Never again

[orlandodaze]

John , so sorry you had such a horrible ordeal we have been very lucky over the years going to the states. but last February my daughter and I encountered a very rude customs man in San Francisco airport ,he asked for my ESPA number ,and although I had got one I didnt take it with me believing the Green Form was sufficient ,he told me I should have it but his collegue and said that in fact I was correct and the green form sufficed , that obviously maddened him because then he asked me what was the number of my flight, (I had just put in Aer Lingus) and seeing that there was only one Aer Lingus flight on that day that would be enough for 99%of customs officers but not my Buddy , I called over a fellow passenger who gave me the number and off we went .
Strangely only that Customs Officer was behaving like that on that occasion.
Dont let it put you off visiting the States , chances are that ordeal will hopefully never be repeated again.

[mfairhurst]

John sorry you had such a bad day ,we have had no problems and been going to Florida since 1989 and we traveled via Alanta a few days after 9/11 and it was very strict as you can imagine but they were all follwing different rules but it was all run very well and no one missed their flight to Orlando .
Do not let it put you off some customs persons ask more than others but it is very had to smile everyday in their job as they have many problems with all nationalities and ages .
MAUREEN
www.onlinefloridavillas.com/villas/1683.aspx

[dsv77]

We have been going back and forth to Florida for 15 years and touch wood never had any problems , even when my sons travel on their own to meet up with us they dont seem to have much bother, but then we have never entered through Miami.
On the other hand one of our friends entered Miami with his wife and 15 year old daughter, and security seperated the 15 year old from mum and dad and put her in a holding room for over 2 hours, the reason being she had the same name as someone who had committed an offence . This was a terrifying experience for a child and her parents were frantic as they were not allowed to speak to her. Eventually she was allowed to leave with her parents but to this day girl will not travel to the States .

[Murph]

Steve

The INS fella was chatting, we handed him 4 passpiorts and green waiver cards, he applied my passport to my wife's fingerprint. An error fair enough, but 5 hours to put it right?

There were 5 people I spoke with were released after a 5 hour wait with no explanation much less an apology.

DSV 77 We had the opposite problem to your friend i.e. they messed up only one passport but would not release the other three, we had a room waiting at The Miami Airport Hotel, they could have let me boys through whilst they sorted my wife's passport out.

Utter pigs they were, I'm not going back.

[SDJ]

I tried rubbing my fingers on my forehead on Sunday when I came to Florida and it sure worked. I have always had a problem with my fingerprints, so thank you for the tip. Incidentally I had everyone in the queue rubbing their foreheads just in case. It must have looked very strange[msnwink]

Sandra

[deb4444]

My husband flew into Sanford a few years ago on his own because of a cheap flight we had found. He had gone over to do some work in our villa before me and the children arrived. They held him there for 9 hours. In and out of interview rooms, being questioned non stop. The reason they gave for this was the amount of times he had visited Florida. DOH we do have a home there. He had to prove that he had every intent to return to the UK. They even called me at home.
God was he annoyed to put it kindly. That was the last time he flew there on his own and since weve never had a problem.Which leads us to believe he was stopped because he was alone.

[Tonish]

A horrible experience, you have my sympathies. Situations like this do happen, we had an unpleasant one ourselves a year or so back, although nothing like as bad as yours.

It hasn't put us off travelling, but it has certainly made us very nervous going through immigration. Good for you writing to protest.

I do think though, hard as it is to rationalise it when you've been through the mangle, that it is important to consider the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of trips which go perfectly smoothly, and the likelihood of a repeat experience is negligible.

The bit that would smart with me is the unreasonabless and attitude which could put you off the entire US system and people fairly quickly. There is evidence that US Government is aware of this and is supposed to be sorting it out, instructing staff to smile, be courteous etc. But I suppose it's often down to a few unreasonable people with attitude to match.

[domster]

I have never experienced a bad flight through Miami, although I did nearly miss a connection at New York a few years ago due to the lack of direction after going through passport control. Just caught the flight with minutes to spare. Must admit the flight was late n as well so put us under even more pressure!

[Maddie]

WOW what an experience one which I hope is never repeated!

Maddie

[MJG]

Makes me realise how lucky I was

- I had a bit of chew this time getting the finger print scanner to recognise my prints and had to repeat the process a couple of times - the officer cleaned the glass after the second failed attempt and it then worked fine,

I do have to say I personally this time found all the USA officials ie the immigration officers, the customs guys and the TSA guys and gals all very professional, courteous and even good humoured.

It was clear to me some of the 'chit chat' at immigration had a underlying purpose but is was done very politely and in a non confrontational way.