Dallas VWP Entry

[VanessaTony 3,567]

My mum is coming to visit in August (YAY!). She has the VWP approved, and PLENTY of ties to Aus (mortgage, 2 jobs, husband not well, new grand-daughter etc) so I'm not really worried about whether they'll let her in... I'm worried about wait time and level of difficulty.

I've only ever POE'd at LAX, that's the only airport I could advise her on re customs etc. So I was hoping people who had come through Dallas could tell me how bad it usually is. For example at LAX the visitor line is usually HUGE, then there's a decent wait time for bags to take through customs, then you have to go outside to go upstairs to enter security for a domestic flight (in my case to Chicago). My first time finding that domestic flight security desk was bad. The line was so long I didn't even see the security things but luckily found some helpful people. I had a 3 hour layover and I was cutting it close to missing my connecting flight.

Mum has never flown international, speaks English so no worries about that... I'm just nervous 'cause she's the type to get flustered so I want to give her ideas on what to expect. The pictures online show she'll probably have to take a train/skylink between terminals... something I didn't know :S She's flying QANTAS.

So, can anyone tell me how they went from landing at Dallas, to hopping on their Domestic flight? Short walk to get bags? Long wait lines for visitors? There's interactive maps and stuff but has anyone flown QANTAS and remember what terminal you arrived at? It looks like it should be D...

Anyway I hope that makes sense. thanks in advance!

[newlyweds2010 208]

I went thru Dallas once, no problem, short immigration line, moderately nice IO, short bag collection time. They may try to convince her that Texas is bigger than Australia. By no means she should disagree: don't mess with Texas, remember

[Sear 1]

I've flown thru Dallas on several occasions, and it's always been very pleasant. The lines have been quite long and have taken a good while, but I've never missed connecting flights, although I've always had plenty of time because I was warned about the lines there... But either way, the staff was always really helpful and finding my way at that (enormous!) airport was never a problem I'm sure your mom will be fine.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I've flown thru Dallas on several occasions, and it's always been very pleasant. The lines have been quite long and have taken a good while, but I've never missed connecting flights, although I've always had plenty of time because I was warned about the lines there... But either way, the staff was always really helpful and finding my way at that (enormous!) airport was never a problem I'm sure your mom will be fine.

Thank you I will worry the entire time!! She has at least a 3 hour layover (I don't know exactly yet because her person didn't email her the itinerary, is that okay you think? Luckily she can catch another flight if she misses her flight (happened to me in Chicago) but the less stress/mess the better!

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I went thru Dallas once, no problem, short immigration line, moderately nice IO, short bag collection time. They may try to convince her that Texas is bigger than Australia. By no means she should disagree: don't mess with Texas, remember

lol thanks Will warn her

[Sear 1]

Thank you I will worry the entire time!! She has at least a 3 hour layover (I don't know exactly yet because her person didn't email her the itinerary, is that okay you think? Luckily she can catch another flight if she misses her flight (happened to me in Chicago) but the less stress/mess the better!

Tell her to try and get ahead of at least a few people when they are let out of the plane and she should be fine. I always did that, especially if I was flying in during afternoon rush hours and I was sitting towards the back of the plane rather than the front. Good luck and try not to worry too much

[HuffyTheSlayer 22]

It's been a long time since I went though Dallas Fortworth, I think it was about 8 years ago now, as a connection to SLC. It WAS on VWP and on a visit to see my fiance (now husband). It was fairly straight forward, the lines for immigration weren't too bad. They were about average for my experiences with international travel. I think that once I got out of immigration there were airport staff who handed me my two suitcases (yup, this was back when we were all able to take TWO suitcases of checked luggage with us). Only to have them point to two people just down the hallway and told me to give them my bags so they could be transferred to my connecting flight. Not really sure why the airline themselves couldn't do this. But oh well.

I had to take the train-thing to another terminal and was pretty worried about that, since I missed a train and there was nothing telling me when the next would be. There was another within about 5 mins though. I think I only had about 1 1/2 hours to do my flight transfer and made it with time to spare.

I think the return leg of this trip was when I dropped my passport on the escalator waving to my fiance . Not an experience I'd want to repeat.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

It's been a long time since I went though Dallas Fortworth, I think it was about 8 years ago now, as a connection to SLC. It WAS on VWP and on a visit to see my fiance (now husband). It was fairly straight forward, the lines for immigration weren't too bad. They were about average for my experiences with international travel. I think that once I got out of immigration there were airport staff who handed me my two suitcases (yup, this was back when we were all able to take TWO suitcases of checked luggage with us). Only to have them point to two people just down the hallway and told me to give them my bags so they could be transferred to my connecting flight. Not really sure why the airline themselves couldn't do this. But oh well.

I had to take the train-thing to another terminal and was pretty worried about that, since I missed a train and there was nothing telling me when the next would be. There was another within about 5 mins though. I think I only had about 1 1/2 hours to do my flight transfer and made it with time to spare.

I think the return leg of this trip was when I dropped my passport on the escalator waving to my fiance . Not an experience I'd want to repeat.

Thanks What happened with your passport? Scary!

[HuffyTheSlayer 22]

Thanks What happened with your passport? Scary!

I was at Salt Lake City airport and had just gone through security, just beyond security was an escalator. I was in floods of tears from saying goodbye to my then-fiance-now-husband (I think we all know that feeling!), I got on the escalator and was waving to him and unbeknownst to me, I dropped my passport on the escalator. My hubby says he thought he'd seen something slip from my hands, but because I hadn't looked for it or anything, that it probably wasn't important. Plus he had no way to tell me I'd dropped something.

Anyway. I went down the corridor (fortunately SLC is a small airport) and went to the checking desk for the gate, they asked for my passport and I realised I didn't have it! I panicked a bit and then hoped it was just a case that I had left it with security and doubled back looking for my passport. I got to security JUST as a cleaner was walking up to them with my passport. So security and the cleaner gave it back to me. I got to wave to my hubby (passport firmly gripped in hand) one more time and everything went smoothly from there.

Thank GOODNESS for that nice cleaner, though!

Hope that your Mum's visit is less dramatic and that you have a wonderful time together. I'm pretty sure she will be fine making her connection at DFW.

Edited May 8, 2012 by HuffyTheSlayer

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I was at Salt Lake City airport and had just gone through security, just beyond security was an escalator. I was in floods of tears from saying goodbye to my then-fiance-now-husband (I think we all know that feeling!), I got on the escalator and was waving to him and unbeknownst to me, I dropped my passport on the escalator. My hubby says he thought he'd seen something slip from my hands, but because I hadn't looked for it or anything, that it probably wasn't important. Plus he had no way to tell me I'd dropped something.

Anyway. I went down the corridor (fortunately SLC is a small airport) and went to the checking desk for the gate, they asked for my passport and I realised I didn't have it! I panicked a bit and then hoped it was just a case that I had left it with security and doubled back looking for my passport. I got to security JUST as a cleaner was walking up to them with my passport. So security and the cleaner gave it back to me. I got to wave to my hubby (passport firmly gripped in hand) one more time and everything went smoothly from there.

Thank GOODNESS for that nice cleaner, though!

Hope that your Mum's visit is less dramatic and that you have a wonderful time together. I'm pretty sure she will be fine making her connection at DFW.

Oh gee that is one of my nightmares!! I actually lost a diamond ring on a flight once. I was fiddling with it and fell asleep. I don't know if someone next to me stole it, or it fell on the floor but I was allowed back on the plane to look for it and it was gone. I'm convinced someone stole it.

then another time I had a plastic bag with my glasses and computer mouse hanging off my rolling case (instead of repacking it into my carryon and blocking the aisle when getting out) and it wasn't until some time later i noticed a HUGE hole in the bottom of the bag that my glasses (my only pair) were straddling. I'm still not sure if I lost something but I didn't notice anything missing but gee that made me panic too. Since then I'll only take STRONG plastic bags with stuff, not regular cheap grocery ones...

That's the worst part of travelling like that... if you lose something normally that's it, it's gone. Scary! i'll remind mum about the plastic bag thing

[HuffyTheSlayer 22]

Oh gee that is one of my nightmares!! I actually lost a diamond ring on a flight once. I was fiddling with it and fell asleep. I don't know if someone next to me stole it, or it fell on the floor but I was allowed back on the plane to look for it and it was gone. I'm convinced someone stole it.

then another time I had a plastic bag with my glasses and computer mouse hanging off my rolling case (instead of repacking it into my carryon and blocking the aisle when getting out) and it wasn't until some time later i noticed a HUGE hole in the bottom of the bag that my glasses (my only pair) were straddling. I'm still not sure if I lost something but I didn't notice anything missing but gee that made me panic too. Since then I'll only take STRONG plastic bags with stuff, not regular cheap grocery ones...

That's the worst part of travelling like that... if you lose something normally that's it, it's gone. Scary! i'll remind mum about the plastic bag thing

Sorry that you lost your ring. But yes, now when we travel we put all our passports and tickets, reservations etc. into a strong fabric folder. We take them out as we near the front of the line and make people wait while we put them back in after showing them to immigration, etc (except for that short walk from the gate check-in to going onto the plane). Not risking loosing them again, and I just doubled the number of passports I have!

Just remind your Mum to double-check she has everything "secured" before moving from one part of the airport to another. I got so, so lucky that day.

Edited May 8, 2012 by HuffyTheSlayer