POE JFK SUCKS!!!!!!!!

[ladybird216 2]

I have to say that my experience at JFK was a walk-in-the-park. Once I made it to the secondary inspection it only took about 15 mins and the officer there was great, very polite and helpful. I allowed 4+ hours between flights and it was way too long (but I wouldn't recommend leaving any less time).

Having entered the US on 8 previous occasions through many different POE's (Hubby works all over the States and I had to catch-up with him wherever he was at the time of my visit) I would give JFK 10 out of 10 for their efficiency and courteousness.

Jen

[Marry American 0]

What an awful experience, I'm soo sorry!

What was the airline he used?

Delta is who screwed him over for his connecting flight.

Did he get a "work" stamp? Employment authorization?

Yes, he got the work stamp. He also waited in immigration for 7 hours.

Yikes! Mo is going through JFK on Wednesday. He has a 4.5 layover. Now I'm a little worried.

As you should be.

Yikes! Mo is going through JFK on Wednesday. He has a 4.5 layover. Now I'm a little worried.

Can you swap it for a ticket STRAIGHT-IN to DTW? That's a much easier POE than JFK.

If you are not concerned about the work stamp, then he should maybe go another route. He had a choice to got to Brussels first, then Chicago. We decided JFK would be best. And look what happened.

Strange...my husband used JFK as his POE and had no problems whatsoever; he said he was in and out in about half an hour. He arrived at JFK at about 4:30pm on a Thursday on a Virgin flight from London.

There was 40 people in immigration when my fiance was there. When they finally got to him, it took only 15 minutes to take his fingerprints and get the work stamp.

[Marry American 0]

My fiance arrived at JFK at 10:40a.m yesterday. He remained at the immigration office unitl 7pm. His connecting flight left at 2:40pm. He was supposed to get on the next flight at 7:00pm. They would not let him on that plane although it did not leave until 8:15 because of weight limitations. They were only 44 passengers on that plane. They did not give him a reason as to why he could not get on that 7pm plane. They told him he could not leave until 7am this morning. He ended up being at JFK all night. It was also well lit, cold, and loud. And all that after traveling from Morocco.

I left my home at 4:00pm yesterday to pick him up. I live far from the airport. I thought he would be able to catch that next flight, but nope. I waited until 10:00pm before I left Ohare Airport. I had special plans for us yesterday evening as well. I cancelled and made the reservation later, but we could not even make those.

JFK sucks and so does the airline he flew in on and the connecting flight compamy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I doubt you'll have time to come on here in the next few days but if you happen to pop in.......could he let us know what took so long at JFK?

There was over 40 people in immigration for one. There was a man from Senegal that apparently there was something wrong with his visa. Everyone in the office worked on him for the entire time, then they started with the over people.

[Marry American 0]

Thanks, Sarah. Trust me, Mo is not afraid to ask questions. LOL. We've discussed getting to his gate and stuff, I'm more worried about him being held up in customs too long.

You never know what will be going on in customs that day or how many people. The process though is only 15 minutes for immigration. If he misses his flight just hope that his next standby flight is not through delta.

[KHURRAM SERAJ 0]

Wow, I hope when my Wife come here she doesn't have to go though this much pain after the 20 Hour flight

[ali1978 0]

You are absolutely right Khurram. I am thinking same thing too that hopefully my wife would not have to deal with that stuff. It will be hard for her after long flight and first time ever in USA.

Good Luck to all of us!!!!

[Saddle Bronc 124]

What an awful experience, I'm soo sorry!

What was the airline he used?

Delta is who screwed him over for his connecting flight.

That explains plenty.

I have never had a good experience with any US-based airline travelling outside the Vancouver-Halifax "box".

At the 2005 LEF Annual Retreat in Chennai, I heard some others describe even WORSE experiences than mine--all of them came on Delta (two from South Bend, one from Cleveland).

Two other experiences of travelling to/from Europe on Delta (in one trip):

• 1999-12-24: due to a Sabena cancellation (I was originally scheduled to go Atlanta->Brussels->Chennai, the flight from Atlanta was cancelled and the next one would not connect properly to the one going to Chennai) and my arguing greatly (I specifically wanted to guarantee being in Chennai by Sunday morning and ABSOLUTELY DID NOT want to go through Mumbai), I was put on a Delta flight to Gatwick. Delta forgot to tell me that I had to claim the checked-in luggage and take it on the bus to Heathrow--so I had a bag missing (I only checked in one--which will certainly surprise many, especially as it was also NOT grossly overloaded) when I landed.
  
• 2000-01-14, flight from Chennai->Brussels->Atlanta. Connexions went through OK; the aircraft from Brussels->Atlanta was by Delta (due to "codesharing"); THE EXACT SAME BAG (as earlier) was missing when I landed (came to me a week later, delivered to door by Delta)
  

The one other experience I had with a US-based airline outside the "VH box", in September 1974, was a trip THROUGH hell.

note: I mentioned "US-based" rather specifically, as I did the only two "out-of-VH-box" trips I took on Air Canada--in 1985, due to aftermath of AI-182--actually were OK; unfortunately, the logistics make Air Canada now useless for such trips.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Wow, I hope when my Wife come here she doesn't have to go though this much pain after the 20 Hour flight

I'm going to break my normal pattern here.

Have you considered her finishing @ Dorval (or even Pearson--now you know why I said "break pattern") and you DRIVING down there to pick her up and bring her through the LAND POE?

(admittedly, this has the additional complication of a Canada visitor visa, but...)

[LaL 418]

He's flying Egyptair from Cairo to JFK, direct. Egyptair doesn't fly to DTW. #######!!!

Yikes! Mo is going through JFK on Wednesday. He has a 4.5 layover. Now I'm a little worried.

Can you swap it for a ticket STRAIGHT-IN to DTW? That's a much easier POE than JFK.

the only problem i can see is that Egyptair & Delta are not *partners*. They could care less if someone flying in on a diff unrelated carrier is late, etc. they will just leave. My hubby flies out tomorrow Tampa---->JFK (delta) JKF---->Cairo (egyptair). We fear much more of course for the return flight where immigration is concerned.

~crosses fingers that for the time being thr greencard is not approved~

[Marry American 0]

His flight that was supposed to leave the next morning at 7am did not leave until 1:24 in the afternoon. They waited on the plane for three hours. Then sat on another plane for three hours before the plane finally took off. He was supposed to arrive Friday at 8:37am; he did not arrive until 2:30pm.

[Caladan 19]

This isn't a JFK problem. Post-9/11, once the passenger manifest is done, they can't add anyone to it (or at least so the flight attendant told me.) Same thing happened to me in Chicago once. My domestic flight was 3 hours late, they'd just closed the door to the craft, and once they do that, they can't open it, even if they know the plane isn't going to pull back from the gate for another half hour.

[Fandango 1,440]

That really sucked that his POE exp was bad.

Just cos I'm confused, can we recap a sec?

He got the EAD, immigration was held up with a lot of people coming thru, and he missed his flight..then he had trouble getting a connecting flight, and then when he got one, they waited on the runway and were severely delayed.

I'm struggling to see how this is a JFK problem tho? I'm only interested cos D & I have discussed him coming into JFK.

Were the immi officers rude or anything like that? Or was this just a comedy of errors that just overall ruined the experience & not necc anything to do with clearing immigration at JFK?

Thank you

[meauxna 15]

That really sucked that his POE exp was bad.

Just cos I'm confused, can we recap a sec?

He got the EAD, immigration was held up with a lot of people coming thru, and he missed his flight..then he had trouble getting a connecting flight, and then when he got one, they waited on the runway and were severely delayed.

I'm struggling to see how this is a JFK problem tho? I'm only interested cos D & I have discussed him coming into JFK.

Were the immi officers rude or anything like that? Or was this just a comedy of errors that just overall ruined the experience & not necc anything to do with clearing immigration at JFK?

Thank you

ahem,

please do not interrupt a rant during full wind up by trying to make sense.

[athena_ny 1]

That really sucked that his POE exp was bad.

Just cos I'm confused, can we recap a sec?

He got the EAD, immigration was held up with a lot of people coming thru, and he missed his flight..then he had trouble getting a connecting flight, and then when he got one, they waited on the runway and were severely delayed.

I'm struggling to see how this is a JFK problem tho? I'm only interested cos D & I have discussed him coming into JFK.

Were the immi officers rude or anything like that? Or was this just a comedy of errors that just overall ruined the experience & not necc anything to do with clearing immigration at JFK?

Thank you

ahem,

please do not interrupt a rant during full wind up by trying to make sense.

hahahaha.

[Marry American 0]

That really sucked that his POE exp was bad.

Just cos I'm confused, can we recap a sec?

He got the EAD, immigration was held up with a lot of people coming thru, and he missed his flight..then he had trouble getting a connecting flight, and then when he got one, they waited on the runway and were severely delayed.

I'm struggling to see how this is a JFK problem tho? I'm only interested cos D & I have discussed him coming into JFK.

Were the immi officers rude or anything like that? Or was this just a comedy of errors that just overall ruined the experience & not necc anything to do with clearing immigration at JFK?

Thank you

Officers were rude but not to him. It was a bunch of errors due to the fact that immigration took so long.