Originally Posted by
OxonCantab
ah, but you see, I have Global Entry, which means that I can bypass most of the hassles with US CBP.
My experiences, however, have been almost overwhelmingly positive with US customs - I once even found out that I was from the same tiny town as the screener.
My experience with UKBA has been more negative and questioning.
On my last interaction with the surly staff, the screener said: "I've been working here for 8 years and can send you right back where you came from, do you want to talk to the Chief border officer?"
Me: Yes, please.
I sat and checked my emails for 3 minutes, the Chief border officer came over, we had a pleasant chat, she stood by the surly clerk who handed my passport to me without a word. I said "have a good day", to which the surly clerk shot me a look that only Gordon Ramsay can give and entered the UK.
The Chief officer walked/chatted with me, apologized for the surly clerk's behaviour and said that she would speak with her about her actions.
For what it's worth, Hong Kong has the quickest international customs I've ever experienced.
what passport do you have?
Going through canadian immigration at yvr on the ba 2012 sale recently I was sent for secondary interview and my bag thoroughly searched,for a half hour because "why would someone fly all the way over here for just 3 days"
I've a good job here at home and fly a lot in my leisure time often on a whim,and when asked for my return ticket,I showed it to them on the BA app.
Still surly they were .
They also went through my wallet,sifting through my credit cards,ba gold card and lol my four seasons by invitation card.
Throughout I was thinking..what sort of profiling are they doing here...
Similar 3 days later at preclearance,just to transit the states for a ba flight on the same day back to London though without the secondary.
Loads of questions about my job and then the kicker..do you have any other ID on you.I showed my irish drivers licence...here was me thinking at that stage,what is my passport not good enough.
I love visiting the states and my passport is full of us. stamps as a result.
This was the most serious grilling I've got though and somewhat unnecessary in my opinion.
Their profiling system is not too good if they think I'm going to over stay or am a terrorist.
It wouldn't fill you with confidence and certainly on that occasion was not welcoming.