fife

http://uk.tv.yahoo.com/blog/article/234116/

Paul O'Grady held at airport over communist fears

KenJohn

Why does this not surprise me about MIA immigration staff.
I refuse to fly into MIA except on a domestic flight these days. Just had very very bad experiences and attitudes there. Never experienced the same at any other US airport.

MIKESILV

Interesting... you claim to know a lot about MIA .. but you dont fly through there "these days"... sort of begs the question doesnt it?

mike

HIDDY

Victor Meldrew strikes again.

MIKESILV

Nope just somebody who actually flies through MIA.. quite often.

Whats your exeperience there? (if you have any)

mike

Paint Horse

Well, my one and only experience there so far was unpleasant in the extreme. It is by far the worst organized, staffed by the most unhelpful people, and the most crowded airport I have been to date.

evacboy

Agreed, probably the most unpleasant airport I have been in the U.S. Not as bad as DEL, but that's another story..

dmahon

I was dreading our families flight to (and from) MIA last month after what I had read here, however I can honestly say that it was the best US airport I have arrived at in the last 12 months (through security in less than 5 minutes and our bags were on the carousel when we arrived). Out the door, on the bus and only a few minutes later I was dropped at AVIS where my car was waiting with keys in the ignition. We were on South Beach less than 60 minutes after touching down.

Departures was very reasonable too and although there was no fast-track through security, I don't remember waiting at all. The (temporary) lounge was fairly average (but most US lounges are) and they had priority boarding.

KenJohn

With an address in Tampa, you obvious hold a US passport or have a green card and do not not have the same issues as visitors to the US do

Experience 1
A long session with counter guy who was convinced I was there to stay illegally and asked me a series of silly questions like:
After asking me what I did for living and where I worked, he went on to ask:
Officer - When did you study or live in the US ?
Me - I have never studied or lived in the US
Officer - Then how come you speak English so fluently
Me - Because I live and work in the England for 20+ years. I could have added the query as to where he thought the English Language came from but I held my tongue.

Experience 2
I was "held" for two plus hours by MIA immigration incommunicado from my partner waiting to see an immigration officer who then says "why did the other send you here? Gawd!" and then stamps mypassport in 10 seconds.

I will also add that I fly into the US about 3 times a year to various airports over the past 15 years and never had an issue at immigration at another aiport so it cannot be me!


If I know I am going to mugged going down the street having been mugged twice, would you recommend I go down the street again to see if the area has been cleaned up. From that news report, clearly this is not the case. So why bother trying

Jenbel

And what about the OP? how are you going to discount that someone with a strong Liverpool accent (and presumably a British passport) was accused of being an illegal immigrant from Cuba?

BA Loyal

I agree - MIA is a total hell-hole and I try to avoid it whenever possible.

Arriving is more often than not a nightmare, and departure lines can be horrendous.

Now that BA have moved away from the old terminal and don't have their own lounge, even less reason to fly through MIA!

Give me IAH any day!

natkraft

Actually, I quite like MIA (granted, never used it for international arrivals), as well as the AA Flagship Lounge is actually good (considering its an AA lounge...), pretty good food, nice drinks and so on.

It did seem to be a bit of a crowded airport with fairly long walks, but the helpful dragon at the flagship lounge just took a quick look at my boardingpass when I entered, and told me she would arrange transportation to the gate so I wouldnt have to walk. I think its the first ever airport Ive been to that has offered that.

Now, lets not discuss the effects of lightning and closing the ramp for hours when Im trying to fly back to LAX tho, that was a nightmare

gcollett

I haven't been there since last year but I found it to be an incredibly easy experience with virtually no delay and very friendly immigration officials. I am guessing those further back were delayed longer but things did seem to be moving pretty swiftly. Departure on the other hand was a nightmare with no-one seeming to know what on earth was going on.
Asked one of the TSA guys if we needed to put liquids into a plastic bag, he said probably yes but he wasn't sure (how can a TSA person working on the scanner queues not know!) When asked for a plastic bag he said they didn't have any, asked him what would happen if we got to the front and we needed one and he said we would need to get one and join the back of the queue! Very very unhelpful, miserable and frankly disgraceful employee. Normally this kind of treatment is for when you are trying to get into the US not when you're trying to get out!!!

bernardd

My philosophy exactly, though I'd have to point out there were bits of Miami Beach I wouldn't care to go into 20 years ago for fear of getting mugged that are fine today. How do you know when it's safe to go back?

In the case of MIA my last experience is 3 years old and it wasn't pleasant. I wouldn't refuse to make a trip if it included a connection in MIA, but I'd route myself through DFW or IAH if I had a choice.

BingBongBoy

I find this the most hilarious thing I have read in a long time.

Not for dear Mr. O'Grady, nothing but sympathy for him...

But the idiocy of the US Border officials. I have never heard of such an utter and so stupid excuse for stopping someone at Immigration. I am a big fan of the US and tend to holiday there the most, but some Americans really do think that their country is something special and a cut above the rest that needs to be protected from anyone and anything that they feel on a whim...

It is a shame that Mr. O'Grady will not have any come back on this, as I am sure the US Borer peeps have some law or other that prevents anyone taking out any form of complaint or grievance as to how they have been treat, but I certainly wish he could.