Originally Posted by alex0683de

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However, I think refusing to transit in the US because doing so is a gigantic pain in the @ss is a legitimate complaint, and you can count me among those who will pay good money to avoid having to transit in the US. I welcome alternatives like AeroMexico's TIJ-NRT or Air New Zealand's new YVR-AKL flights. A lot of other posters have cited LHR - I agree that this airport is a nightmare, and use it only when my destination is London. I would not dream of connecting there unless I had no choice.

There is a third element in this debate, which has nothing to do with politics, but rather with policies, namely the policies of US Customs and Border Patrol and of the TSA. Your view may differ on this, but if I have the choice between spending my vacation euros in a country that fingerprints and mugshots me like a common criminal simply because I had the temerity to show up at one of its airports, where I must leave my luggage unlocked for "security" reasons making it easy for all-and-sundry to pilfer from it, being yelled at like a Marines recruit on the first day of boot camp by TSAers too stupid to spell their own name while dawdling their way through screening passengers, power-tripping all the way or spending them in a country that has relatively easy entry procedures, allows me to keep my luggage locked and has security screeners who are polite and courteous, and best of all, efficient - well, you'll have to forgive me for choosing the second option.

I used to live in the US and still have very good friends there, but at the moment I am simply not willing to put up with the hassle and indignity of the current entry process to the US.