I'm traveling to London, and plan to bring just a backpack and carry on suit case. Will this make going through customs upon my return to the US easier?
I know if travelers have checked luggage, they must take it off a carousel, get it looked over and then return it to the carousel when going through customs. It seems like this step should be abbreviated for me, since I just have a carry on?
Any insights/tips would be much appreciated.
Melissa
Not all luggage is inspected by customs. Only a small minority of passengers have to do a hand search. It's based on any suspicions, profiles, or observed behaviors the agents notice. Just having a carry-on won't make you immune to it. If you're selected they will go through everything on your person.
Yes it will save some time if you connect through a US gateway airport. However, like Europe, customs is pretty much just walking out the green door after you have all your bags. In the US, you just turn in your customs declaration card to the man by the door.
The real time is spent in the Immigration line. Nowadays, you first have to register at a kiosk (looks like those airline check-in kiosks), answer the questions on the kiosk, most of which are on the declaration card you filled out already. Then the kiosk takes your picture and prints out a little card with your picture on it, then you get in line to get your passport checked and give the inspector that card.
We just came through JFK from Milan on Monday and the lines were very long. It was over an hour from the arrival gate until we were through customs, rechecked through security, then able to start towards our connection's departure gate. We just had carry on bags. American Airlines had given us Express Connection boarding passes which got us close to the head of the line. So, if you are coming through New York, be prepared for a wait. If you have a connecting flight, you need at least a 90 minute layover.
The time it saves you, is just the time it takes to wait for your checked luggage to get offloaded and up to baggage claim. That can take over an hour or worse on big planes. Then having to carry it over to re-check it. So yes having carryon only saves time. Most people's bags are not looked through by customs or the agriculture people unless you claim something.
On our last international trip in March we waited over an hour for our 1 checked bag (had to check it - it had booze in it - otherwise we would have carried it on). It was OK for us because Boston was our destination, but the family next to us was panicking because they had to make a connection (which at Logan meant changing terminals which you have to leave the secure area and go outside to do). I'm confident they missed their connection and had to spend the night in Boston. I felt pretty bad for them.
If you want to fly through US immigration and customs, then do carry on with Global Entry. Last May we cleared JFK in 20 minutes. Looking back, I assume that most had a least an hour or more wait. The only problem (and same for everyone) with carry on and a connecting flight is the having to go through security again. With carry on it could take a little longer.
Can't remember the last time custom clearance was anything other than handing in the declaration card.
The exception was checking the visiting farms box. The agriculture inspector had to wash down our boots which we wore on the flight. So that was independent of our checked bags.
The other possible exception was that Calgery to US preclearance site where we has a bag of leftovers for our airport snack. The food may have included meat but after a discussion we were allowed to bring the leftovers into the secure area. (Americans don't like Canadian meat). Again, the doggie bag was carry on.
When I arrived at Chicago from Munich early in June 2015 I was happy to see a new "One Stop" customs and immigration line for passengers with carry-ons only. Instead of the hour-long process I went through at the same airport a year earlier, the "One Stop" line took almost a minute, and I was on my way to the tram. See http://www.flychicago.com/m/ohare/en/security/one-stop.aspx
Every time I've gone through customs when returning to the US with just my carryon, there has been a long enough line for passport check that everyone else's luggage was already on the carousel, ready for them to pick up after passport check. Having a carryon saved me the time of going to the carousel to pick it up, but no one has ever checked my luggage in customs.
