Terrible international arrival at MIA
 

We arrived at MIA from MAD July 23rd and missed our connection because Agricultural Inspection required ALL incoming luggage and carry-ons to go through their 2 x-ray machines. With several flights there, the lines were very long and the process slow. We missed our connecting flight and fortunately only had a 2+ hour wait.

Better safe than sorry!
I rather stay in line and wait for the next flight. We better don't import the food problems they have abroad, it would be a desaster.
I also just arrived from Europe, from LHR with BA on a 747. BA is now in terminal A and I was (with priority tags on the baggage) one of the first on the x-ray. I think terminal A is better than terminal E, E has lots of international passengers and very often long lines.

BTW, I like MIA, it's becoming better and better every time I fly.

Absolutely. I refuse to enter the USA there. Chicago and Dallas are a delight. So too is Boston, Detroit, and Washington. BTW I do dislike being termed an "alien", I come from Britain not the Klingon Home World.

Be careful - you may upset the Klingons and other Trekkies around here. However, shouldn't you be thankful for small mercies? At least, you are not "being termed" an illegal alien or worse yet - a British subject - whatever that is... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif




[This message has been edited by BajanYankee (edited 07-30-2001).]

"Alien" is actually a legal term used in immigration law, plain and simple.

BTW, did anyone else catch those news reports recently where the Klingons (Trekkies who gather together dressed up in Klingon costumes and speaking in "Klingon" language to each other) are seeking to have Klingon recognized as an official religion? Gee, and to think I was hoping FT who get there before the Klingons... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ideasmilie.gif

[This message has been edited by BajanYankee (edited 07-30-2001).]

"terrible international arrival at MIA"? Isn't that redundant?

Djlawman

It maybe well be very legal, but that doesnt make it all of a sudden a "likable" term. Many legal terms are throwbacks to another era.


Staying on topic, I dislike MIA in general, but for international arrivals (only talking about immigration and customs), I think I dislike LAX even more than MIA. I get the impression that the INS has a policy of making sure that there are always long lines for at immigration -it helps convey that message of "look! long lines! lots of people want to come to this country"

I come into Miami a lot, and I really can't complain, beyond the fact that it's 4:30 AM. I usually make it from wheels down to out side immigration with 20 minutes, including the always invigorating speed walk (about 10 minutes) from gate F-whatever to customs. I have arrived at other times, and the facilities seem to be over-burdened.

In general all aspects of the Miami airport is awful. Living in Florida I make all attempts to avoid that dump.
Went through there last night and the connection at AA terminal was horrendous.
Matter was more distasteful when a small boy
got his foot caught in the moving walkway after much screaming by parents etc other passengers pushed the emergency stop. Two airport personnel with walkie-talkies just stood there perhaps the screams were not in Spanish.
Mike

The problem is that the locals that work at the airport there do not even speak a half decent comprehensible Spanish, but a strange mixture of their own "miami-made-spanglish." Every time I go through Miami I can not avoid remembering "Tony Montana" played by Al Pacino in Scarface.

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The trouble with resisting temptation is...that you may not get another chance :-)

Boy I'm with you guys, the first time I landed at Miami I though "Is this an airport in the US or did we overshoot and land somewhere else".

It is dark and dingy and when you walk through the terminal there is always stuff stuck in the walkway like it was built as an afterthought. Alfred--

Miami's my hometown. MIA is just one of a number of good reasons why "it's a good place to be from."

That does not even include all those forms that have to be comleted before arrival. Some passengers get quite nervous about whether they have filled them out properly. I wish that the US allowed passengers to clear prior to arrival as they do in Dublin. Is this the UK dragging their feet (again!)? I remember that they did this as an experiment in the early 90s, the over-riding reaction was most positive, and practically everyone said that the officers were so much nicer then some of the sour-pusses in those hideous halls! Not quite on thread, but wouldn't arrival in MIA be eased if at least some of the formalities were dealt with before travel?