Air France Frequence Plus - AF66's arrival in LAX and immigration

Would there be anybody out there with "enough experience" arriving with the A380 at the Bradley terminal? Assuming no delays, are there many more flights getting there at about the same time? How long does one need to get through immigration? Huge lines?

No FTer on this flight ever? :confused:

When I made a similar inquiry (we are arriving on 66 and need to connect to an AS flight 2.5 hours later) I was told to get Global Entry as that would " help".

Which is what we did. Our flight is not until September.

Are you flying in J or the back of the bus? If J, then figure 30-60 minutes. If in the back, 30-90 minutes. I have cleared in as little as 10 minutes. The biggest bottleneck seems to be after you pick up your baggage. If the customs agent is being VERY aggresive it can take a LONG time. Watch the lines and don't hesitate to move to another line if one agent seems to be interegating every pasenger for several minutes.

I've waited as long as 90 minutes in TBIT customs when everyone on my flight seemed to be sent to secondary agricultural inspection (X-ray of everything, including checked bags and carry on, followed by hand searches for some passengers but not me). I was in IFC on SQ. This experience caused me to decide to get Global Entry before my next international trip, but it's primarily for USA passports.

This is highly unpredictable and whether it is an A380 does not make that much difference.


If you are a US resident, the lines are short.
If you are a European passportholder, lines can be very long depending on flights which arrived before you. If several flights have landed in the hour preceding your arrival (and flights can be delayed so impossible to predict by looking at schedules) you can wait at immigration up to 1.5 hours (usually much less). If you sit in F/J on the A380, you should arrive among the first pax of your flight. Otherwise, you will be behind other pax; it is hard to tell how many pax as it depends on how far you are from the plane doors.
The Global Entry program is for US residents, so you won't qualify if you are European.

Customs can add another fifteen minutes.

The Global Entry program is for US residents, so you won't qualify if you are European.

The Dutch citizens are eligible to Global Entry. But don't ask me why only the Dutch !
http://www.globalentry.gov/eligibility.html

The Dutch citizens are eligible to Global Entry. But don't ask me why only the Dutch !
http://www.globalentry.gov/eligibility.html

It appears they have some sort of reciprocal agreement as you can use GOES at AMS as well.

This is highly unpredictable and whether it is an A380 does not make that much difference.


If you are a US resident, the lines are short.
If you are a European passportholder, lines can be very long depending on flights which arrived before you. If several flights have landed in the hour preceding your arrival (and flights can be delayed so impossible to predict by looking at schedules) you can wait at immigration up to 1.5 hours (usually much less). If you sit in F/J on the A380, you should arrive among the first pax of your flight. Otherwise, you will be behind other pax; it is hard to tell how many pax as it depends on how far you are from the plane doors.
[...]
Customs can add another fifteen minutes.

That's a very good summary. Arrive just before the others and you're fine, arrive just after them and you're dead. Sometimes it is even less logical as if you arrive at time t you may be in a very long queue and someone arriving 5 minutes later will be sent to some US citizens counters if some of those have cleared. Just impossible to answer your question.

I'd say that 15 minutes more for customs however is 'the average' rather than the 'worst case scenario'. If a couple of flights from Asia, Africa, or even Latin America arrive before you at any US airport, customs can sometimes take significantly longer than that as quarantine (even more than customs per se) can be very thorough in its search for forbidden food imports.

That's a very good summary. Arrive just before the others and you're fine, arrive just after them and you're dead. Sometimes it is even less logical as if you arrive at time t you may be in a very long queue and someone arriving 5 minutes later will be sent to some US citizens counters if some of those have cleared. Just impossible to answer your question.

You are totally correct. These various situations are all encountered by frequent travelers to the US. Only exceptions are the airports with one or very few int'l flights, so passing immigration there is always a breeze. I have in mind CVG and SLC in this case.

It appears they have some sort of reciprocal agreement as you can use GOES at AMS as well.
I think it goes back to Privium, which USA citizens could get, but it seemed expensive except if you fly often through AMS.

I was actually asking about the specific LAX terminal at around 13:10 ± 30 minutes. Last time I landed at LAX (I usually fly to the US 3-4 times a year), it took me <than 10 minutes to go through. Anyway, thanks for the answers.

You are totally correct. These various situations are all encountered by frequent travelers to the US. Only exceptions are the airports with one or very few int'l flights, so passing immigration there is always a breeze. I have in mind CVG and SLC in this case.

Ah yes indeed! I once had the pleasure to fly through Memphis with KLM - was just great! By contrast, LAX is probably my least favourite US airport to land out (closely followed by IAD)! :)

If you are a US resident, the lines are short.

Normally yes, but not always true. I've got stuck in some quite long lines at TBIT as a US citizen. Sometimes when the lines are empty, they invite foreigners to use the citizen lines. But then a jumbo will land and you have US citizens queuing being dozens or even a hundred Asians (happened to me many times).

And sometimes you just have a whole lot of jets arriving at the same time with lots of American holidaymakers and the citizen lines are quite long.

An update, in case anybody is interested: We arrived with a small delay (i.e. 13:40 at the gate, a Thursday), I got off as the third passenger from the upper deck and when I arrived at immigration there was one (yes, one) person in front of me at the booth I chose (average line/per booth 1.5 people). Total time to clear immigration was 4 minutes. Never had this experience before in more than 40 US trips at more than 10 airports. :cool:

An update, in case anybody is interested: We arrived with a small delay (i.e. 13:40 at the gate, a Thursday), I got off as the third passenger from the upper deck and when I arrived at immigration there was one (yes, one) person in front of me at the booth I chose (average line/per booth 1.5 people). Total time to clear immigration was 4 minutes. Never had this experience before in more than 40 US trips at more than 10 airports. :cool:

Sounds like you hit the jackpot. I would buy a lottery ticket this week. :D

You may want the Global Entry. No line up every time I go back to Thomas Bradley airport. I have seen long line ups at Customs. Also , after you pick up your luggage, you need to line up to give your Customs declaration unless you have Global Entry. Then you have a separate line. No waiting.

You may want the Global Entry. No line up every time I go back to Thomas Bradley airport. I have seen long line ups at Customs. Also , after you pick up your luggage, you need to line up to give your Customs declaration unless you have Global Entry. Then you have a separate line. No waiting.

For sure, but the (small ;)) problem is that only US, Mexican, Canadian and Dutch citizens are eligible to Global Entry.

LAS is a good entry point into the US normally for short immigration queues but last year going to Canada and clearing Immigration at YYZ was the best!
Personally always had long queues at LAX