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10/24/2005 1:46 AM Updated 10/24/2005 11:48 AM
Delays at airport customs get worse

By Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY
Long lines and short staffing at customs checkpoints are plaguing major airports across the country.

The result: irritated travelers, missed connections and bad impressions of the USA at a time when the government is ardently courting foreign tourists.
Stefan Straubhaar, a Switzerland native living in New Orleans, waited nearly three hours to clear customs after arriving at Dallas/Fort Worth from London: 20 minutes on the plane, 20 minutes in a corridor and two hours in line. Two-thirds of the stations were operating.
"At no point were we given an apology or an explanation," he says.
James Bennett, CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, says Washington Dulles is seeing a surge in international travelers, and the federal customs agency - U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP - isn't keeping up. Last summer, waits of an hour were common. Staffing isn't designed to match peak volumes, he says. "Sometimes, they staff (all stations). Sometimes, they don't."

A recent report by the Government Accountability Office criticized staffing policies at CBP for not considering peak arrival times and passenger wait times.
GAO recommended that CBP stop deploying its workforce on the basis of which airports complain most loudly - the "squeaky wheel method," as GAO analyst Richard Stana calls it.
Last year, CBP spent more than $1 billion inspecting 78 million passengers, the GAO report says. Three-quarters of the passengers landed at 20 airports.
CBP says it attempts to staff according to passenger volume. "CBP, working with the travel industry, strives to make the inspection process as short and as pleasant as possible" without compromising its anti-terrorism mission, agency spokesman William Anthony said by e-mail.
In GAO's analysis of customs wait times at the 20 airports this year, Miami fared worst. Passengers on 20% of international flights arriving at Miami waited more than an hour to clear customs. The average daily wait time was 50 minutes. Wait times were calculated using data from January through March, slow months for travel. Honolulu, San Francisco, New York John F. Kennedy and Orlando had average daily waits of about 40 minutes.
United and American airlines say customs delays cause missed connections at their hubs, Dulles and Miami, respectively. "Everybody wants more staffing," says George Hazy, American's vice president at Miami.
Las Vegas airport director Randy Walker says that typically 10 of 16 inspection lanes are staffed at peak periods; 14 would fix the problem, he says. "We're not seeing any improvement."

Dragon, I stand corrected. I said I usually fly TACA and might be mistaken about other entry zones. Hopefully my info is still helpful for others who have to make connections in Miami between airlines.

Also, Wit, that was an interesting article on yet another area that our country is fouling up, however it sounded like it mostly applied to foreign visitors. I've always seen the long lines at immigration for foreign visitors and thanked my lucky stars that I had a US passport that enabled me to take the faster and usually much shorter lines on the right. Sorry that probably doesn't help Jmac with his Canadian passport. I also rarely have to check my bag, sufficing with just carry-on, and so don't have to wait at baggage claim either. As for customs inspection that we all have to go through, I've always been fortunate. I rarely if ever have anything to declare and I think only once or twice been shuttled to a seperate line for some rather cursory random inspections. Usually I just get waved through there as well. I've managed to get through in as little as 15 minutes and rarely has it taken me more than an hour. Maybe I'm just lucky or maybe it really has gotten that much worse in the short time since I last went.

I recently flew AA from SJO to MCO. I had a connection in Miami and did make my connection. It was a loooong walk from the Jet to Customs. No one check any on my bags or anything. Than I had a looong walk to the connecting gate. I made it, but the flight was already boarding. I didn't have time to grab a snack (not that you can find anything); just enough time for a pit stop.

Good Luck! I'm off again in a few months...