Hideous CUSTOMS experience

We went through DFW a few weeks ago and had the same horrible experience. We didn't even have checked luggage and we still missed our connecting flight due to the absolute chaos and delay in getting through that process.

When they are saying "customs is nothing" they mean in Europe, not so in the US.

I have had the walk through type experience (several times) at MSP. This DFW arrival is my only other recent international arrival experience. I will try to stick to MSP from now on.

The Green door, Customs in Europe is the walk through. No one has ever posted that it is easy to get back into the US - either immigration or customs. Something is odd because the most we have ever done with customs is to hand in the declaration slip but never a passport check. Did customs actually run your passport through the scanner? Sometimes a question or two will be asked about the declaration slip but that ended with global entry. Just hand in the slip.

I mostly fly in and out of DFW and I hate to say this seems to be fairly standard. It's not the actual process but the lines are long!

Hi Tom, You state that customs "did the full passport check for each person coming in", that is what they are suppose to do! They aren't just randomly checking people, they check everyone, and I'm glad they do. The real problem is that all those international flights land at the same time creating a mass of people all funneling into the customs area and it doesn't take long for the lines to become awful. I fly out of Cleveland for most of my international flights and they always go through Toronto both departing and returning. The flights usually land in the late afternoon, early evening and all at the same time from all over Europe. I can't tell you how many times I've either missed the connecting flight to Cleveland, or just barely made it, simply because about 5 or 6 huge full planes of people who need to go through customs (we clear customs in Canada for the US) are coming in at the same time. As frustrating as it is, I just chalk it up to one of the inconveniences we all have to put up with if we want to travel out of the US.

Yes, the customs guy had me bring up the 5 barcodes on my phone for each passenger for scanning and then did a visual check of passport photos to face one by one.

Was also ticked off that the baggage recheck staff deliberately (as a joke) held off putting our luggage on the belt because I was waiting to be sure that was done. And one of our bags didn't make it (didn't get it today, either).

It's been 20 years since I connected domestically after arriving internationally but when I did at O'Hare I remember that you put your own bags on the belt. There was not a group of 4 people taking their time moving the bags the 20 feet from where passengers left them to the belt. Also the baggage recheck guy at DFW insisted we needed new tags! I said why, they already show our final destination?!

Hi Lisa:

The customs guys at MSP definitely don't check IDs. That's my home airport. I don't recall that customs at ORD, LAX, or Montreal (US entry staff) did either. So this DFW customs passport check was a new experience. I'm pretty sure I've never seen US customs segregating US passport holders from others, either.

JUST ON THE NEWS !! It appears that this issue is nationwide in a number of airports . No confirmation , but it seems to be a massive computer issue . http://www.11alive.com/travel/official-us-customs-and-border-protection-systems-running-again-after-outage/381363109

One carousel in baggage claim handling 4-5 flights, one of which is my flight, that sounds usual practice at SFO. I'll know what to expect at DFW, sounds very similar to the way things operate (or don't operate) at SFO. Very true "customs is nothing"

It's a matter of luck too at SFO, when everything goes smoothly in picking up the luggage in baggage claim and proceeding to Customs to turn in your slip already marked by Immigration. Other times quite the contrary: be prepared for a zoo, tons of people, confusion reigns, long lines, 3-5 flights on more than one carousel, (yours being one of them), people standing around the carousel anywhere from 2-4 lines deep, ....just lovely after an eleven hour flight.

Do not bring any food with you if you're landing at SFO. I once forgot a piece of fruit in my day pack and the dog nosed me out. Even though I immediately dumped the offending pome, I had my bags gone through with a fine tooth comb. My impression (from the others being inspected) is that many Asians bring back lots of delicacies that are either unavailable or expensive in the US, and some of it is contraband.

The customs/walk through refers to Europe, not the US!

Of course customs is a pain in the US. Everyone knows that!

Emily: but both MSP and apparently also DEN have a walk-thru type customs. I wasn't aware that other US airports can be zoos.

Could this have been the cause of the delay:

http://tinyurl.com/zr78fbh

My episode was Sunday so no computer issues were involved.

My mobile passport experience in Boston was remarkably easy. I didn't see where the immigration line was for Mobile passport, so I asked an Officer. He was waiting for Mobile Passport people, and helping with any issues with Global Entry, no line at all. Same with baggage. I only take a carry on. On my fall 2016 trip to France, I carried only a daypack. I was surprised when they directed me to the trusted traveler line for customs too. I was through quickly even though he wanted to see something in my daypack (a gargoyle statue from Notre Dame for my son).

So Boston has its own procedure, mobile pass is treated like global entry at customs.

I suppose it is good that every airport has a different procedure for security reasons, but I just want to avoid the nasty procedures happening at some airports.

Please stop confusing immigration (passport check) with customs (what are you bringing back into the US with you). Immigration, for the most part, doesn't care what you have with you. Customs doesn't care about your passport. What happened here is very unusual and not the norm. Maybe they were trying something new?

Yes, for the immigration check, your passport may be gone over in painful detail if they want to be that thorough. You can get Global Entry where you go through an express lane for immigration as well as the new app that also allows you quick passage. Customs comes next. This is where you hand in your blue form where you have listed what you are bringing back (food items, gifts, cash, etc.). If you have nothing to declare or have only a small amount of stuff, you simply walk through even in the US. If the agent feels it is necessary, they may check your suitcases for things you did not list on the form. 99.9% of people don't get checked by customs.

Where I have run into delays recently is the security screen that happens after going through immigration and customs. At the airports I have gone through it is one big cluster with no well defined lanes, no priority lanes of any kind, no Pre Check. Many times I have found it easier to just exit as if this is my final destination and then go through the normal security lanes for the non international passengers to reach my connections.

I used mobile passport in Newark last month. Breezed through immigration. Put my phone in my pocket, and walked down through baggage claim and towards customs. Customs asked to see my customs declaration and passport. So I took out the mobile passport and my regular passport. By this time, the mobile app had cleared out my form (maybe putting it in my pocket did it). I could not get back to it. The customs official scowled and pointed in the direction of where people go who need to declare items, which looped around behind him. I went there, and they asked me to resubmit my form. I tried, but mobile passport was too smart for that and knew that I had already been checked in. The new customs official saw that I had checked in, and then escorted me through the customs office to the terminal area of the airport. I was done.

I've used mobile passport several times and have never had an issue. However, I will no longer be putting my phone away between immigration and customs.

The last two times I have come through SFO have not been too bad. I used the kiosks and had a "lovely" picture of me taken and put on a slip of paper. The immigration person looked at it, me, my passport and my declaration form and waived me through.

My luggage was on the belt by the time I got there, but the lines to get out were horrendous. Several plans landed at the same time. However 4 people were checking and it took a little over an hour to get off the plane and out of the airport. What did cut out a lot of time was that a lot of people went blindly to the end of the really long two lines not realizing there were two that were shorter. I went to the shorter line. Got "reminded" by two ladies that the line was way at the back of the area. Well, THEIRS was!!!

I'm trying to be clear that I am referring to customs only. With mobile pass maybe customs is now more complex as with my DFW and the Wendy Newark experience above, moving the passport check from immigration to customs? Maybe there's a strategy with mobile pass to fill out the form anyway but hide it from the immigration guy getting the mobile pass immigration bypass, then switch to the conventional form entry procedure for customs?

If anyone is reading this topic carefully they are seeing that plenty of US airports provide a walk through customs experience.

I guess by now we know that the Customs and Border Patrol issues were shared by many airports and were computer systems related. More detail here and by Googling.

I too found DFW to be a fairly "troublesome" airport. I use it on occasion (when no good option appears available) and have missed flights there.

"...but the lines to get out were horrendous." How true at SFO at the International section, and it really does take an hour, doesn't it, once the plane lands (that in itself can cause you to wait 20 mins before you yourself exit the plane) and finally picking up your baggage, especially when you are among the last 20% to 25% still waiting while you recognise from your flight who have picked theirs, not to mention having to wait for those from your flight to be thrown out, waiting at Immigration and then waiting again at Customs. Sounds typical at SFO, just a zoo, get use to it.

Tom,

Apparently the problem was much worse today......

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nationwide-customs-border-protection-outage-clogs-multiple-airports-irritated-travelers-n702451

Hopefully you weren't impacted by this.

Sounds like JFK is like MSP, the last time we went through we just handed in a slip without stopping. The time before that there was no one there at all so we left our slip on a pile on the counter. Easy.

DFW has immigration on the third floor with 4 separate lines: US citizens, non-US passport holders, mobile pass, and global entry.

THEN

down two escalators to baggage claim (note that what is particularly nasty is that all the baggage claim maneuvering area peninsulas except the center one are dead ends, you have to circle back to the escalators once you have your bags and then squeeze thru the middle two carousels because they are the only ones that lead to an exit)

to three separate queues: one for US citizens, one for non-US citizens and one for global entry.

DFW with Global Entry is a breeze.

We flew through Chicago on Monday evening from Munich, and the lines were horrible. I had not read about the Mobile Pass before we left, but we got in the general line and I saw a sign for it. 5 minutes later, had the app downloaded and our passports scanned in along with our two pictures. I then asked an agent who was working the line where we were supposed to go, she pointed to a line with one person ahead of us. Marched right on through both immigration and customs! Was probably over a two hour line, and would have made us miss our flight home, but ended up being a breeze. They scanned my phone at both immigration and at customs, then we were on our way!

Last trip this fall from Istanbul to ORD was hassle free. In fact, we were some of the first off the plane walked to the kiosk machines without any line and it appeared we were the only plane in at that time. It was a ghost town and I had a fleeting thought about what happened while we were in the air? I had the Mobile pass app ready to go, but did not need it. Then due to having only carry ons we didn't need to wait for the baggage and walked thru customs, handing them our cards.
We were off the plane and waiting for our shuttle (after getting a fast food burger, also no line) in less than 15-20 minutes.