I was hooking up with my sister last Friday at IAH. I flew in from CRP and she flew in from GDL and we were meeting to go on to PVD through EWR.

Her GDL flight arrived 20 minutes early, so I was sure she'd make her connection. She did, but barely. It took her 1.5 hours to clear immigration, baggage claim, customs and TSA. Almost that entire time (70+ minutes) was waiting in line at immigration to get her passport looked at. She blew through baggage claim (her bags were off the carrousel to the side) and went right through customs and bag checking. Elite line at TSA took less than 5 minutes.

I know CO has no control over immigration, but she paid, in addition to her airfare over $100 in taxes:


U.S. Immigration User Fee: 7.00
U.S. Federal Transportation Tax: 30.20
U.S. Security Service Fee: 7.50
Mexico Tourism Tax: 21.60
Mexico Departure Tax: 31.40
U.S. Passenger Facility Charge: 4.50
U.S. APHIS User Fee: 5.00

It seems that the the $7.00 U.S. Immigration User fee ought to be enough to pay the salary of sufficient immigration officers to get people through in a reasonable amount of time. Assuming it takes 5 minutes per person (it never does) each immigration officer is generating $84 an hour in user fees.

If $7 isn't enough, bump it up to $10. And why can't the airlines interface with Immigration to coordinate loads with staffing?

As for the airlines, CO might need to look at these times and start requiring 2 hours for international connections, especially at peak times.

My sister’s solution? She has a removable cast she got when she injured her ankle. She said the crew/wheelchair line moved right through.