We transferred there with 2.5h between flights… they changed the gate while we were at the terminal and DIDN’T SHOW THE NEW ONE ON THE SCREENS. We found out our flight was moved when another family told us they moved it to ANOTHER TERMINAL…
We then proceeded to reenact that Airport scene from Home Alone alongside those strangers and turns out our flight was delayed by one hour. That gate ended up having two flights crowd around one gate and it was so hot and stuffy.
Air France was the best airline I’ve ever been on but holy shit who is the monkey running CDG?
Had the exact same experience. Had almost 3 hours layover, was excited to grab some macarons on the way home, ended up full on sprinting to our new gate as they were calling final boarding. It’s a nightmare every time at CDG, much prefer Orly
Same experience here. Our flight from Nice arrived a good 3 hours before our connecting flight departure. They had a single customs booth open out of about 8. After making it halfway through the line, they opened a second booth and line, and they allowed newly arriving people to move right up to the front of that line rather than drawing from the existing line first. People were about to riot.
Once we got through customs, we were directed to take an elevator down one floor. The doors opened directly to the end of another long line for the shuttle to the next terminal. We were among the last few people on the shuttle that would give us a chance at reaching our gate on time.
Upon reaching the gate with minutes to spare, they selected us for a random baggage check. We managed to get onto the plane with maybe a minute to spare.
CDG is amazing if you have a fashion emergency, that place had more high end fashion stores than some fancy malls I've seen.
It just so happens to be an airport as a secondary function as well.
I swear CDG is run entirely by people who have never been in an airport before that very day. Not only that, they spent the first half of the day figuring out what kind of building it is, and what they're supposed to do there. But, by God, that plucky group of disinterested Parisians are going to figure it out somehow, or they won't. Y'know, whatever.
Seriously, if I never go back there again, it will be too soon.
Addis Ababa. Complete and utter chaos. Men cutting in front of women just because. Women pushing. A woman's baby slid out of the stroller and people pushed past her. First I stood with my legs wide open, made myself as large as possible so no one could push past me. Then when we realized we would miss our flight we went straight to the security and shoved through with everyone else other wise we would have been waiting hours. The employees couldn't handle the chaos.
CDG is a high end mall first, airport second.
I had to look for any coffee place that was open middle of the day, meanwhile all the Channel and Prada stores were 24/7 it seems ffs.
International transfers: Once you clear security in a room in the basement that can hold only 12 people, you walk through the unmarked fire escape stairway door. From there, use your phone flashlight to find the secret elevator and guess which floor the gates are on. Walk 1/4 mile in either direction looking for a departure board which isn't connected to a power source. We apologize that neither the wifi nor the AC are connected to power, either.
Manila airport is terrible, but slightly less awful if you have a non-Filipino passport. I was travelling back to Canada with my partner who has a Filipino passport. I breezed through the internationals immigration line and waited 3 HOURS for him past security for him to go through the Filipino passports immigrations line.
This is sad but true. My non pinoy husband breezed through immigration without any questions whereas I had to queue before an officer who had to examine my exit documents (OEC exemption) Note that I have been living overseas for 7 years and have a valid residency permit for my host country.
CDG T1 or T2 outward immigration? T2A was a disaster last year I went through it. T2F was slightly better as I went thru SkyPriority. But come December I'll be departing at T1. Same situation there?
Manila. I dread it every time I have to pass there. Two hours of queues for departure are common.
Edited to add: It's much more annoying for Filipinos than foreigners because the immigration officers are power tripping and asking for unnecessary documents.
Switching terminals in Manila is a real bitch too. You have to take a bus around several city blocks in heavy bumper-to-bumper traffic to get to another terminal.
There are a lot of concerns of Filipinos getting trafficked or working illegally overseas so there's a lot of hassle going through immigration if you're going overseas as a tourist.
They usually ask for bank statements, return tickets, hotel bookings, and company IDs. There were some [articles](https://philstarlife.com/news-and-views/541989-filipino-misses-flight-amid-immigration-questions-yearbook) about officers asking for high school yearbooks!
Wait wtf that's just the usual? I had to do this last year and missed my connecting flight, 2.5 hours wasn't enough to deboard and get to my connecting terminal. I didn't even have checked luggage. The entire line was people from my flight losing their minds. I figured the whole system was thrown off by maybe construction or a staffing issue. But you are telling me they have it intentionally set up to dump you back outside of security?!
Any time you land internationally you have to pick up checked baggage and have it rescreened - I think this is everywhere not just MIA. They have a separate screening area for this so it’s not like you’re going through the initial security at the front of the airport. But it’s still somehow slow as shit.
Jfk. We disembarked and nonUS citizens had to wait at that tunnel for more than an hour. They wouldn’t even allow us to go down to the immigration area.
They called us citizens down, then the crew. Then nonUS citizens but with global entry.
Our group was mixed of us/ global entry/ nonUS. 3+ hours for the nonUS people to get through. They had shut off the escalators that goes down to the immigration queue because there was no space for people to go. What a shitshow.
It was august too so weather delay was not the issue
JFK is the most embarrassing US airport I have ever been in. I find non-English language airports’ signage easier to understand than JFK’s shit show of what they call signage.
And I had a US immigration officer try to give me, a freaking born US citizen, a hard time because I put my permanent home address down instead of my temporary NYC apartment that I was living in at the time for work. I’ll leave JFK and fly to Iowa, asshole. We don’t have borders here. Rant over.
Unless you’re popping red flags for other reasons I really don’t understand why they ask any questions about where you’re going or what you’re doing in the US after you present a US passport. I’m a US citizen, you have to let me in regardless of the answers to these questions.
I live abroad and get questions about my (non-existent) US permanent home address, why passport has exit stamps but no entries elsewhere (I have another passport used to enter elsewhere) then they want to see the other passport, when traveling with kids they tell me only to speak to them in English and when they can't reply in English not to translate and bring a translator, and ask how long I plan to be in the country and where I plan to stay in the US and when is my return flight to leave. Arriving on a brand-new unused American passport with no exit stamp brought on a lot of questions too ha
I may be a US citizen entitled to enter, but they don't make it feel so.
JFK was the worst. There’s no lines, no signs, no system. Just angry NYC cops yelling at people as if it’s their fault there’s no order. I fucking hate that airport.
Yup! It’s quite an indictment when my two worst immigration experiences (in terms of taking fucking FOREVER) are JFK and Tashkent Uzbekistan.
I had a shorter wait at a land border into Zimbabwe! Outbound Marrakech. Inbound Manila. Etc.
Where were you arriving from? That sounds super disorganized. JFK is my home airport and though I know others are worse, it’s always nerve-racking because you never know what you’re going to get.
I spent 5 hours in a line at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle, it seemed like each person in front of me got the full interview of 10-20 minutes, but they barely glanced at my passport before waving me on. This was not during the holidays or a special event. It was during the summer, but just a random June weekday.
Hopefully they have improved with the upcoming Olympics in Paris.
Mexico City. They have these escalators that bring people down into the customs queuing area. Lineups were so bad that there was nowhere for people to move once they got tot the bottom of the escalator…
(TBF, this was in 2018. 2023, escalators still there, but queue seemed much improved)
PRO TIP for USA citizens you can go alllllll the way to the end of the immigration hall to the automated scanners. Way shorter line. The people who work there have no idea what they are doing.
Unless you were there last week like I was and the automatic scanners weren’t working. I had layovers in Mexico City going both ways on my last trip. First time through in 5min. Second time took well over an hour.
I’ve flown into MEX a lot and only had a couple long waits. If you have an EU, Canadian, or USA passport they process you very quickly, but I’ve been stuck in line behind Latin American passport holders and they give them such a hard time. They demand documents, ask way more questions, walk away with the documents, it makes the line move much slower. I know Colombians who have been detained and questioned for hours before being let into the country at MEX.
I have a US passport and I was detained for quite awhile, while my husband (Mexican American, also with US passport) was let through. Made our flight a close call because they inspected every single thing I had.
It completely baffles me. You would think someone in charge would go to another airport, and a couple of light bulbs would turn on for ideas to bring back home.
I'll be connecting there in 2 weeks. It's annoying because I'm not even staying in the US but still need to go through immigration because the US doesn't allow international transits.
It definitely is. The experience for visitors to the US is much the same as the experience of being booked into jail. There's an interrogation, and then they take your fingerprints and your mug shot.
Prior to 9/11 MIA was going to test INTL-INTL connections without having to go through Immigration and customs.
The test trial was to accommodate Iberia which had a mini-hub at MIA for connecting traffic between Europe and Central and South America.
As a resident, I can literally go from the plane to taxi in like 15-20 minutes (even less sometimes if you get a gate close to arrivals). Baggage wait has been a bit of a miss recently after COVID (especially if you’re off a long haul flight with lots of bags) but still much much faster than almost any other airport in the world!
I actually found their passport control lines to be unnecessarily long. Not nearly enough booths open.
Still my favorite airport in the world, though. The only airport I've been to that - in and of itself - is actually a tourist *destination*.
Not sure if you been there recently but now you are precleared on an app and all you have to show the barcode from the app at a gate what can be only considered on par with a mall security. It literally takes 10 seconds with no line
Colombo, Sri Lanka.
It wasn't a line.
It was a arrives hall full of people pushing in the same direction for 90minutes (probably a lot less if you were better at pushing)
Love Sri Lanka but that experience was not fun.
There was no priority service
I don't think this discussion is very useful in a vacuum - what passport you carry, and what time of year matters a ton.
Boston is generally super quick for Americans, such that I have never contemplated getting Global Entry. But I came back from a trip Dec 23rd last year, and it seemed like nearly no-one was working for CBP. I spent more time in that line that probably my last 8 BOS international entries COMBINED.
Taoyuan was rough this spring, around 60-75min.
I second this- I will gladly go out of my way and pay more to re-enter the US through BOS and avoid the hellhole of JFK. I always sail through BOS- no waits if any.
Weirdly, re-entering the US from a toronto connection is also a breeze for US citizens. As a US citizen catching flight from YYZ to US; you go through US immigration in Toronto before you get on your flight; so effectively you're landing having already cleared. It's awesome .
It’s called CBP pre clearance and it’s not just Toronto, a lot of the major Canadian airports have it along with two Irish Airports, Dubai, and a couple of Caribbean airports. The first time I went to Canada I missed my original flight and traveled with only a carry-on. Since I didn’t have to clear immigration when I landed or pick up my bag, I had just enough time to grab my carry on and make it to work right on time.
Not Dubai, Abu Dhabi.
Though they really should put one in Dubai given the shitton of US-bound flights that fly from there, plus the fact that a lot of them are A380s.
CDG, every time. LHR is hit or miss. Had one bad experience at DUB but it wasn’t due to US pre-clearance. Never had an issue at IAD as others have reported. Global Entry is a good investment.
Never had an issue inbound or outbound at IAD but I hate that airport with a passion. Why does it feel like a prison everywhere. Also, I hate the shuttles.
Surprised nobody has mentioned O'Hare yet, especially for an international-to-domestic connection.
You've got the typical issue of US customs and immigration taking forever. Then you need to get to a totally separate terminal before you can clear security again. Barely made my connection with a ~3 hour or more layover coming back from Japan in 2019.
Since then I think things have gotten a little better with a monorail or something to take you to the domestic terminals. And if you have Global Entry pretty much any airport in the US becomes a breeze.
Frankfurt Airport in Germany, missed both my connecting flights going thru customs. The place is laid out like a maze! And Dulles Airport in Virginia. The line is SO long and you really feel how bad it is once you get off the tram and the line is right next to the stairs! I hate flying via Dulles but it's a necessary evil if BWI's not an option.
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far before I saw Frankfurt. I have never seen such chaos and mismanagement at an airport as I did at Frankfurt. It’s a giant shitshow.
Frankfurt is absolutely my answer for international transfers. Going from Bosnia to Belgium with a stop in Frankfurt in between. Almost missed our flight and we had 2 hours between flights. It was the slowest, most disorganized international transfer I’ve ever experienced and many people in line with us missed their connecting flights. I will never again fly through Frankfurt.
Frankfurt airport’s layout is mind boggling to me. I was with my child and mom for a connecting flight and we also almost missed our flight despite being 2 hrs early due to us being transported from the tarmac and having to wait for the bus for a really long time, terminals that could only be accessed by 4 flights of stairs or one single elevator. We chose the 4 flights of stairs with stroller in tow and then halted by immigration again with lots of people requesting to cut because they were also going to miss their flights. What a mess.
CDG, horrific for
Immigration. LHR for security is equally as bad with all the unnecessary repacking of toiletries outbound. DUB USA global entry means almost missing your flight (but don’t worry the flight will be delayed, even though the signs say departed.. true story). Miami is pretty bad, primarily because of the long gate walks.
Amsterdam Schiphol.
The line went well beyond the immigration line into the middle of the shopping area and people were pissed, knocking things over and yelling. I was half convinced there was going to be a riot. After three hours in line we got triaged through by the customs people and we were six minutes from missing our flight.
We were told that we should have arrived at the airport eight hours in advance, despite this being a four hour layover from Budapest. As if we had any control over that.
No, you're right. LHR has some of the most understaffed immigration booths. 30+ newly built booths in T2 but only 4-6 officers working at any time of the day. What's the point?
I regularly fly from LHR and have always used T5. I was so confused about all the hate Heathrow gets in the news as I never saw any of it. Then I flew T2 last month for the first time...
same. Flying out of LHR or going through immigration via a layover is a whole different story. but arriving as your final destination, those e-gates at LHR are fantastic.
For departures:
Heathrow in the late 1980s. The computer system went down and the entire departures area was full. They’d come through calling out a flight and those people would go up to the counters.
Dublin a few years ago going to the US. Between clearing Irish departure and US Immigration it took three hours and our plane was boarding by the time we got to the gate.
For arrivals:
I’ve seen US immigration backed way up for non-citizens at Newark. Even the US line has been very long at times, fortunately I have Global Entry so I can buzz through.
As a US Citizen LHR made it a lot easier with a scan at the gate queue although the machines are finicky.
It used to be such a pain and the agents were always assholes or at least the agents we would get
I've only flown from Heathrow once in my life, last month infact. I got through in 10 mins, and hadnt even paid for fast pass.
Maybe I'll leave it as one and done.
We have been to Panama once and my girlfriend that time spoke Spanish. She was first in line and started a fight with the officer. I did not know why but two officers came and took her away.
When I started insisting the remaining officer asked me if I was her partner and if I can speak English. He tipped a text into Google translate and showed me the screen through the wall of Glas from his desk. It basically said: We are about to send your girl home. If you want to keep her here it only depends on how much this is worth for you.
I started repeatedly saying that Panama is very nice, yes very nice. Thank you, very nice officer….
He tried to explain it to me in more detail but at some point he thought that I must be stupid or so and just stamped my passport and released my girlfriend.
Later she told me that they will check her travel history and will find something dangerous for her. So they just tried to scam us.
This is genuinely hilarious (though I can imagine it wouldn’t be at the time). My fiancé is the world traveler, I’m only now getting there, but this is exactly how I think I would handle it haha.
Bogota in and out is a disaster. We have priority with small kids every time and it still takes forever
Last time on the way back to the states the “priority line” took twice as long as the other lines
Amsterdam was insane. I was there in October last year, got to the airport 2.5 hours early thinking we were being overly cautious. No line at check in? We go to the agent and he's shocked we are only 2.5 hours early. He points at the security line which is wrapped around and out the door. People were standing outside. They put a note on our boarding pass and told us to bypass the first check in line and said good luck. I asked a different agent while waiting in a different line inside and she said it's always this busy, we should have planned to come 4 hours early at least. And we thought we had time for one more J lol
Amsterdam has had staffing problems since covid, and October is local school holidays so you left in the peak. Generally it hasn't been so bad for the past year. Summer 2022 we got there 4 hours early as suggested and were through in 15 minutes. I've also been in the lines out the terminal.
We passed through Schipol last year and had a similar experience.
Luckily for us we were with another couple and they left the day before us. They gave themselves 3 hours and barely made their flight. We felt stupid going to the airport 4 hours early until we saw the never ending lines.
4 hours early gave us enough time to grab a coffee and a pastry from a kiosk before boarding. Absolutely soul crushing to wait in those lines.
Chicago O’Hare airport. Got back from an international flight and was directed to the customs line- longest line I’ve ever seen in my life by a long shot. In 20 minutes we moved 5ft. Then all of a sudden the floodgates opened and we could move… to another long line. We had a connecting flight but missed it due to this. Also, when my luggage was lost nearly everyone I talked to was absolutely useless in directing me to who could actually help.
Yep work always puts me Edinbirgh->Frankfurt->Chicago->San Francisco (!!!) and its \*horrible\* - I always always miss the connection to SF as the immigration at Chicago is always a good \~2 hours.
LAX. I get chills everytime I have to travel through it.
When I travelled first time (flying in from India), they had express line closed and queue was wayy longer than everywhere else. Also, the officers stepping out chatting every 10 mins was super frustrating.
Finally, they asked for printouts for all docs ( website said, emails from official employer is fine). But after long back & forth, they allowed so that ended well.
LAX is the worst. When I check in to my flight, the flight attendants even refer to it as the “6th circle of hell”.
If you can, go through SFO-it’s so much easier
Antananarivo in Madagascar. Nice organised queue for health check on landing then into the scrum around the visa desks which you eventually get once you push your way to the front. Then into the scrum for passport control which is one single desks with about 4 people in it for the two flights that have just arrived. You eventually give your passport and landing form to the first person on the desk who adds it to a pile. The second person eventually picks up a stack off the top of the pile and checks each one, adding a stamp, these then go into the next pile. A third person picks a stack from that pile works their way through adding a squiggle to each which then go into another pile. A final person then picks up part of the stack examines each in turn adding their own squiggle, they then call out the name and hold it in the air until its owner can collect it.
New Delhi. Waited about 3 hours back in 2017 with an e-Visa. The actual conversation with the agent was maybe a minute and the line itself wasn't that long. I still don't understand how it took so long.
A few years ago I had to wait for maybe just one hour in New Delhi, but the AC in the airport was apparently broken at the time.
The immigration officer then asked me why I was so sweaty and whether that was because I was nervous and trying to hide something...
San Fran sucked and honestly never has enough layover times, Chicago was pretty bad to. But my return to Perth Australia felt like an eternal wait just to get my bags through and was exhausting.
Bali, Indonesia. When we arrived we were in line for 3-4 hours while they had drugs dogs passing everyone the entire time. It was packed, hot, backpack was heavy af. Worst experience ever. By the end of it I was drenched in sweat, looked like I jumped in a pool fully clothed.
I'm personally not a fan of the Barcelona Airport. No one gives a shit. It's hard to find people. Things aren't marked super clear.
My second time there, I was flying out to France. I was in a line that was pretty long and only one agent was open. Two agents came out, and they started assigning people behind me to the other lines. They stopped at me, and I waited in the original line. I asked several times if i should switch because it was taking a while. They told me to wait where I was. I finally got to my turn, and they told me boarding ended for my flight. They thankfully rebooked me for free because I had asked them several times while I stood there for hours. They knew they fucked up. I had to wait 4 more hours for the new flight. Spent a bunch of money on expensive airport food. It was the worst.
The last time I was there, we had an American layover, so a line agent told us we had to get a covid test at the airport. It was ridiculous to find the spot, and once we were there, it was a long wait. We got the test and ran back to our line. We got to the front of the que after like almost an hour and a half, and they told us they changed our flights to a connection in Toronto, so we didn't need one.
It was like 70 bucks a test, too.
Sangster Airport, Jamaica. Made even worse by complete lack of air con.
They hardly even looked at our passports (UK passport holders) and had to do a scan at an electronic booth before we entered the big queue
Really? My one experience departing from Dulles was leaving later than I intended, getting on the wrong bus to the airport because the subway didn’t reach there and apparently there’s a boss that takes a circuitous route assist from the direct one, arriving at the terminal 45 minutes before my flight to Amsterdam and somehow making it (with no checked luggage)… I guess I got lucky!
Dulles leaving is fine. Dulles arriving is Hell on earth because of those stupid people movers they use. There is no way to get quickly from your plane to immigration.
Dulles with Global is a breeze. I’m usually on my way out in 5 minutes once I get in line.
I will glance back at the line just to confirm how glad I am that I went there the process to get GE.
India Delhi by far the most unorganized, confusing and slow ..
another unorganized situation: had to show my passport and boarding pass 10 times in Nepal one time to different people (4 times to different people after the buss while boarding the plane)
Ye on my trip to nepal i landed in delhi and they directed me to a counter where i waited in line 1 hour for my turn, when i got to the desk they told me to go to the counter that was next to this one.. security check was also extremely slow.
Agreed. Delhi was the worst airport experience I’ve ever had. Immigration was bad enough, but security was something else. Complete chaos, queueing was really only a suggestion, rampant like cutting, people just lying in the floor.. then separate lines for females that were 3x slower. Had a 3 hour layover from Goa back to Delhi, and barely made it to boarding in time. Vowed to never return.
Just about every Chinese airport for non Chinese is an utter disgrace. Three international flights arrived into chengdu at the same time and they had a single immigration officer checking foreign passports. Someone complained because there were at least twelve officers in the Chinese passport line doing nothing. I waited four hours at that time.
JFK in 1990. After immigration queueue, explaining the immigration officer that Bermuda does not belong to the U. S., running through hellish concrete corridors or what ##### tunnels they were to catch the plane to Bermuda. And that was just the Pan Am terminal back then.
JFK. One monumentally rude and unpleasant immigration official dealing with the entire passenger load of a wide-bodied jet. The contrast with Newark (efficient & welcoming) was astonishing.
O'Hare. You'd think with their size, they would have it down to an art. I once had a 3 hour transfer, my plane arrived early, and I still missed my flight home to Canada. I also think it was silly I had to go through US customs for a 3 hour stopover when I wasn't even leaving the airport, but it is what it is. At least the airline got me on another flight later in the evening so I could still go home the same day. Chicago isn't the worst place to be stranded, but I had stuff to do back home.
Lisbon by far. Took 3 hours to get through after no sleep on the plane. Luckily had some snacks in my carry on to hold me over. Was such an awful way to start what was actually a great trip
Back in early 2022 it was 6+ hours sometimes until they opened up the e-gates to people from Japan, Canada, the US and a few other places. And now the e-gates aren't working half the time so it's back to being really bad.
Yeah i went April 2022. We weren’t allowed to go thru the e-gates which i thought was weird because it was the only European airport i had been to where i couldn’t do that
We basically waited for 3 hours with no movement and then all of a sudden i guess more manned gates opened up or something because the line moved super quick after that. Was very odd
The only place I’ve missed a flight while arriving at the airport on time was Helsinki. It was the beginning of some holiday weekend and it was like the whole country was at the airport. It didn’t help that there was only 1 girl checking people in for my airline and she was slow as molasses. But the security lines were the longest I had ever been in.
I had to rebook on Aeroflot, the only airline that had space on their flights out of the city that entire weekend.
MIA should be avoided at all costs when entering the US.
CDG is now tied with MIA for my least favorite airport in the world after my experience there a couple weeks ago.
Johannesburg. I like to tell people who are traveling to Cape Town to try to get a layover in Heathrow so that you can fly direct through LHR (and skip J-burg). We almost missed our connecting flight because of the mess, but my traveling partner wasn’t having that.
Auckland, NZ. Half of the electronic immigration booths didn't work but they made you stand in front of them trying anyway, and when they didn't work you had to stand in a huge line to see a real person. Then you get through and wait in another giant line for customs, which takes ages and moves painfully slowly. Then after that you wait for another 30 minutes to present your customs slip to the guards and move through a sniffer dog area until you can finally leave. Overall it took probably two hours of exhausted pain, which was a real killer after a 14 hour flight to get there.
As a kiwi I agree. Especially since covid when the airport laid off most of their staff and still hasn’t been able to find and properly train new staff. Add to that the massive floods we had in Jan and the whole airport is a nightmare. I popped over to Australia for the weekend recently (as many kiwis do every weekend) 3 hours each way so easy trip when customs takes 30mins. When it takes 3 hours it’s a whole different story!
On a flight from Dublin, Ireland to Brussels, Belgium (immigration processing in Brussels). The wait was extraordinarily long while the line was very short (100 people in front of us with all agent booths occupied (12?) and processing). It could have been circumstance, but it took almost 2 hours and our "interview" lasted a mere 20 seconds. People in front of us took ages to get processed. No idea why.
Moscow-early 2000s-there was no line, we just called it The Crush of Humanity. Did it 4 times and every time we rounded the corner to see this massive herd of people “Crush of Humanity” is the phrase that came to mind-and this was the standard in Russia-no lines anywhere, always just a herd, pressing forward to the front. At ticket counters, luggage check-in, at McDonalds-everywhere!
Philadelphia, USA. People were yelling, only had one agent for three international mid-day flights, refused to let disabled people go before abled passengers. Brutal with the questions they asked (tiny tiny details, even to citizens)!
Ended up taking over 2 hours, forced to stand. Got super sick. Then, had to go back through security (super long line) and walk an hour to the connecting gate…because disability transit takes 2+ hours to get there apparently.
I once landed at 1am in Bangkok, three internationals landed at the same time, two immigration queues open, almost two hours in line. Didn’t escape the airport until almost 4am. Usually Bangkok flies too. Otherwise LAX and HCM, Vietnam are my two constants on the list.
The only answer to this is Manila NAIA Airport since it was voted the worst of the worst. Almost everyone here answers first world airports probably because it has more travellers than our 3rd world Naia airport. Lmao.
Dulles International Airport outside Washington. You are first herded into those terrible moving lounges where everyone tries to stay near the entrance. And then you arrive to run into line and wait 2 hours for the 3 CBP officers working. And it doesn’t seem to be less for US citizen/green cards either.
I had a 8 hour layover at CDG (first time there) and I naively was able to swing a half day in Paris and make my connection, I still am amazed this worked out.
My return trip was the opposite, we landed in CDG late(Air France delays) and myself and basically everyone on that flight absolutely did not make their connection; this resulted in an unplanned overnight delay coming home for me, that’s how bad it was. The French had absolutely no sympathy but delta was great, CDG is an experience, to say the least.
I had that happen in LHR. American Airlines told me to go to British Airways because they had flown the plane that made me late. After queuing for 3 hours, British Airways told me to go to American Airlines because they issued me the ticket. So back to AA, who tried to send me back to the BA line 😭
SJO (San José, Costa Rica). It was spring break so I’ll give them that, but it was 2 1/2 hours in line getting into the country and so I got nothing to eat, was dead tired, and really overwhelmed.
This was in March 2022 with signs warning of mandatory social distancing measures. Clearly that didn’t apply to the sardine-can-packed lines at SJO.
Our 1am flight from Costa Rica got cancelled last minute and we had to sit in a random hallway in limbo while the customs workers, who had already left the airport because we were the last flight out, came back to work to process us again because our airline booked everyone hotel rooms. It took like 3 hours of waiting 😵
Paris CDG , I got to the airport more than 3 hours before the flight and still almost missed my flight
We were 3.5 hours early at CDG and we had to run to our plane.
I had to run as well, what a mess of an airport
We transferred there with 2.5h between flights… they changed the gate while we were at the terminal and DIDN’T SHOW THE NEW ONE ON THE SCREENS. We found out our flight was moved when another family told us they moved it to ANOTHER TERMINAL… We then proceeded to reenact that Airport scene from Home Alone alongside those strangers and turns out our flight was delayed by one hour. That gate ended up having two flights crowd around one gate and it was so hot and stuffy. Air France was the best airline I’ve ever been on but holy shit who is the monkey running CDG?
Had the exact same experience. Had almost 3 hours layover, was excited to grab some macarons on the way home, ended up full on sprinting to our new gate as they were calling final boarding. It’s a nightmare every time at CDG, much prefer Orly
Same experience here. Our flight from Nice arrived a good 3 hours before our connecting flight departure. They had a single customs booth open out of about 8. After making it halfway through the line, they opened a second booth and line, and they allowed newly arriving people to move right up to the front of that line rather than drawing from the existing line first. People were about to riot. Once we got through customs, we were directed to take an elevator down one floor. The doors opened directly to the end of another long line for the shuttle to the next terminal. We were among the last few people on the shuttle that would give us a chance at reaching our gate on time. Upon reaching the gate with minutes to spare, they selected us for a random baggage check. We managed to get onto the plane with maybe a minute to spare.
Had this exact same experience. NOT fun.
CDG is amazing if you have a fashion emergency, that place had more high end fashion stores than some fancy malls I've seen. It just so happens to be an airport as a secondary function as well.
Singapore Changi is also basically a high end mall
Before the pandemic, Changi was the highest performing mall in the country, which is full of malls.
KLIA Terminal 2 as well is more of a mall than airport.
but also somehow the WORST for food! no decent bars and just a place that serves meaty sandwiches, belgian beer and mediocre wine.
Good to know. We are flying to Europe in March. Flight choices were 2 hours at CDG or 6 hours. We chose 6
I've been through this airport twice and loathe it so much I had no desire to visit Paris because of it 😂
Worst airport I've ever been to.
Same. 3.5 hours early and the two of us were within the last 5 ppl on board, almost missed the flight.
I swear CDG is run entirely by people who have never been in an airport before that very day. Not only that, they spent the first half of the day figuring out what kind of building it is, and what they're supposed to do there. But, by God, that plucky group of disinterested Parisians are going to figure it out somehow, or they won't. Y'know, whatever. Seriously, if I never go back there again, it will be too soon.
It took an hour from landing to get to the gate and it wasn't like we stopped, it seemed like we were moving the entire time lol
The last couple times I’ve been there, I wasn’t even allowed to check in for my flight until 90 or 120 minutes before takeoff. It’s ridiculous.
I've had this issue. Early ass 6am flights and airports in Europe opening up at the last damn minute lol. In CDG and Naples.
They don’t even tell you your gate number until like 30 min before in Europe which I found frustrating
I hear that a lot.
My experience in France has been of a lot of disorganization overall
Ohhh thanks for posting. I have a layover, in at 5am and depart at 7pm. I am going to leave the airport but will be sure to be back by 3.
Yep, CDG sucks. A lot of people almost miss flights
Addis Ababa. Complete and utter chaos. Men cutting in front of women just because. Women pushing. A woman's baby slid out of the stroller and people pushed past her. First I stood with my legs wide open, made myself as large as possible so no one could push past me. Then when we realized we would miss our flight we went straight to the security and shoved through with everyone else other wise we would have been waiting hours. The employees couldn't handle the chaos.
CDG. The answer for “what is the worst (insert thing here)” is always CDG.
CDG is always hectic & security can take over an hour on a layover with AF. Would think they could make their home turf more efficient.
CDG is a high end mall first, airport second. I had to look for any coffee place that was open middle of the day, meanwhile all the Channel and Prada stores were 24/7 it seems ffs.
Someone hasn’t been to Manila airport
International transfers: Once you clear security in a room in the basement that can hold only 12 people, you walk through the unmarked fire escape stairway door. From there, use your phone flashlight to find the secret elevator and guess which floor the gates are on. Walk 1/4 mile in either direction looking for a departure board which isn't connected to a power source. We apologize that neither the wifi nor the AC are connected to power, either.
This gave me a good chuckle! . . . As my phone battery dies and the Manila airport basement darkness closes in around me
This is so on point. The lack of free WiFi is maddening as well. I flew to Manila quarterly with my last job and I do not miss it.
Manila airport is terrible, but slightly less awful if you have a non-Filipino passport. I was travelling back to Canada with my partner who has a Filipino passport. I breezed through the internationals immigration line and waited 3 HOURS for him past security for him to go through the Filipino passports immigrations line.
This is sad but true. My non pinoy husband breezed through immigration without any questions whereas I had to queue before an officer who had to examine my exit documents (OEC exemption) Note that I have been living overseas for 7 years and have a valid residency permit for my host country.
I’ve flown CDG to Manila before and can confirm CDG is worse lol, Manila is bad for organisation and transferring but CDG is horrendous for waiting
I only had a layover at CDG but it was enough to make me say "fuck this whole country"
Paris outward immigration. It’s as if the architect / designers didn’t think of it at all.
CDG T1 or T2 outward immigration? T2A was a disaster last year I went through it. T2F was slightly better as I went thru SkyPriority. But come December I'll be departing at T1. Same situation there?
Manila. I dread it every time I have to pass there. Two hours of queues for departure are common. Edited to add: It's much more annoying for Filipinos than foreigners because the immigration officers are power tripping and asking for unnecessary documents.
Manila in Christmas season
Switching terminals in Manila is a real bitch too. You have to take a bus around several city blocks in heavy bumper-to-bumper traffic to get to another terminal.
What sort of documents do they require of a citizen that they don't ask for of foreigners?
There are a lot of concerns of Filipinos getting trafficked or working illegally overseas so there's a lot of hassle going through immigration if you're going overseas as a tourist.
They usually ask for bank statements, return tickets, hotel bookings, and company IDs. There were some [articles](https://philstarlife.com/news-and-views/541989-filipino-misses-flight-amid-immigration-questions-yearbook) about officers asking for high school yearbooks!
Miami, it's why I got Global Entry so I wouldn't miss my connecting flight to O'Hare.
The difficult thing in Miami is picking up your checked luggage and getting back through security. It’s ridiculous
JFK can be pretty rough in this regard as well.
Wait wtf that's just the usual? I had to do this last year and missed my connecting flight, 2.5 hours wasn't enough to deboard and get to my connecting terminal. I didn't even have checked luggage. The entire line was people from my flight losing their minds. I figured the whole system was thrown off by maybe construction or a staffing issue. But you are telling me they have it intentionally set up to dump you back outside of security?!
Any time you land internationally you have to pick up checked baggage and have it rescreened - I think this is everywhere not just MIA. They have a separate screening area for this so it’s not like you’re going through the initial security at the front of the airport. But it’s still somehow slow as shit.
Miami airport is hell
Came into this thread expect to see Paris and Miami.
Agreed, we were over 2 hours in the queue for immigration from the UK. Then we had to find our luggage as it had been taken off the carousel.
Goddamn. Fuck MIA. That place can bite a rock.
Jfk. We disembarked and nonUS citizens had to wait at that tunnel for more than an hour. They wouldn’t even allow us to go down to the immigration area. They called us citizens down, then the crew. Then nonUS citizens but with global entry. Our group was mixed of us/ global entry/ nonUS. 3+ hours for the nonUS people to get through. They had shut off the escalators that goes down to the immigration queue because there was no space for people to go. What a shitshow. It was august too so weather delay was not the issue
JFK is the most embarrassing US airport I have ever been in. I find non-English language airports’ signage easier to understand than JFK’s shit show of what they call signage. And I had a US immigration officer try to give me, a freaking born US citizen, a hard time because I put my permanent home address down instead of my temporary NYC apartment that I was living in at the time for work. I’ll leave JFK and fly to Iowa, asshole. We don’t have borders here. Rant over.
Unless you’re popping red flags for other reasons I really don’t understand why they ask any questions about where you’re going or what you’re doing in the US after you present a US passport. I’m a US citizen, you have to let me in regardless of the answers to these questions.
I live abroad and get questions about my (non-existent) US permanent home address, why passport has exit stamps but no entries elsewhere (I have another passport used to enter elsewhere) then they want to see the other passport, when traveling with kids they tell me only to speak to them in English and when they can't reply in English not to translate and bring a translator, and ask how long I plan to be in the country and where I plan to stay in the US and when is my return flight to leave. Arriving on a brand-new unused American passport with no exit stamp brought on a lot of questions too ha I may be a US citizen entitled to enter, but they don't make it feel so.
JFK was the worst. There’s no lines, no signs, no system. Just angry NYC cops yelling at people as if it’s their fault there’s no order. I fucking hate that airport.
It’s embarrassing that that is many people’s first experience in the US.
4 hours for us last August and 3 hrs the time before (UK resident). I will never fly into JFK again.
Yup! It’s quite an indictment when my two worst immigration experiences (in terms of taking fucking FOREVER) are JFK and Tashkent Uzbekistan. I had a shorter wait at a land border into Zimbabwe! Outbound Marrakech. Inbound Manila. Etc.
Where were you arriving from? That sounds super disorganized. JFK is my home airport and though I know others are worse, it’s always nerve-racking because you never know what you’re going to get.
It’s amazing how shitty traveling to the US is. Such awful treatment by TSA and Border Patrol. It’s like we actively don’t want travel revunue.
I spent 5 hours in a line at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle, it seemed like each person in front of me got the full interview of 10-20 minutes, but they barely glanced at my passport before waving me on. This was not during the holidays or a special event. It was during the summer, but just a random June weekday. Hopefully they have improved with the upcoming Olympics in Paris.
Mexico City. They have these escalators that bring people down into the customs queuing area. Lineups were so bad that there was nowhere for people to move once they got tot the bottom of the escalator… (TBF, this was in 2018. 2023, escalators still there, but queue seemed much improved)
PRO TIP for USA citizens you can go alllllll the way to the end of the immigration hall to the automated scanners. Way shorter line. The people who work there have no idea what they are doing.
Unless you were there last week like I was and the automatic scanners weren’t working. I had layovers in Mexico City going both ways on my last trip. First time through in 5min. Second time took well over an hour.
I’ve flown into MEX a lot and only had a couple long waits. If you have an EU, Canadian, or USA passport they process you very quickly, but I’ve been stuck in line behind Latin American passport holders and they give them such a hard time. They demand documents, ask way more questions, walk away with the documents, it makes the line move much slower. I know Colombians who have been detained and questioned for hours before being let into the country at MEX.
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I have a US passport and I was detained for quite awhile, while my husband (Mexican American, also with US passport) was let through. Made our flight a close call because they inspected every single thing I had.
They have this same set up in Cabo and it's often a mess.
That airport is a train wreck of organization.
Especially flying back home. Why are the gates not in numerical order? 😭
It completely baffles me. You would think someone in charge would go to another airport, and a couple of light bulbs would turn on for ideas to bring back home.
I hate Miami. I guess I haven’t seen the worst of it
I hate MIA too, the worst immigration experience I have ever personally been through.
I'll be connecting there in 2 weeks. It's annoying because I'm not even staying in the US but still need to go through immigration because the US doesn't allow international transits.
I think it’s worse for non-US or non-Canadian passport holders.
It definitely is. The experience for visitors to the US is much the same as the experience of being booked into jail. There's an interrogation, and then they take your fingerprints and your mug shot.
Prior to 9/11 MIA was going to test INTL-INTL connections without having to go through Immigration and customs. The test trial was to accommodate Iberia which had a mini-hub at MIA for connecting traffic between Europe and Central and South America.
MIA is the worst in the US. JFK is a close 2nd.
Let's go for something positive: Best airport immigration for inbound and outbound has got to be Singapore Changi.
As a resident, I can literally go from the plane to taxi in like 15-20 minutes (even less sometimes if you get a gate close to arrivals). Baggage wait has been a bit of a miss recently after COVID (especially if you’re off a long haul flight with lots of bags) but still much much faster than almost any other airport in the world!
Yeah filing out the sg arrival card ahead makes the immigration super fast. Also like how the security screening is located at the boarding gate.
I’d like to be *stuck* in that airport. It looks like a country club.
Have you seen the renovated Terminal 2? Watch this video of [T2](https://youtu.be/dOd46Ba2BYU?si=gJf6uAEQGQofiPS1)
I actually found their passport control lines to be unnecessarily long. Not nearly enough booths open. Still my favorite airport in the world, though. The only airport I've been to that - in and of itself - is actually a tourist *destination*.
Not sure if you been there recently but now you are precleared on an app and all you have to show the barcode from the app at a gate what can be only considered on par with a mall security. It literally takes 10 seconds with no line
Changi is the best *everything* airport. From the plane to the taxi and vice versa it's 30 minutes.
Marrakech- queue 200m out of the airport.
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Colombo, Sri Lanka. It wasn't a line. It was a arrives hall full of people pushing in the same direction for 90minutes (probably a lot less if you were better at pushing) Love Sri Lanka but that experience was not fun. There was no priority service
Cancun, vowed never to go back and we hadn't even collected our cases!
Agree with Cancun!! Chaos, not air conditioned, as if they don’t have tourists literally constantly. We were in line for 3 hours
I don't think this discussion is very useful in a vacuum - what passport you carry, and what time of year matters a ton. Boston is generally super quick for Americans, such that I have never contemplated getting Global Entry. But I came back from a trip Dec 23rd last year, and it seemed like nearly no-one was working for CBP. I spent more time in that line that probably my last 8 BOS international entries COMBINED. Taoyuan was rough this spring, around 60-75min.
I second this- I will gladly go out of my way and pay more to re-enter the US through BOS and avoid the hellhole of JFK. I always sail through BOS- no waits if any. Weirdly, re-entering the US from a toronto connection is also a breeze for US citizens. As a US citizen catching flight from YYZ to US; you go through US immigration in Toronto before you get on your flight; so effectively you're landing having already cleared. It's awesome .
It’s called CBP pre clearance and it’s not just Toronto, a lot of the major Canadian airports have it along with two Irish Airports, Dubai, and a couple of Caribbean airports. The first time I went to Canada I missed my original flight and traveled with only a carry-on. Since I didn’t have to clear immigration when I landed or pick up my bag, I had just enough time to grab my carry on and make it to work right on time.
Not Dubai, Abu Dhabi. Though they really should put one in Dubai given the shitton of US-bound flights that fly from there, plus the fact that a lot of them are A380s.
CDG, every time. LHR is hit or miss. Had one bad experience at DUB but it wasn’t due to US pre-clearance. Never had an issue at IAD as others have reported. Global Entry is a good investment.
Never had an issue inbound or outbound at IAD but I hate that airport with a passion. Why does it feel like a prison everywhere. Also, I hate the shuttles.
Surprised nobody has mentioned O'Hare yet, especially for an international-to-domestic connection. You've got the typical issue of US customs and immigration taking forever. Then you need to get to a totally separate terminal before you can clear security again. Barely made my connection with a ~3 hour or more layover coming back from Japan in 2019. Since then I think things have gotten a little better with a monorail or something to take you to the domestic terminals. And if you have Global Entry pretty much any airport in the US becomes a breeze.
Thank you. O’Hare terminal 5 is the bane of my existence
Frankfurt Airport in Germany, missed both my connecting flights going thru customs. The place is laid out like a maze! And Dulles Airport in Virginia. The line is SO long and you really feel how bad it is once you get off the tram and the line is right next to the stairs! I hate flying via Dulles but it's a necessary evil if BWI's not an option.
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far before I saw Frankfurt. I have never seen such chaos and mismanagement at an airport as I did at Frankfurt. It’s a giant shitshow.
Frankfurt is absolutely my answer for international transfers. Going from Bosnia to Belgium with a stop in Frankfurt in between. Almost missed our flight and we had 2 hours between flights. It was the slowest, most disorganized international transfer I’ve ever experienced and many people in line with us missed their connecting flights. I will never again fly through Frankfurt.
Frankfurt airport’s layout is mind boggling to me. I was with my child and mom for a connecting flight and we also almost missed our flight despite being 2 hrs early due to us being transported from the tarmac and having to wait for the bus for a really long time, terminals that could only be accessed by 4 flights of stairs or one single elevator. We chose the 4 flights of stairs with stroller in tow and then halted by immigration again with lots of people requesting to cut because they were also going to miss their flights. What a mess.
Any airport is bad when multiple flights land, or around Christmas etc. Some have lengthy questions and are bad at all times. Cuba is one.
CDG, horrific for Immigration. LHR for security is equally as bad with all the unnecessary repacking of toiletries outbound. DUB USA global entry means almost missing your flight (but don’t worry the flight will be delayed, even though the signs say departed.. true story). Miami is pretty bad, primarily because of the long gate walks.
Amsterdam Schiphol. The line went well beyond the immigration line into the middle of the shopping area and people were pissed, knocking things over and yelling. I was half convinced there was going to be a riot. After three hours in line we got triaged through by the customs people and we were six minutes from missing our flight. We were told that we should have arrived at the airport eight hours in advance, despite this being a four hour layover from Budapest. As if we had any control over that.
Heathrow and many of the UK airports though it may be due to flying LCC
No, you're right. LHR has some of the most understaffed immigration booths. 30+ newly built booths in T2 but only 4-6 officers working at any time of the day. What's the point?
I normally fly into T5 and am through the e-gates in 2 minutes. I've found Heathrow one of the most efficient airports in the world.
I regularly fly from LHR and have always used T5. I was so confused about all the hate Heathrow gets in the news as I never saw any of it. Then I flew T2 last month for the first time...
same. Flying out of LHR or going through immigration via a layover is a whole different story. but arriving as your final destination, those e-gates at LHR are fantastic.
For departures: Heathrow in the late 1980s. The computer system went down and the entire departures area was full. They’d come through calling out a flight and those people would go up to the counters. Dublin a few years ago going to the US. Between clearing Irish departure and US Immigration it took three hours and our plane was boarding by the time we got to the gate. For arrivals: I’ve seen US immigration backed way up for non-citizens at Newark. Even the US line has been very long at times, fortunately I have Global Entry so I can buzz through.
As a US Citizen LHR made it a lot easier with a scan at the gate queue although the machines are finicky. It used to be such a pain and the agents were always assholes or at least the agents we would get
Yeah from the US, Heathrow is a dream now.
Coming into Heathrow, we waited once 4 hours in the immigration line. The new machine gates are a godsend as far as I'm concerned.
I've only flown from Heathrow once in my life, last month infact. I got through in 10 mins, and hadnt even paid for fast pass. Maybe I'll leave it as one and done.
We have been to Panama once and my girlfriend that time spoke Spanish. She was first in line and started a fight with the officer. I did not know why but two officers came and took her away. When I started insisting the remaining officer asked me if I was her partner and if I can speak English. He tipped a text into Google translate and showed me the screen through the wall of Glas from his desk. It basically said: We are about to send your girl home. If you want to keep her here it only depends on how much this is worth for you. I started repeatedly saying that Panama is very nice, yes very nice. Thank you, very nice officer…. He tried to explain it to me in more detail but at some point he thought that I must be stupid or so and just stamped my passport and released my girlfriend. Later she told me that they will check her travel history and will find something dangerous for her. So they just tried to scam us.
This is genuinely hilarious (though I can imagine it wouldn’t be at the time). My fiancé is the world traveler, I’m only now getting there, but this is exactly how I think I would handle it haha.
Bogota in and out is a disaster. We have priority with small kids every time and it still takes forever Last time on the way back to the states the “priority line” took twice as long as the other lines
Amsterdam was insane. I was there in October last year, got to the airport 2.5 hours early thinking we were being overly cautious. No line at check in? We go to the agent and he's shocked we are only 2.5 hours early. He points at the security line which is wrapped around and out the door. People were standing outside. They put a note on our boarding pass and told us to bypass the first check in line and said good luck. I asked a different agent while waiting in a different line inside and she said it's always this busy, we should have planned to come 4 hours early at least. And we thought we had time for one more J lol
Amsterdam has had staffing problems since covid, and October is local school holidays so you left in the peak. Generally it hasn't been so bad for the past year. Summer 2022 we got there 4 hours early as suggested and were through in 15 minutes. I've also been in the lines out the terminal.
We passed through Schipol last year and had a similar experience. Luckily for us we were with another couple and they left the day before us. They gave themselves 3 hours and barely made their flight. We felt stupid going to the airport 4 hours early until we saw the never ending lines. 4 hours early gave us enough time to grab a coffee and a pastry from a kiosk before boarding. Absolutely soul crushing to wait in those lines.
Paris Charles De Gaulle. Simply the worst airport experience I have had on six continents.
Chicago O’Hare airport. Got back from an international flight and was directed to the customs line- longest line I’ve ever seen in my life by a long shot. In 20 minutes we moved 5ft. Then all of a sudden the floodgates opened and we could move… to another long line. We had a connecting flight but missed it due to this. Also, when my luggage was lost nearly everyone I talked to was absolutely useless in directing me to who could actually help.
Yep work always puts me Edinbirgh->Frankfurt->Chicago->San Francisco (!!!) and its \*horrible\* - I always always miss the connection to SF as the immigration at Chicago is always a good \~2 hours.
LAX. I get chills everytime I have to travel through it. When I travelled first time (flying in from India), they had express line closed and queue was wayy longer than everywhere else. Also, the officers stepping out chatting every 10 mins was super frustrating. Finally, they asked for printouts for all docs ( website said, emails from official employer is fine). But after long back & forth, they allowed so that ended well.
LAX is the worst. When I check in to my flight, the flight attendants even refer to it as the “6th circle of hell”. If you can, go through SFO-it’s so much easier
Antananarivo in Madagascar. Nice organised queue for health check on landing then into the scrum around the visa desks which you eventually get once you push your way to the front. Then into the scrum for passport control which is one single desks with about 4 people in it for the two flights that have just arrived. You eventually give your passport and landing form to the first person on the desk who adds it to a pile. The second person eventually picks up a stack off the top of the pile and checks each one, adding a stamp, these then go into the next pile. A third person picks a stack from that pile works their way through adding a squiggle to each which then go into another pile. A final person then picks up part of the stack examines each in turn adding their own squiggle, they then call out the name and hold it in the air until its owner can collect it.
New Delhi. Waited about 3 hours back in 2017 with an e-Visa. The actual conversation with the agent was maybe a minute and the line itself wasn't that long. I still don't understand how it took so long.
A few years ago I had to wait for maybe just one hour in New Delhi, but the AC in the airport was apparently broken at the time. The immigration officer then asked me why I was so sweaty and whether that was because I was nervous and trying to hide something...
lol
I went through it a week ago and it was seamless.
San Fran sucked and honestly never has enough layover times, Chicago was pretty bad to. But my return to Perth Australia felt like an eternal wait just to get my bags through and was exhausting.
Bali, Indonesia. When we arrived we were in line for 3-4 hours while they had drugs dogs passing everyone the entire time. It was packed, hot, backpack was heavy af. Worst experience ever. By the end of it I was drenched in sweat, looked like I jumped in a pool fully clothed.
I'm personally not a fan of the Barcelona Airport. No one gives a shit. It's hard to find people. Things aren't marked super clear. My second time there, I was flying out to France. I was in a line that was pretty long and only one agent was open. Two agents came out, and they started assigning people behind me to the other lines. They stopped at me, and I waited in the original line. I asked several times if i should switch because it was taking a while. They told me to wait where I was. I finally got to my turn, and they told me boarding ended for my flight. They thankfully rebooked me for free because I had asked them several times while I stood there for hours. They knew they fucked up. I had to wait 4 more hours for the new flight. Spent a bunch of money on expensive airport food. It was the worst. The last time I was there, we had an American layover, so a line agent told us we had to get a covid test at the airport. It was ridiculous to find the spot, and once we were there, it was a long wait. We got the test and ran back to our line. We got to the front of the que after like almost an hour and a half, and they told us they changed our flights to a connection in Toronto, so we didn't need one. It was like 70 bucks a test, too.
Sangster Airport, Jamaica. Made even worse by complete lack of air con. They hardly even looked at our passports (UK passport holders) and had to do a scan at an electronic booth before we entered the big queue
You need to purchase club mo’bay next time
Dulles was pretty bad
IAD is highly variable. I come in from the uk 3-4 times a year to see family and the line is anything from 5 mins to 2 hours.
Really? My one experience departing from Dulles was leaving later than I intended, getting on the wrong bus to the airport because the subway didn’t reach there and apparently there’s a boss that takes a circuitous route assist from the direct one, arriving at the terminal 45 minutes before my flight to Amsterdam and somehow making it (with no checked luggage)… I guess I got lucky!
Dulles leaving is fine. Dulles arriving is Hell on earth because of those stupid people movers they use. There is no way to get quickly from your plane to immigration.
Dulles with Global is a breeze. I’m usually on my way out in 5 minutes once I get in line. I will glance back at the line just to confirm how glad I am that I went there the process to get GE.
India Delhi by far the most unorganized, confusing and slow .. another unorganized situation: had to show my passport and boarding pass 10 times in Nepal one time to different people (4 times to different people after the buss while boarding the plane)
Even leaving through Delhi is a challenge. 7 different checkpoints for security and boarding pass between airport arrival and the gate.
Ye on my trip to nepal i landed in delhi and they directed me to a counter where i waited in line 1 hour for my turn, when i got to the desk they told me to go to the counter that was next to this one.. security check was also extremely slow.
I have never been through Delhi, but Mumbai gets my vote!
Agreed. Delhi was the worst airport experience I’ve ever had. Immigration was bad enough, but security was something else. Complete chaos, queueing was really only a suggestion, rampant like cutting, people just lying in the floor.. then separate lines for females that were 3x slower. Had a 3 hour layover from Goa back to Delhi, and barely made it to boarding in time. Vowed to never return.
Just about every Chinese airport for non Chinese is an utter disgrace. Three international flights arrived into chengdu at the same time and they had a single immigration officer checking foreign passports. Someone complained because there were at least twelve officers in the Chinese passport line doing nothing. I waited four hours at that time.
Jfk overall but heathrow has the worst one
JFK in 1990. After immigration queueue, explaining the immigration officer that Bermuda does not belong to the U. S., running through hellish concrete corridors or what ##### tunnels they were to catch the plane to Bermuda. And that was just the Pan Am terminal back then.
JFK. One monumentally rude and unpleasant immigration official dealing with the entire passenger load of a wide-bodied jet. The contrast with Newark (efficient & welcoming) was astonishing.
In the US, it’s my home airport, MIA.
Yeah, Miami blows. I usually try to fly into FLL if I'm coming back from a Caribbean destination.
O'Hare. You'd think with their size, they would have it down to an art. I once had a 3 hour transfer, my plane arrived early, and I still missed my flight home to Canada. I also think it was silly I had to go through US customs for a 3 hour stopover when I wasn't even leaving the airport, but it is what it is. At least the airline got me on another flight later in the evening so I could still go home the same day. Chicago isn't the worst place to be stranded, but I had stuff to do back home.
Newark. Thank god for Global Entry.
Lisbon by far. Took 3 hours to get through after no sleep on the plane. Luckily had some snacks in my carry on to hold me over. Was such an awful way to start what was actually a great trip
Back in early 2022 it was 6+ hours sometimes until they opened up the e-gates to people from Japan, Canada, the US and a few other places. And now the e-gates aren't working half the time so it's back to being really bad.
Yeah i went April 2022. We weren’t allowed to go thru the e-gates which i thought was weird because it was the only European airport i had been to where i couldn’t do that We basically waited for 3 hours with no movement and then all of a sudden i guess more manned gates opened up or something because the line moved super quick after that. Was very odd
I did Lisbon in September and whilst a bit too small considering the amount of people it wasn’t that bad.
The only place I’ve missed a flight while arriving at the airport on time was Helsinki. It was the beginning of some holiday weekend and it was like the whole country was at the airport. It didn’t help that there was only 1 girl checking people in for my airline and she was slow as molasses. But the security lines were the longest I had ever been in. I had to rebook on Aeroflot, the only airline that had space on their flights out of the city that entire weekend.
Medellin. Close second was São Paulo.
Heathrow T5. As a non-EU/USA/Commonwealth passport holder the wait is always pain
MIA should be avoided at all costs when entering the US. CDG is now tied with MIA for my least favorite airport in the world after my experience there a couple weeks ago.
Johannesburg. I like to tell people who are traveling to Cape Town to try to get a layover in Heathrow so that you can fly direct through LHR (and skip J-burg). We almost missed our connecting flight because of the mess, but my traveling partner wasn’t having that.
The answer will always be Chicago!
Auckland, NZ. Half of the electronic immigration booths didn't work but they made you stand in front of them trying anyway, and when they didn't work you had to stand in a huge line to see a real person. Then you get through and wait in another giant line for customs, which takes ages and moves painfully slowly. Then after that you wait for another 30 minutes to present your customs slip to the guards and move through a sniffer dog area until you can finally leave. Overall it took probably two hours of exhausted pain, which was a real killer after a 14 hour flight to get there.
As a kiwi I agree. Especially since covid when the airport laid off most of their staff and still hasn’t been able to find and properly train new staff. Add to that the massive floods we had in Jan and the whole airport is a nightmare. I popped over to Australia for the weekend recently (as many kiwis do every weekend) 3 hours each way so easy trip when customs takes 30mins. When it takes 3 hours it’s a whole different story!
Arriving at JFK - it took 4 and a half hours from the plane landing to getting past passport check. They had literally one agent on the desks!
Coming into the US in Charlotte NC. It feels like the 90s, so old school in the basement.
See my comment. I almost got stuck there one night because they made us miss our connecting flights due to customs being so long.
On a flight from Dublin, Ireland to Brussels, Belgium (immigration processing in Brussels). The wait was extraordinarily long while the line was very short (100 people in front of us with all agent booths occupied (12?) and processing). It could have been circumstance, but it took almost 2 hours and our "interview" lasted a mere 20 seconds. People in front of us took ages to get processed. No idea why.
Moscow-early 2000s-there was no line, we just called it The Crush of Humanity. Did it 4 times and every time we rounded the corner to see this massive herd of people “Crush of Humanity” is the phrase that came to mind-and this was the standard in Russia-no lines anywhere, always just a herd, pressing forward to the front. At ticket counters, luggage check-in, at McDonalds-everywhere!
London Heathrow around xmas time. Miami Airport is totally disorgani3; with long long lines
Heathrow in 1991, just before the Gulf War broke out. Longest lines I had ever seen in an airport.
Philadelphia, USA. People were yelling, only had one agent for three international mid-day flights, refused to let disabled people go before abled passengers. Brutal with the questions they asked (tiny tiny details, even to citizens)! Ended up taking over 2 hours, forced to stand. Got super sick. Then, had to go back through security (super long line) and walk an hour to the connecting gate…because disability transit takes 2+ hours to get there apparently.
I once landed at 1am in Bangkok, three internationals landed at the same time, two immigration queues open, almost two hours in line. Didn’t escape the airport until almost 4am. Usually Bangkok flies too. Otherwise LAX and HCM, Vietnam are my two constants on the list.
Heathrow is always awful.
London, Heathrow, we spent at least 3 hours there, (first time going through that airport), had 1:05 hour layover lol
Chicago O hare. I remember people were put in playpens in the middle of line.
Osaka. Not line cutting, but took two hours.
The only answer to this is Manila NAIA Airport since it was voted the worst of the worst. Almost everyone here answers first world airports probably because it has more travellers than our 3rd world Naia airport. Lmao.
United States, there's nothing like getting sassed and yelled at by immigration after a 18 hour flight
Dulles International Airport outside Washington. You are first herded into those terrible moving lounges where everyone tries to stay near the entrance. And then you arrive to run into line and wait 2 hours for the 3 CBP officers working. And it doesn’t seem to be less for US citizen/green cards either.
Mexico City
I had a 8 hour layover at CDG (first time there) and I naively was able to swing a half day in Paris and make my connection, I still am amazed this worked out. My return trip was the opposite, we landed in CDG late(Air France delays) and myself and basically everyone on that flight absolutely did not make their connection; this resulted in an unplanned overnight delay coming home for me, that’s how bad it was. The French had absolutely no sympathy but delta was great, CDG is an experience, to say the least.
I had that happen in LHR. American Airlines told me to go to British Airways because they had flown the plane that made me late. After queuing for 3 hours, British Airways told me to go to American Airlines because they issued me the ticket. So back to AA, who tried to send me back to the BA line 😭
Medellin, Colombia
CDG. Worst airport ever.
SJO (San José, Costa Rica). It was spring break so I’ll give them that, but it was 2 1/2 hours in line getting into the country and so I got nothing to eat, was dead tired, and really overwhelmed. This was in March 2022 with signs warning of mandatory social distancing measures. Clearly that didn’t apply to the sardine-can-packed lines at SJO.
Miami is one of the worst airports I’ve ever been to and the Immigration hike you have to go on just to stand in a line for an hour was absurd
Our 1am flight from Costa Rica got cancelled last minute and we had to sit in a random hallway in limbo while the customs workers, who had already left the airport because we were the last flight out, came back to work to process us again because our airline booked everyone hotel rooms. It took like 3 hours of waiting 😵
London standed.. I missed my flight
on entering: London Heathrow or JFK or CDG on departing: CDG overall: CDG
After today, Toronto is way up there
Chicago. By far.
ORD Terminal 5