

I didn't know about the no fruit rules either and ate my Chinese pear while waiting to enter AKL.

And since I've never been inspected coming into the US, my Cuban cigars have never been caught.

[Edited 2008-09-06 11:01:58]

[Edited 2008-09-06 11:02:27]

growly150 · Sun Sep 07, 2008 7:09 am

Worst: DFW- from CUN after a 4 hour delay and fewer hours of sleep. They ran out of customs/immigration cards in English in the flight, so knowing enough Spanish and comparing with my buddy who must have got the last one, I filled out one of those not wanting to waste time in the customs line. The fellers "at the border" didn't like that one bit and accused me of not knowing what I was filling out (more like they didn't know what they were reading). They let me go, only to find out the next flight to DEN was the next day, routed DFW-ICT-DEN. I was p/o-ed, much to the amusement of the AA c/s guy.

Best: DEN- Returning from CUN the first time, and another time from CPT via FRA. Both times just glad to be home and couldn't have cared less what transpired.

babybus · Sun Sep 07, 2008 9:29 am

Quoting Transpac787 (Thread starter):
NRT- It's impressive how easy customs is in NRT, for such a huge airport with so much traffic. But, the Japanese seem to have a knack for making everything so easy and efficient.

NRT was my best experience too! It can't get any easier.

JED is bad. Long queues for immigration then a long wait for the bag and then they customs guy goes through everything. They take out most things from the bag and really take their time.

Bangor, New England. They took offence to some Turkish asprine I had and got the sniffer dogs out on my bag. Really un-necessary and completely over the top.

TimePilot · Sun Sep 07, 2008 10:04 am

The only bad experience I've had so far was at ORD. I had 15 minutes to get from the international terminal to terminal 3. The line to get through customs was HUGE. I went to the front and said "Can I PLEASE cut through? I have a connecting flight in 15 minutes." The customs agent, some a****** woman with an accent frowned, said "NO" and then ignored me. I swore at her under my breath, ran to the other line and was quickly allowed through.

What was the big deal? All the customs people do is collect those papers and 99% of the time they don't even look at them.

Guam has always been cool, even when I get there at 1am. I filled out the form wrong once (had too much wine on the flight over) and the guy just laughed "That's funny - never seen that before." he said.

RussianJet · Sun Sep 07, 2008 11:15 am

Quoting Babybus (Reply 42):
They took offence to some Turkish asprine I had and got the sniffer dogs out on my bag. Really un-necessary and completely over the top.

So, what happened? They checked it out and found out is was all ok and then sent you on my way? OH NO! How awful!

plateman · Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:13 am

BEST
Arlanda Airport (Stockholm)--I had to clear customs 4 times in one day due to a problem. No lines, no questions, quick stamp of the passport.

Amsterdam Schipol Again, no lines, no questions, friendly agents

JFK As a U.S. passport holder, a big welcome home.

WORST

LHR Terrible lines in all terminals at all times. Although I managed to get stamped in for 3 months and use the citizen line after that.

TruemanQLD · Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:10 am

BEST

NRT: What customs?

SYD: No customs

WORST

BNE: everything was inspected... took forever

[email protected] · Mon Sep 08, 2008 4:21 pm

Not customs, but immigration.

I was crossing by foot from C. Juarez into El Paso. I was dressed nicely and I was polite, yet I was detained for 1 hour by immigration folk for no apparent reason. I’m not Saddam Hussein for goodness sake! Osama Bin Laden perhaps…

RussianJet · Mon Sep 08, 2008 4:32 pm

Quoting PlateMan (Reply 45):
No lines, no questions, quick stamp of the passport.

Quoting PlateMan (Reply 45):
LHR Terrible lines in all terminals at all times. Although I managed to get stamped in for 3 months and use the citizen line after that.

For about the twentieth time in this thread.......that would be immigration, NOT customs. Do you even understand the difference? The opening question is pretty clear.

RussianJet · Mon Sep 08, 2008 4:34 pm

Quoting PlateMan (Reply 45):
LHR Terrible lines in all terminals at all times. Although I managed to get stamped in for 3 months and use the citizen line after that.

Further to this, there is no such thing as a 'citizen line' - there are queues for EU/EEA/Swiss passport holders, and a queue for all other passports. Also, being 'stamped in for three months' would not entitle you to use the EU/EEA/Swiss queue.

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