Originally Posted by Andrius
Sure. Try that in Russia for an extra dose of abuse
Speaking of which, I was once reprimanded for standing in
correct lane.
I flew to Vladivostok, Russia's Far East, from Osaka Kansai. On that flight, all non-Russian passport holders are usually Japanese. I was standing in the line for Foreign Passport Holders.
A woman in khaki uniform approached me and barked in Russian - what was I doing in foreigners' line?
That was a bad case of profiling based on height and facial features
Funny!! I actually got barked at in Russia for being in the correct line also. It was in Moscow during 2000 and my first time flying international and I was by myself. My russian friends were on the other side of the looking glass waiting for me. In the passport control line some people said you only had to declare foreign currency if it was over $1500. Well, I didn't want to be one of those idiots who just believed things strangers in line said and get arrested. So, I read the signs saying to declare any foreign currency, looked at the lines, and being that the declaration line was shorter I went with that.
The woman in front of stopped to fill out a form so the guy asked for mine. I had fibbed a little and wrote $840 USD although I really had $843 so I was a little nervous. The guy glared at me and said in a condescending voice "You have $840??!!" I meekly said "Yes." (wasn't ready to fess up to the extra $3) He replied "What are you doing in this line?!" ME: "The sign says if you have foreign currency...." HE: "That's only if you have over $1500." ME: "I heard some people saying that but I didn't know if it was true.." HE (angrily): "JUST GO!" ME: "Uh, can I get my stuff?" (It was on the conveyor already. So, he thrust the reverse button, I grabbed my stuff and ran (ok, walked) out.
In LAX my bf (russian citizen) and I would usually both go through the US Citizens line. I normally would ask if he could go with me and they acted bored and said whatever. That's been awhile though since he's now my ex.