Avoid non-essential flights to the US

photome

NFH wrote: »

I think many people will look to book another destination if they know there is a very strong chance of being delayed for three hours, which is a significant amount of time.

Do you really believe that? I dont think it willl make any difference as another poster says, if you have saved and want to go to the USA you will regardless of queues at border control.

I guess there may be 1 in a lot who was trying to decide between USA and anon, that may decide anon, but affecting USA tourism...I doubt it

spannerzone

stoneman wrote: »

Comes to something that I as a US citizen get into both the US and GB faster than most Brits. On a flight from the UK to the US I go through the US citizens lane which is usually empty, they let me bring my British wife through as well. When I return to the US I can use IRIS at LHR T5 or fast track. At BHX on returning from Europe I am usually the only one in the non EU line so go right to the front past 150 people in the EU line

Ditto : I married an American, so when going to the US we use the US citizen's passport desk which is usually quick and coming back to the UK we use the UK citizens passport desk....it works well

Although this method may be a little extreme for some that are already married.

I guess Mormon's have it even easier if they married wives from numerous countries

ferf1223

Also American married to a Brit and we also pick and choose the logical queue coming and going ...but occasionally it bites us in the bum...last time we went to Chicago we chose the American citizen's queue even though it was longer when we arrived...we assumed it would be faster and make up for it in the end. NOPE! I have no idea why, but it took forever and I kept looking wistfully at the other queue where our marker guy was way ahead of us.

So it's not always a foolproof option.

I do not think a long queue at immigration is going to put many people off...if a flight of that sort of duration doesn't this won't...sure people will moan about it but only a small minority will decide never to go back (and even smaller will stick to that)...and I just sincerely doubt there are many people who are happily planning a visit to whatever city in the US will see this and think 'well I'm scrapping all my plans to go to this place I really wanted to go to because there's likely a significant queue on the other end'.

meer53

We're off to Florida in July. A 3 hour wait in immigration doesn't bother us at all and it wouldn't put us off booking to go again. It won't have any impact on the number of travellers.

NFH

I'm amazed that some of you are not put off by a three-hour delay, and even more that you are still willing to spend money in a country that treats visitors in this unpleasant way.

Many others will see the delays as a significant disincentive to flying to the US and will spend their money elsewhere if only out of principle.

jackieblack

NFH wrote: »

I'm amazed that some of you are not put off by a three-hour delay, and even more that you are still willing to spend money in a country that treats visitors in this unpleasant way.

I'm amazed that you still think, after several poster's comments to the contrary, that after a long-haul flight an extra hour or so at immigration is going to make any difference.

NFH wrote: »

Many others will see the delays as a significant disincentive to flying to the US and will spend their money elsewhere if only out of principle.

Jolly good. Shorter queues for the rest of us then

callum9999

NFH wrote: »

I'm amazed that some of you are not put off by a three-hour delay, and even more that you are still willing to spend money in a country that treats visitors in this unpleasant way.

Many others will see the delays as a significant disincentive to flying to the US and will spend their money elsewhere if only out of principle.

NO THEY WILL NOT.

Just like virtually no-one agrees with your incessant ranting about low-cost airline add-ons, virtually no-one agrees that a possible 3 hour queue is enough to put them off a holiday they really want to go on.

You'd be a lot happier in life if you stopped worrying about principle all the time and just enjoyed what you have. I can say with confidence that as I'm strolling through the Las Vegas Strip or the Venice boardwalk I will not be fretting that the Republicans put a budget cut ahead of my immigration experience. There are far more serious things America does - like giving out guns like they're candy or locking people up indefinitely without charge - that I care about more than a 3 hour queue... (Which incidentally, I doubt is commonplace anyway)

Westin

Well I flew into Orlando on Tuesday and the immigration queues weren't any different to what they have been in the past. Whilst we were lucky to be towards the front of the plane and with a Virgin flight from Manchester already deplaned and in the immigration hall, it still only took us 20 minutes to get into the baggage claims area. Panic not!

Westin

...oh and it's 93degrees, blue skies, a nice breeze and I'm sitting around the pool.

fifeken

callum9999 wrote: »

Just like virtually no-one agrees with your incessant ranting about low-cost airline add-ons, virtually no-one agrees that a possible 3 hour queue is enough to put them off a holiday they really want to go on.

I don't think anyone could disagree with that.

Locking people up and availability of guns could be different though.