1st Timer Question about Customs/Reentry
 

I have a choice for reentry into the USA on my return trip, what airport should I come in through? I want to get through customs quickly!

I have searched (maybe not well enough) this forum for my answer. I cannot seem to find it.

I have several choices on my return trip back to the USA. I will be coming from CDG (Paris). All the flights are in the same price range, so I want to choose based on convenience. What airport gives the LEAST headache as far as coming through customs? I will have very little in the way of souvenirs, just photos in my camera.

The most common reentry airports seem to be Dallas and Miami, but there are several others. Since these 2 airports keep popping up, should I avoid them (crowds and wait times)??? I already have the foresight to pick a connecting domestic flight that IS NOT a SHORT layover to give me time to get through customs. I cannot get any direct flight in/out of my metropolis to Paris.

This is my first trip out of the North American continent, and I have never dealt w/ customs in an airport. This trip to Paris will be in early May, if that makes any difference.

Thanks for any help from well traveled people (even another first timer would be more “well traveled” than me)!

~Jay

You don't say where your final destination in the US is - that will probably dictate your choices. From Paris, JFK and Chicago are also common entry points.

The reentry process into the US for US citizens goes like this.

1. Immigration - this is where you will wait, not at customs. Depending on the time of day, airline, and which plane has landed in front of you, this can vary from a 5min wait to longer. I've flown AA into DFW numerous times, and never had to wait more than 10min at immigration. Miami has a lot more international traffic, so I would suspect that DFW would on average always be shorter.

2. Wait for your checked bags at international baggage claim. I have always gotten through immigration before my checked bags showed up, regardless of airport. The wait here is very similar to a domestic flight.

3. Claim your bags and head to customs. This is always the shortest part, ranging anywhere from 30sec wait to maybe 5min. The customs inspectors will look at your form, look at you, grunt and wave you on. If you look suspicious, they might ask you to open your bags.

4. After customs, you will drop your checked bags off at the bag recheck area, where it is sent to your final destination. It will already have a tag to there, so this is again a 1-2min process.

5. You exit, then proceed to your domestic flight terminal, reenter through security and you're on your way.

QED

I would pick an airport with the best connection / fare to your home.

DFW....The new Terminal D is a dream...Depending on where you are going after your arrival, you may be scheduled to depart from that same terminal....Lots of folks HATE DFW, but I have never had a problem, even before the new terminal opened...

If you're flying AA, then DFW will be the best place to enter the US.

Thank You!

I am in Vegas. I was shocked at the lack of direct flights to and from Paris. We always joke that there are so many direct filghts to Vegas from the most random cities world wide (e.g. I think the latest joke I heard was the 16 non-stop flights to Vegas from Altai Republic, Siberia)!!!

Anyway, I don't care where I reenter the USA as long as I can do my best to avoid the longest waits... I know this is probably an unreal ambition. Conversely, I will not mind any wait in Paris, and chalk that up to the "ooooo's and aaaaah's" of a first timer!

Thanks, and feel free to add any info!

~Jay

As others have said, it's hard to predict how much time it will take you to clear immigration & customs when you arrive back in the US and really one airport is as good as another. You'll spend more time waiting for you luggage (assuming you are not using just carry-on) than you probably will at either immigration or customs. The lines at I & C may appear long but they move rather quickly. Regardless of what airport you arrive at, pay attention to the signs or verbal instructions at Immigration to insure you are on the US Citizen lines as they move much quicker than the lines for foreign nationals. I travel abroad frequently and I rarely take more than 10 minute to get through Immigration. Make sure you have your passport handy and in proper order. Clearing customs is easy. You are normally just "waived through" but on occasion you might be asked to have your bags x-rayed and that only takes a minute or two. If you are single out to have your bags searched that can take extra time. One cannot predict when, where or if that will happen.

LAS never has any scheduled passenger longhaul international flights. Charter maybe, but no scheduled ones.

Singapore Airlines had a non-stop from Hong Kong once, but shut down immediately after 9/11.

NOBODY can predict what happens with customs. As everybody already pointed out, the immigration part is usually not much more than few minutes for US citizens, regardless of what airport you come into.

Customs is a whole different animal. Customs officer has the right to stop and search anybody at will, without any cause. On occasion they do exersize that right and there is NOTHING you can do or say to avoid it if they chose you. The stop and search can be very quick couple of questions (what do you do for living, what was the reason for the trip, etc.) to a quick x-ray of your luggage to a thorough hand search of your luggage to a full strip search of the person (that only happens in some extreme cases). They don't need a warrant as you are technically not in the country until you exit the customs area, so the countires laws and protections don't apply.

I travel extensively througout the world. Some of the trips are work related under a US government contract. Yet I don't get any breaks with customs.

A funny story. Last January I was flying Japan Airlines from Tokyo to Honolulu. It was a 747 with every seat occupied. The Japanese love Hawaii. I was the only caucasian on the plane. I don't know for a fact that I was the only US citizen. Anyways, in Honolulu as I was waiting for my luggage, I saw the customs officers looking at me right from the start. I guess I must have looked somewhat strange amongst all the Japanese/Asians. Guess what? I got the full luggage search. All the other passengers were just walking through and I'm a US citizen. It was a very polite search. It only added about 15 or so minutes to the procedure, but the officers are not required to help you pack again and they do mess up your packing when they search the luggage. So, it took me another 10 or so minutes to put everything back in order.

Another story. Few years back I was coming back through Chicago from a long weekend in Manchester, UK. I went to visit friends and see a football match. As I was waiting for my suitcase, a customs officer walked up and started to ask me few questions about my trip. (this was only about a year after 9/11) After few questions her main concern became the fact that I went all the way to UK for only 3 nights. I explained to her that the fare was soooo cheap (it was some ridiculous $250 all in or less fare) that it really didn't make a difference if I went to UK or the west coast from Florida. In fact the UK fare was cheaper than the west coast fares at that time. I also mentioned my friends and that I wanted to see a football game. She followed up with the football game question and I told her that it was fun. I told her that I got very lucky and scored a ticket behind the home teams bench and got the coach and some of the players to sign the program. Guess what? She asked me if I could show her the program. I did, she smiled, thanked me and that was it.

The point is, don't lie. If questioned, don't make up stories as that is what could trigger a more thorough investigation if you can't back up the story.

Having said all that, I want you to know that in all probability none of this will happen to you, but I just want you to understand that Customs is very unpredictable and it doesn't make a difference what airport you come through.

And if for some reason the terror alert goes to a higher level when you're away, all bets are off. Customs comes out in full force when that happens.

rkkwan, VS and BD both have nonstops from the UK to LAS (LGW and MAN respectively.)

Gardyloo - Thanks for the correction.

rkkwan, there is also:
JL 26 NRT->LAS
JL 25 LAS->NRT

AAFF's advice about telling the truth is very good advice.

Another story.
I spent about a good 45 minutes trying to get OUT of Tel Aviv in 1994. My itinerary was unusual, I guess, as I had arrived from Paris on TWA and was departing on El Al to Cairo. The questions went something like this:
Q: Can I see some ID, passport, credit cards?
A: I show her my passport, Amex Gold Card, ...
Q: Why is this card gold? All the other Amex cards I've seen are green.
A: It's a special kind.
Q: Are you traveling for business or on vacation?
A: Vacation.
Q: Why this itinerary? most vacationers just fly here and go back home.
A: Because it's cheap, I said, and I showed her my TWA ticket USA- Paris- Tel Aviv, Cairo- Athens- USA, cost: $35.xx
Q: Why is this ticket price so low?
A: It is the tax. I used frequent flier miles to get the ticket.
Q: Do you have a membership card for this frequent flier program?
A: I showed her my TWA FFB card
Q: How did you earn all of those miles?
A: Travel for work.
Q: Who do you work for? Show me an employee ID.
A: I think I showed her my medical benefits card or something with the company name on it.
Q: Where/how long are you staying in Cairo?
A: The Nile Hilton for three nights.
Q: Do you have a reservation confirmation letter?
A: Yes, here it is.
Q: This reservation was for last night! What if they don't have a room for you?
A: That is what the Amex gold card is for ...

She searched my bag, called over a supervisor. He searched my bag. They both asked me pretty much all the same question over again until I just started chuckling and shaking my head. Then they let me go at which point I learned that I could have avoided the whole ordeal because I was in the wrong line because I had a business class ticket.

That was El Al security in 1994.

mrwunrfl - Thanks for your info about JL too.

Anyways, I don't think your experience at TLV is unusual at all. My ex-gf and I went to Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Greence in 1995, and we weren't even flying EY. We were on KL. We were interrogated <b>seperately</b> for like 15 minutes, and then the two agents went to chat between themselves to compare our &quot;alibi&quot;, so to speak. ;)

Hm, I'm finding more international flights out of LAS. Philippine Airlines fly a 343 Manila-Vancouver-LAS 5 days a week. Very interesting.

Condor flies to FRA twice a week. Not sure if it's charter or scheduled.

There may be others still.

There's a trip report on the YVR-LAS service (in J) run by PR somewhere on FT.

One consideration for the first point of entry is the connection time. If you get hung-up waiting for your bags and/or Q&amp;A by the powers that be, you could miss your next flight. This nearly happened to us once when our bags were the very last ones to come down the belt from a fully loaded 747 (someones bags have to be last) and then we also had the Q&amp;A.

^That is one thing I am trying to avoid. I have many choices for connecting domestic flights, in several cities, many options for layover times.

As a long time domestic traveler, I have found DFW to be the biggest pain and Denver to be easiest over all.

This trip is odd to me b/c I will be traveling very very light, yet my hotel will be 4 star. I am calling it &quot;backpacking-in-comfort&quot;. Does any one else check in to a nice place w/ only a backpack? I think this is unusual, but I don't really know, I am assuming here.

Keep the stories comming. I really am thankful for these first hand stories. This is a fab way to learn...

~Jay

Not that it would be on your list anyways, but international arrivals at Seattle-Tacoma are horrendous. Our flight back from Paris resulted in a two-hour-plus wait at immigration. Plus at Sea-Tac because of the configuration of the satellites you get to claim your bags once, then check them AGAIN (this is on ARRIVAL, mind you), then claim them a second time in the main terminal. People complain about LAX but I swear SEA is the worst-run of them all.

CYNCITYFAN - Have you visited DFW recently. In the last 7 months, they've opened the new airside inter-terminal train and a new international terminal. It went from one of the worst hub airport to transit to one of the better ones.

^No I have not. The last time i went through there was during a domestic LAX to TPA in 2004. I heard of the new systems, yet always went through Chicago or Denver.

This is good to know... thx! :)

Make sure that you don't have any fruit or vegetables or other banned stuff when you reenter.

I was at the baggage carousel at SFO after arriving from Hong Kong. I found one bag and set it down. A CBP person with a beagle came by and the dog started sniffing in the bag. I had an apple in there that I got at the Red Carpet Club at HKG. The CBP person took my apple and made a mark on the customs card or whatever. After collecting my bags I had to show the card to a person who looked at it and re-directed me from the normal line to the inspection table. So, my bag got searched and I got the 20 questions.