May I ask why you think RDU? I've never had an issue there so I'm curious what's happened to you?

Again are you referring to customs or immigration? They are two very different things and again I question your three hour trips to Customs.

what about those who threatens with tickets? I always want to give them a finger, what should I do???

btw, i agreed with you 101%, ORD has the worst traffic agents.

I'm not an international flyer.. only an international flyer wannabbe..

My understanding is clearing customs when crossing the borders..

I see immigration by the wayside walking through customs.. so perhaps immigration comes into play a bit more abroad?

I'm an international flyer and I have trouble distinguishing the two. I suppose if I really thought about it I could tell you which one is customs and which is immigration, but I use the two words interchangeably. I would think for the purpose of your anecdote it doesn't really matter which is which.

There are significant differences in most of the world between clearing customs and clearing immigration. The easiest way to think of it is that immigration controls which people are permitted entry, while customs controls which items are permitted entry (and if any duties apply).

I strongly suspect that you spent three hours waiting for immigration, not customs, at LAX. And the nature of the story would be different to many of us if the three hours was in the queue for immigration, or if you waited three hours for secondary, or if you waited three hours for customs to inspect and/or pay duties. They are definitely not one and the same, and it does change the nature of the story quite a bit. (Three hours may be somewhat excessive assuming there was no hyperbole for entry into the US at major airports, but 2+ hour waits in the immigration queue at LAX, ORD, IAD etc are often reported here especially by non-US resident posters)

When you responded about FCO and referrred to 'customs', it implied that you had something to declare. Much of the world uses red and green channels for self declaration, hence in much of the world there is zero wait if using the green zone (unless one is subject to a random check) A three hour wait for 'customs' at such airports would imply that you either were declaring something quite extensive, or that you were being subject to a secondary search. And again, that changes the nature of the tale quite a bit.

Thanks for the clarification..

Whatever lineup that 'everyone' was funneled off the plane and onto a bus.. is where we lined up.. We needed to fill out a declaration form, wait in line for the officer to check our passports and ask us questions.. I always thought this was Customs, bit could it be Immigration?..

Thereafter the card was stamped, we proceeded to head over to the luggage turnstile and grab a free cart.. yes free.. and piled the luggage and got into another line a mile long, to have the officer at the other end let us through..

Whatever that was Customs or Immigration, sure sucked the life out of me and my family.. can't say we were taken aside for a further review.. we stood in the long, long lines, and was treated the normal standard as if another number..

EWR - :mad: Rude staff everywhere.

Yes. First Immigration, then luggage belt, then Customs.

Great, as noted above this was Immigration. Their primary concern was whether you should be admitted into the country. Now, you are admitted.

Let me show off my sleuthing prowess and impress the FT community by guessing that this was luggage pick up. :)

This was Customs. Although you are now admitted to the country, their concerns are threefold.

First, if you are bringing a prohibited item (could be some agricultural product they don't want, could be internationally banned items like ivory, a book/dvd that violates copyright laws in that country, etc). Such things will simply be confiscated, but unless it was Al Qaeda bomb-making manual, there will likely be no other consequence for you.

Second, if you have too much money with you (e.g., cash, gold, diamonds, etc). This is not illegal, and will be allowed in, but thanks to money-laundering that supports criminal activities worldwide, they just want you to declare it, so they can decide whether to keep an eye on you. :)

Third, and this is mostly in your home country, they want to charge duty on all the items you have purchased abroad above the duty-free limit. In principle, your stopover countries, if they suspect you are planning to leave those items in the country (e.g., as gifts), can also either assess duty or ask you to show the items when you depart, etc., but such hassles are rare. At least in the countries I have visited.

By tradition, most countries' customs areas have Green and Red "channels". If you have nothing to declare, you walk through green and are mostly waved on. If you have something to declare, then use red, and they'll examine what you have. The worst is if you are caught trying to walk through green but they get suspicious and upon examination discover items you should have declared but were trying to hide.

So remember, first Immigration, then luggage belt, then Customs.

DAC has terrible immigration, but other then that has nice staff.

And since that person lives in Canada....

US preclearance from the Canadian airports which have preclearance works a little differently. The order can change in regards to luggage drop off and security depending on airport, but there it is immigration to the US, and then afterwards as one leaves that area one hands in the declaration form to a second official. So in this case it would be Immigration and then Customs, but the luggage belt part can vary depending on airport (and has also changed in recent years at some airports)

All of this IS very important to some people, because of the time and convenience factor. Imagine if one were flying from HKG to YYC and one flew on UA/AC. HKG to US city would require clearing Immigration and Customs in the US. Then one flies US city to YYC on UA/AC. This would require clearing Immigration and Customs in Canada upon landing as the flight was from a non-Canadian destination. So this involves two trips through Immigration and Customs in two different countries.

A more convenient choice of flights for many in this example would be HKG-YVR-YYC which would require only clearing in YVR (an airport which also has a connection option for passengers connecting onwards to further destinations, and an option not always found in every airport)

Also, at most airports there are two different Immigration options; for residents and for non-residents. (There may also be expedited options for passengers who are part of Global Entry, Nexus, APEC etc or in some airports there are even machines for those who are citizens but not holders of an expedited program card)

Taking a few minutes to understand all of this and how it impacts you can really save you a lot of headache and wasted time in future. That is just one reason why there are so many threads on FT about connections and clearing Immigration and Customs.

Someone else can choose to tackle the Schengen topic, or direct the poster to a more on topic thread. :D



(Oh, and free luggage carts are really not that uncommon in much of the world, and we even have free smaller carts to use airside for carry on luggage....) I believe that many of the major US airports tend to have them at no cost just in the customs hall, however, and still charge in the regular baggage claim area.

Excellent.. thanks for the spell out..

When it comes to details in flying.. there is so much.. even for our family who flies at least twice a year..

US pre-clearance has always been handy.. compared to my LAX fiasco..

My flight from CUN to LAX resulted in running head on with international immigration and customs.. plus the fact that we landed (thanks to FTers deciphering my route and experience) in a remote part of the airport.. whisked away on two buses.. two different buses I might add..

and into the Customs and Immigration building where most of the patrons that seemed to be coming in from the far east..

My issues started with TSA being abusive and retaliatory. They then progressed to the LEOs doing the same (threatening to arrest me for asking a question about the right to have a witness when they forced me into a private groping [because I opted out]). The final straw was the airline's ambivalence about the whole thing.

I'm sorry to hear that that happened to you. Next time you're here, how about a round on me to change your mind about the Triangle? I'll even drive you to GSO and you can fly out of there :D

Deal.

For the record, I love the triangle area and 99.9% of the people are the friendliest folks you'll find. I think I caught the 0.1% (the wrong three a-holes) on the wrong day.

The only two problems I have with your area are the humidity and the uncanny way I gain weight eating the local cuisine. ;)

I have no public opinion on which of the three teams I root for.