Has anyone missed a flight because they were detained by customs?
 

When I returned to Miami last week, they decided to go through all of my "things" at customs. My checked bag only weighted 9.7 kilos, and customs sure lit a smile when they found white power in my bag (laundry detergent), but the process took about ten minutes. At least they didn't give me laxatives and detain me over night.

I'm flying to Bangkok in two weeks and I have visions of customs checking every file on my hard drive. That could take a lot of time. Any comments?

I'm flying Korean Airlines from Atlanta to Seoul. I've read that their 747 has an electrical outlet at each seat in economy. Will I need an adaptor plug?

It appears that the Central Europe outlet and the Asian electrical outlet are similar but a little different with the Asian having a thicker plug?

Any comments?

I'm sure people have missed flights due to customs searches, but I didn't find BKK that onerous with the customs searches. If you are a tourist and don't look like the type to be importing drugs, and aren't on any kiddie porn watchlists, that you shouldn't have too many problems - I've certainly never had any.

Do be warned that immigration at BKK can often be a mess, with very long lines.

As to the outlets, the outlets in Korea are all over the place, but most seemed to be the same as the standard two-prong European outlets. Can't remember if they will accept the wider prongs (which are used on grounded European outlets, too), but they definitely accept the narrower prongs. On the plane, though, I would be shocked if they didn't actually take US-style plugs, in addition to, or even at the expense of, the round plugs.

Thanks for your comments. Seems like they would want a grounded plug on the plane.

I don't know what type of power ports they Korean Air has on their 747 aircraft but on the international flights I've been on (several different airlines) they've had "cigarette lighter" power ports meaning you needed a suitable adapter to power up a laptop.

Perhaps you should check directly with the airline.

I flew Cathay Pacific last year from JFK to Vancouver on their 777-300 ER and they had 115 volts grounded (US). I was on a new Continental 737 recently and they had the same.

I have just got back from Vietnam/Thailand and flew in and out of BKK twice, Immigration was WAY busier than usual but i would say the whole process was still much quicker than say Heathrow/LAX.

The only time I ever missed a flight due to customs was on a winter afternoon when I arrived in Chicago from Paris. I was chosen for a "random" search even though I protested that my plane was late and that I would miss my connection. I did in fact miss my connection, There was no space on the next two flights, and then the remaining flights were canceled because of snow.

Fortunately, my airline took pity on me and arranged accommodations, which would have otherwise been unavailable close to O'Hare. I was told by the supervisor that they were not supposed to do that because I had not missed my connection because of a delay by the airline.

My letter of complaint to customs, with a copy to my congressman, was met with a very warm form response.