Originally Posted by
JAXPax
Interesting to hear this report... this is actually the new US Customs and Border Protection standard. San Diego must have a new built facility in the last 5-6 years or so. The new model is to have one interaction with arriving persons versus a two step process, which dates from when Customs and Immigration were separate agencies. Supposedly this makes the process work faster and more efficiently and allows more queue space and to have more lanes open due to focusing staffing on one area (well, it makes it more efficient for US Customs anyway).
Oh I hope that's not the way of the future, as it's far slower to get through the airport with a checked bag then. Nothing more frustrating than to see the immigration line get longer and longer whilst you wait for your bag to hopefully turn up, and you loose any advantage you have of getting off the plane quickly if you then have an unknown wait for bags before being able to join the immigration line.