I would like to provide information that may be useful to AR members regarding problems that you will encounter with US Customs traveling internationally.

Case number 1:

Last month I returned from an Argentina bird hunt through Atlanta International US Customs connecting to Philadelphia. The lay over between landing at Atlanta International and the domestic connection was 2 hours and 30 minutes. Our plane landed at 5:30 am on time. We exited the plane and entered the US Custom area and were stopped by a line of people a mile long (hundreds of people filled the Customs room). It took 2 hours to get to a US Custom agent booth. Then you have to get your luggage ...which at this point is on the same conveyor belt carousel with 4 other flights all jammed up together and luggage stacked to the sides. And then the dreaded recheck through TSA security to get to your domestic flight. Which we all know is not an expedient process. I missed my connecting flight.

The facility at Atlanta is new and there were over a hundred US Custom booths available(for US citizens only). However, there were only 10 Custom Agents checking passengers.


Case 2:

A few days ago I returned from a Mexican Fishing trip through Houston International connecting to Newark. The same issue occurred.

Our flight landed on time and the line to US Customs was so backed up that the line extended outside the US Customs room into the hallway. The Houston International is a brand new facility and has over a hundred check-in booths, but there were only 9 US Customs Agents checking passengers.

Over an hour and half process to get checked through Customs. When asked why there were so few Customs Agents working the response was "we [US Customs Agents] requested overtime pay and they [government] would not approve overtime for more agents." I nearly choked the Agent right there!

After clearing TSA security and a mile sprint I made my connection just in seconds.


Tax payers have paid billions of dollars for upgrades and new airport security systems and they are operated by a bunch of monkeys. Typical inefficient government UNION employees.


There is one potential solution: Check out Global Entry.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/tra...aveler/global_entry/


Global Entry is a program were US citizens get a back ground check to verify they are not a domestic terrorist and a solid citizen for fee of 100$. If you are register as a liberal-progressive democrat you are automatically excluded from the program. After you are enrolled into the Global Entry program you check yourself through Customs without an agent. You go to the front of the line and the process takes 10 minutes. Some of the European airports are going to have the same program.

I recommend all AR members enroll now, sooner or later they will force you to.


dale

Interesting concept. It's about time, too.

Just wait till this crap hit's your health care and every other part of you life. NOV needs to be a blow out!!! blow the old farts out

quote:

Global Entry is your express pass to process through the United States' international arrival areas. Automated kiosks are designed to process pre-approved, low-risk international travelers who qualify.

I doubt that hunters traveling with guns will ever be thought of as 'low risk.'

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:

quote:

Global Entry is your express pass to process through the United States' international arrival areas. Automated kiosks are designed to process pre-approved, low-risk international travelers who qualify.

I doubt that hunters traveling with guns will ever be thought of as 'low risk.'

My thoughts exactly. Who knows though, it's worth a shot??

I flew back from Brazil on Sunday and noted the Global Entry sign. I thought about trying it.

Before they folded, I had a Clear Pass for domestic flights. It saved me a ton of time.

I am going to try Global Entry.

I maintain a government clearance and endure numerous annual screenings for my job. I would be all for an easier way to breeze thru the entrance procedure. I will admit tho, it is harder to get into my office than it is to go thru US Customs and TSA, so I can't complain too much.

So I've been looking into this, and on the website, it tells you the locations, and the times of operation.

Now, in Wash DC, operation hours are 10am-6pm, so if you're flying SAA, that wont work for you bc their flights land at like 530 am....

I was excited about this...not so much anymore.

We arrived in Dulles at 5:10 am recently and had really no problems, 75% of the booths were open were open and pretty well staffed.

I've been patted down so many times in airports I'm thinking of starting to charge them for feeling me up. OR demand a drink and kiss as forplay I set off all the metal detectors

I had the same problem at ATL coming back from Argentina earlier this year.

We did make our connection, but not by much.

I'll have to look into the Global Entry service.

quote:

Originally posted by daleW:
When asked why there were so few Customs Agents working the response was "we [US Customs Agents] requested overtime pay and they [government] would not approve overtime for more agents." I nearly choked the Agent right there!

Dale
I don't mean to be obtuse, but why did that piss you off?

I can't see working overtime and not getting paid for it.

The problem is a scheduling problem. The flights are known well in advance, so there is really no excuse for not having adequate officials on hand. Today Customs and Immigration are one in the same; however, it is the immigration line you stand in. Customs occurs after you get your bags and head out. Check your airline ticket price and you will see a fee for immigration and customs...you pay for it taxes, it should piss you off!

Dale
I don't mean to be obtuse, but why did that piss you off?

I can't see working overtime and not getting paid for it.

Jason


Jason,

The custom agents know which flights are arriving at what times and have a passenger list. They know well in advance the number of passengers that are arriving at a specific time. There is absolutely no reason not to have the booths staffed according to the volume of passengers traveling at any given moment. The tax payers do not have to pay overtime to a bunch of monkey-lazy-ass union employees. Staff the locations according to the number of passengers....it is that easy. Too bad the custom agents will have to work another shift instead of 8-3.

Or cross train the TSA agents to check US citizens entering the country so that during the congestion times there will not be unnecessary wait times. The tax payers already paid for the infrastructure of hundreds of booths...use them!

There should not be more than a 15-20 minute wait time to get through US Customs for international traveling USA citizens...period!


dale

Don't be pissed off at the agent. He is only doing his job. Be pissed at the people that schedule the number of agents assigned to work.

Just as a side note, I've re-entered the US with firearms through Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Dulles, and Dallas. The operation in Dallas was by far the smoothest.

Minneapolis is the best.

Atlanta and particularly Miami are the worst.

With the possible exception of the FBI, Customs employs the most arrogant, insufferable and obnoxious people in government service. I spent most of my life dealing with these clowns. But Minneapolis was an exception, the several times I cleared through there. It's been a while, so I don't know if the disease has affected them yet. Detroit sucks, too.

I just registered with Global Entry. One has to apply on line. Upon receiving the appropriate communication, one has to schedule a brief interview. There are a few simple questions. For example: Have you ever been arrested? Have you ever broke the customs laws? Where have you traveled in the last 5 years? etc. Interestingly, they were aware that I had to have a customs inspection virtually every trip. They wanted to know why. My reply was "guns, I am a big game hunter." They were fine with it.

You enter the country by using a machine to scan your finger prints and your passport. GE will get you around the long lines at passport control. However, you will still have to deal with customs.

Given the long lines at times, it is worth it to me to pay the fee. At this point, I would definitely recommend it.

quote:

Originally posted by Terry Blauwkamp:
We arrived in Dulles at 5:10 am recently and had really no problems, 75% of the booths were open were open and pretty well staffed.

I had just the opposite experience at Dulles in July. It was a nightmare. The line had to have 200 people in it and there were four or five lanes open. It took almost two hours to clear immigration. Of course, they were completely indifferent to anyone with close connections. If they need to waste some more stimulus money, they might throw some in the direction of Customs and Immigration.

DaleW,

Why the rant against lazy ass UNION workers. Last time I checked INEFFICENT, INCOMPETENT management was responsible for scheduling employees.


Dulcinea
IAFF Local 2377

You may have the opportunity in January to pay more in taxes for even less service! On the other hand, be glad you do not get all the government you pay for!

And these are the people we trust with our health care?

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:

quote:

Originally posted by Terry Blauwkamp:
We arrived in Dulles at 5:10 am recently and had really no problems, 75% of the booths were open were open and pretty well staffed.

I had just the opposite experience at Dulles in July. It was a nightmare. The line had to have 200 people in it and there were four or five lanes open. It took almost two hours to clear immigration. Of course, they were completely indifferent to anyone with close connections. If they need to waste some more stimulus money, they might throw some in the direction of Customs and Immigration.

oh, come on Mike. everyone knows the stimulus is working. look how much the unemployment rate has dropped. oops- that's right- IT HASN'T!

I was tired, I was hot, I was dirty and unshaven and I really was wishing that I could have stimulated a few folks that acted like they were doing you a damn favor to do their jobs.

How much are the fees?

When we returned from Argentina in July, there was an incredible line. I have never seen anything like it. I spotted the Global Entry machined and said, no more. I am never waiting like that again.

I never understand why the lines are so long and have over half the lanes closed. I have never experienced a problem at pass port control with lazy personnel but at Customs it is a different story.

My fiance and I showed up at Customs running late from Madrid because of Delta & headwinds. I thought we were in luck because there was no one else there except the customs inspectors who were all doing NOTHING. I am a veteran of many trips with guns. I know what to do. Tiffany is a lawyer who at the time was a clerk for a Federal Bankruptcy judge. We aren't about to create a ruckus.

We entered customs and encountered a first class prick named Steven. We politely asked if we could go ahead and open our gun cases and get out our papers. He told us no to sit down. We did. This prick sat there and stared at us and did nothing for the longest time. Then he got up and walked as slow as humanly possible to the office. He was in there for a few minutes. He came back, again walking slowly. We were incredibly polite but panicked because of time issues. Tiffany politely asked if we could obtain out boots and take them to the USDA people to spray. He once again sat there doing nothing except staring and told her NO. When he finally took action, he inspected every single thing we had. Of course, there was no problem with anything. Tiffany was furious as she herself was a Fed.

We ran to the Delta gate totally covered in sweat only to find the door closed but the plane was still there. They would not let us board. We spent 6 1/2 hours waiting for the next flight.

Yes,Steven was a lazy no good racist prick, union or not. I am sure he did this (and Tiffany agrees) because we are white and affluent.

Global Entry will get you past passport control but not customs. You still risk a run in with pricks like this Steven.

I might add that in dozens of trips out of the country this is the one and only time I have had a problem.

Just shows the arbitrary nature of dealing with the government. Once I cleared passport control and made my way to Customs, the Customs officer was very helpful. I let him know that I was pressed for a connection. He said everything would be fine, asked me for my 4457 forms and did not make me open my gun case to check the rifles. I was in and out of Customs in 5 minutes.

Man i'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable with my country of birth South Africa where we also had a similar complaint that when a bucket load of hunters arrived on a Boeing 747 with rifles to declare at OT JNB there were not enough officers or officials to run the rifle permits throught.

Are we (the officials) getting better in RSA OR are you chaps in the good ol USA just getting worse at doing things to make life easier for the traveling public !!

Cheers, Peter

To get the thread back on the Global Entry Track....

Used it for the first time yesterday (Tues morning) coming back from Namibia via JFK. Flt arrived at 7am, huge line at the normal Customs/Immigration desks. There were several Global entry kiosk/terminals open. Just walked up, slid our passports into the reader, placed our finger tips on the pad, answered the same questions that are on the normal paper form and we were both done in less than 5 min.

The difficult part is getting registered. You complete the application on-line. Takes about an hour to wade through the questionnaire, find and provide the numbers from your birth certificate, DL, Passport, etc, pay the $100. In a few days you receive an email that then tells you to make an appointment with one of the 12 or so regional offices (we had to drive from Tampa to Orlando) They take your digital fingerprints and photo and verify the documents you listed in the application. It is good for five years.

Pain in the ass getting registered but the way we zipped through Immigration it was worth every dime and minute.

Side note along the lines of the way the thread was going - clearing the guns through Customs was a piece of cake. The hard part was getting them back on our connecting flight. NY gun laws required a uniformed cop to meet us at the connecting flight check in counter, open and inspect the guns AGAIN to make sure they were not loaded. Everyone was friendly, just VERY time consuming. If we hadn't done the Global Entry thing and been able to bypass the Immigration line we would have very likely missed our connection even though we had a three hour layover.

quote:

With the possible exception of the FBI, Customs employs the most arrogant, insufferable and obnoxious people in government service.

That's the damn truth. There are a few exceptions, but most of them start at being pricks and go down from there. I haven't ever been able to determine if it takes extra training or is just an initial job requirement.

i work overseas with Houston as my "home" airport. i've never waited more than 20 minutes to get through IAH. Only place i've ever had an extended delay was in Miami while returning from Trinidad-one big bottleneck.

I cleared Customs in ATL about a month ago. I let the officer know I had a tight connection and he put me ahead of others so I could make my connection. He was quick and polite.

Having said that, I hate lines and have made an application to Global Entry. I will do anything to avoid those lines. Glad to hear that GE makes the process quicker.

I applied for Global Entry a few days ago but no appointment yet. I'm hoping it helps me avoid as many arrogant government workers as possible.

Last year, I witnessed 5 customs workers standing around BS'ing and texting on their phones in Atlanta while over 20 of us waited to have our guns ok'd so we could catch our next flights. Several people went up at once and said they were going to miss their flights and that they had been waiting a long time and the officer's response was "That's not my problem, miss" before he looked back down at his phone to text again. They seem to delight in making us wait just because they can.

I registered today. Anything is better than waiting in a line with 200 people sweating whether you will make a connection.

Grag,
I'm sure you know this, but... Global Entry ONLY helps with the immigration p[hase of coming back into the country. You will still have to deal with customs in all their "glory." Yes, you will get through "phase I" faster, and if your bags are first off you will get in the customs line quicker. But, customs is still the biggest bugger.

Thanks for the link daleW. I'll check it out. I saw those machines at Dulles last March and wondered how to get set up. 'Didn't want to lose my place in line though so the two agents that barely spoke English could tell me which booth to go to.

Dale, in July we did Case #1 exactly as you did. Missed our flight and waited for the next one to Nashville. We could have used a Jackass pulling a wagon and arrived home sooner. Like you, there were hundreds standing in line and few agents working the booths. It wasn't the agents fault, just no money for extra personnel. We need it to bail out failing banks and to uplift foreign countries so they can educate our enemies on how to best kill us. Your point is good advice. Won't help with TSA but will avoid long lines upon re-entry.
Cheers,
David

my gun case was delayed coming back and customs seized it on the way in . took me half a day to go get it. they told me i had to do "paperwork", but the person that does the "papwerwork" was not there. i presented my 4457 and told the lady "customs has no right to confiscate my personal property, i demand that you release it to me immediately". She did.

having said that, customs cut the lock (tsa locks are prohibited on gun cases) and they just threw everything back in the case.

in future, i will put a copy of my 4457 on the outside of my gun case

when i did come through customs, the inspector had a bunch of questions that caused the phrase "none of your business" to come to mind.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm not sure my strategy will work, but I put laminated copies of my 4457 in the gun case and I use a master lock with a combination. My thinking is that if I and my guns get separated they can call me (my phone number is on the box)and open the box without cutting the lock, see the forms, and then forward the gun box to the appropriate airline to be delivered to my destination.

Haven't had my theory tested yet.

BEGNO--You're dreaming, and too logical. They won't call you. You can forget that.

Guys,

These stories are all too familiar. I have been traveling around the world since I was 22 years old and I just turned 72 in August. In that half-century of commercial flying, much of which was international, I've lost track of the number of countries I've visited or passed through. Many of those countries have been third-world. I think some were fourth or fifth-world.

I can say without reservation that I have encountered more problems, or at least irritants and delays, coming back home than I ever have elsewhere. The experiences cited herein are commonplace in my experience. Yes, there are examples of customs and immigration guys and gals doing their jobs the way they should be done. In my experience, they are the exception, rather than the rule and it should be just the reverse.

I don't travel as much these days as I used to. However, when I do, and encounter a ration of crap from either customs or immigration, almost always the case, I politely document the situation, get names where possible, and as soon as I get home, I fire off a letter to my two senators and my representative. I figure that if I pester them enough, they will at least bring a little heat on management.

So far, I've noted no improvement in the performance of these officers. I'll keep at it as long as I'm still able to travel.

Tom