Originally Posted by
Night Flyer
It ends up being all in the execution of it anyway. My experiences with preclearance at Canadian airports haven't been that great, it's almost as time-consuming if not more so than handling on arrival in the US. Although I have seen some horrendous lines in certain places (Tom Bradley terminal at LAX in particular). YMMV of course.
I suspect one issue with the volume passing through LHR would be having enough US staff on hand to adjust to the ebbs and flows of demand - and US CBP not being known for overstaffing in general . . .
Agreed. It's especially bad in Toronto.
Execution is key. It would definitely add on additional time at the beginning (or middle, if transferring) of the journey where I'd personally prefer screening to be expedited. Often, it takes no more than 10-15 minutes to clear immigration (at least for US citizens) in the US, but they'd have to build in at least an hour or so like they do in Canada for pre-clearance, which would really not be a good thing.
Also, as a Global Entry member, I see very little appeal in the LCY-JFK flights, even if you work/live close to LCY. If all you have is a carry-on, it takes no more than 5 minutes to get from the plane to a taxi.