They even give me a hard time and I’m american. I hate flying in and out the US. worst travel experience ever. I just came back from Europe and got so annoyed with the guy. I told him to smile as I walked away!

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I think the US would be better off just putting up a large sign at the border saying “GO HOME”, because that is the effect of our border policies. In a time when the exchange rate should be making for record number of people coming to the US, the way we treat travelers is totally removing any benefit of the dollar collapse.

Depending on where you are coming from, I’d fly into Canada and drive over the border if possible. Or, at least take a flight from Canada to an airport that doesn’t get a lot of international traffic outside of Canada.

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As a frequent traveller into the US, I have in the past found the attitude of the US immigration bordering on the paranoid, but recently I do think they have started to become more relaxed and friendly.
I also travel to Australia occassionally, and find the attitude of the customs/immigration people there even worse than the US. I hold an Australian passport and still get a lot of grief because I live in the UK.
Even the UK passport control can be a surly bunch at times.
I was interested to read recently that changes to the US Homeland security regulations come into effect next year, one of the changes is the fingerprinting and photographing of everyone leaving the country as well as entering. The airlines will have to bear the cost of this apparently, and they are not very happy.
Have you heard anymore about this?

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Dean, true, it’s not just US immigration that’s tough, although I’ve definitely had my worst experiences there; but I have been held up pretty impolitely for ages entering the UK too. I think Australian customs officers are especially tough, because Australia has such strict quarantine laws etc (ie you have to declare every kind of food that you bring in), as a result they can get a bit nasty.

Gary, your tip on flying into Canada sounds good, except that the one time I did visit Canada, I could only fly there via LA and they made me go through passport control (i thought it would just be a transit thing) and despite my onward ticket to Vancouver (which they were making me late for) the US immigration guys kept insisting I give them an address for “my stay in the US”! In the end even though I’d kept telling them I was about to fly on to Vancouver and had shown them the ticket, I gave them my Californian friend’s address and then they let me through.

Darren, agreed, airlines shouldn’t cop the bill for that and I bet you’re right, the airlines won’t, we will!

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Darren,

Alas, your experience is entirely “normal” for the current state of affairs in the United States. I have an American passport, so it’s relatively easy for me to come back into the country, but I have only heard of nightmares from non-citizens.

The intimidation is completely deliberate. It is very consistent with how police in the US behave toward EVERYONE. This is especially true in places like LA, San Diego, and the South (I imagine, the other two I know). For some reason, Americans believe that intimidation is a good means of security. They are oblivious to the fact that it is an awfully rude nuisance.

On one trip out of LAX, one of the “security people” at the anal probing station (aka, the metal detector section) suddenly screamed something, and everyone left their posts and blocked entry from the search area into the terminal by forming a human chain. After about 20 seconds of this nonsense, one of them declared the area safe, and everyone returned to their posts and resumed the harassment of passengers as if nothing had happened.

I don’t know if it was a drill or not, but it was incredibly stupid, and it wasted an extra 3 minutes of my time and that of 200 others.

Well, we sell walking tours of Europe exclusively. We want to expand to American cities, but if your experience becomes prevalent, then I don’t know who will buy our tours!

Payam

PS LAX and Heathrow are the two worst airports in the world. I try to avoid both, but sometimes, that’s the only way to get to Germany. On trip, of course, my baggage got lost somewhere in LA or London. It happened to another friend, too. Fly me into Frankfurt, Schiphol or Orly any day! PM

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A propos of your post, this Ben Sargent cartoon appeared today.

http://www.uclick.com/feature/08/05/05/bs080505.gif

No, it’s just not the tourists who are being intimidated. The Supreme Court just allowed states to harass people at polling places. Lovely.

Ah, just come here, visit our parks, and pretend that these goons aren’t here. That’s how the rest of us make it through.

Payam

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I feel really sad about this, especially when I hear that my Euro-pals are considering other destinations because of our immigration tactics. I’m hoping that the “new policies” will relax the stress of getting into the US, but I’m not very optimistic – Homeland Security treats even those of us with US passports like criminals for carrying more than 3oz of sunscreen and toothpaste.

Big sigh here. What Payam said: Come see the parks, they’re amazing, and with the dollar being crap, everything is a steal.

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Being married to an American each time I fly between the UK and the US I get to experience both sides.

I now have a visa for the USA because when I was going in they are convinced I married my wife so I could live there. Even after 7 years I still get this with 11 entry stamps and a visa in my passport.

On the return leg I go with my wife in the non-eu channel, I never get any trouble over this. Last time we came back my wife had a new passport (don’t laugh the dog chewed part of the old one). We where sure we would have problems due to her UK green card being in old chewed passport. The immigration guy bust out laughing when we told him “dog eats the passport” and found the half destroyed page with the change of name on it… went “I can’t read that”. Still laughing he gave my wife her passports back and went….. “Welcome home you made my day”.

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That’s the attitude you simply must take. Legitimizing them by giving these poorly trained thugs any attention at all ultimately enervates you.

As for recommendations, I have made a pact with myself to see much of California before I can make a proper trip abroad. I spent 4 days hiking in Joshua Tree over Christmas. Awesome place. Highly recommend it.

I also loved Mendocino. That region has unheralded coastal beauty. If you are adventurous, you can hike through the Edwards (I think I remember the name correctly) reserve. The most isolated forest you’ll find.

I’m currently living in the city of Ventura, which is close to Santa Barbara. This region is also beautiful. The wine country in the central coast is fantastic.

Whatever you do, stay the hell out of LA.

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Well, I promise to end my US bashing (I’m a proud citizen, mind you) with this post.

More signs of the sort of intimidation that passes for “security” or “policing” in the US courtesy of the BBC, of course:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7387755.stm

@ Nick: My business partner Jed Payne was in the navy and stationed in the Arabian Sea at the start of the campaign in Afghanistan. He and his wife were nevertheless strip searched by the American security detail in Schiphol (Amsterdam).

Things have gotten “better”, but as yet, no rhyme or reason exists in how things get done in the US or the UK.

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I hate to see that people from outside the US are having such trouble. I live in the US and have had my fair share of dealings with airport security. Most of them have been pleasant, before traveling we check with the TSA website to find out the latest rules and pack accordingly.

Being prepared is your best chance at a pleasant experience. Just my 2 cents.

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Dave,

You are probably right, but how many people have the time?

More importantly, do all these measures have any effect on safety? DHS’s own reports say no!! So, why are we bothering?

Payam

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Dave, I definitely agree with you, but any bad experiences I’ve had have been simply at passport control trying to get into the country, nothing to do with baggage or customs. Even when I have every bit of info they could need – address where I’m staying, return ticket, etc – they’re still unfriendly about letting me in!
But definitely, checking up on the rules for baggage etc makes the other parts of the journey run more smoothly.

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Reading all this is putting me off visiting the US!

I think some countries are worse than others, the UK aren’t too bad, atleast you get the odd person who smiles at you.

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it is not the immigration or customs that bother me it is the boarding security clearance, there not seem to be a across the board policy just individual decisions that are always backed up by supervisors take for instance this
I love cheese and living in a small island in the Caribbean the assortment is not that great so i try to stock up every time I travel to the usa logically i keep them in my carry on I have had to retrieve my suit case to put it in in boston only to be able to pass it in houston after a stop over same cheese same packaging a very hard aged spanish manchego according to boston it was gel like substance I told the
checker that if I hit him in the head with it he will find out there is nothing gely about this cheese which did not score me any brownie points jaja
just tell them how you feel I pay their salary with the ridiculous security fees they charge you when you buy an airline ticket us bound
I also love the one in some airports when they blast you with air I had a nice view of some tall girls in front of me getting their skirts blown up
hell I wonder if they have catched any bad persons in any of those pre boarding sec. stations

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