POE JFK SUCKS!!!!!!!!

[yogib37 3]

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.

it is not strange.. your husband is a British Citenzen. The OP husband is from Macroco and they seem to have problems.. I have 3 male friends from Macaroco. One tells me he always get in holding no matter what or where,.. He has a Canada passport and Green card here He applied for USC. He told me he always get stop for no reason. Always question him etc.. why cause he is middle eastern.

Yogi

[Fandango 1,440]

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.

it is not strange.. your husband is a British Citenzen. The OP husband is from Macroco and they seem to have problems.. I have 3 male friends from Macaroco. One tells me he always get in holding no matter what or where,.. He has a Canada passport and Green card here He applied for USC. He told me he always get stop for no reason. Always question him etc.. why cause he is middle eastern.

Yogi

OP did not say nor imply this was a 'him being Morroccan' issue at all.

[mawilson 2,133]

I have 3 male friends from Macaroco. One tells me he always get in holding no matter what or where

Macarocans do seem to have a lot of problems clearing immigration at JFK

Edited April 30, 2007 by mawilson

[homesick_american 1]

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.

it is not strange.. your husband is a British Citenzen. The OP husband is from Macroco and they seem to have problems.. I have 3 male friends from Macaroco. One tells me he always get in holding no matter what or where,.. He has a Canada passport and Green card here He applied for USC. He told me he always get stop for no reason. Always question him etc.. why cause he is middle eastern.

Yogi

Yes Yogi, I'm aware of this and stated as much in another post which I don't think you've read yet.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

it is not strange.. your husband is a British Citenzen. The OP husband is from Macroco and they seem to have problems.. I have 3 male friends from Macaroco. One tells me he always get in holding no matter what or where,.. He has a Canada passport and Green card here He applied for USC. He told me he always get stop for no reason. Always question him etc.. why cause he is middle eastern.

Yogi

Yes Yogi, I'm aware of this and stated as much in another post which I don't think you've read yet.

Somewhat inaccurate, as I'm inferring that Yogib read my response to your earlier post, where I pointed out that Brits or Canucks of visible-minoritys might well experience hassle.

(admittedly, I haven't PROVABLY experienced VM hassle @ any US POE or "US Destinations" PFI--not even the CF-designed one @ YYZ).

[zyggy 9]

From what I can see it was partly a JFK problem in that they should have known (i think) that x many people would be coming through and therefore should have increased staff accordingly to handle the load. Do they get a list of travelers coming in each day from the airlines so they can staff accordingly? If not then they should. Just makes sense.

I am sure they schedule based on historical trends but think about what you suggest... Do you enjoy getting called in on your day off? Or if you are scheduled to work, do you enjoy getting "called off?"?

Well no I wouldn't but I don't work in the type of industry that does that type of thing.

Oh please. The best any industry can do, if it's not an on-call job (and immigration checkpoints, security checkpoints, etc. at any airport are not on-call jobs), is offer people the option of overtime. When I worked in retail, they couldn't call me up and force me to come in on my day off. In the publishing industry, just because we get 4,000 contracts in on one day doesn't mean they can call up everyone who has the day off and REQUIRE they come in. They're providing a service - processing you at immigration so you can enter the country is a service - so the best you can do is complain about poor customer service, but what are the repercussions against them? Minimal, if any. The people at immigration are doing a job, and I doubt are sitting next to their phone just WAITING to get a call that "oh staff is low! please come in!"

How easily people forget that everyone else's lives don't exist to make their's easier.

Yes... CBP offices do LOTS of overtime.. actually too much overtime... For me working 14 to 16 hour days was not that all uncommon... But even with the high number of overtime, we still have to do our mandatory training or other mandatory things where we have to be off the line... It's the number one thing that leads to employee turnover there mostly to other federal law enforcement agencies... It's definitely not a job for the weak of heart.. Sorry to say this, but they probably working overtime.. there just wasn't enough people period... and it happens... a lot...

CBP Officers just can't be plucked off the tree... Each officer is an investment of 10 months of training at the academy in Georgia befiore they even step off the line and an additional 1 year of OJT....

Edited April 30, 2007 by zyggy

[zyggy 9]

From what I can see it was partly a JFK problem in that they should have known (i think) that x many people would be coming through and therefore should have increased staff accordingly to handle the load. Do they get a list of travelers coming in each day from the airlines so they can staff accordingly? If not then they should. Just makes sense.

I am sure they schedule based on historical trends but think about what you suggest... Do you enjoy getting called in on your day off? Or if you are scheduled to work, do you enjoy getting "called off?"?

Well no I wouldn't but I don't work in the type of industry that does that type of thing.

Oh please. The best any industry can do, if it's not an on-call job (and immigration checkpoints, security checkpoints, etc. at any airport are not on-call jobs), is offer people the option of overtime. When I worked in retail, they couldn't call me up and force me to come in on my day off. In the publishing industry, just because we get 4,000 contracts in on one day doesn't mean they can call up everyone who has the day off and REQUIRE they come in. They're providing a service - processing you at immigration so you can enter the country is a service - so the best you can do is complain about poor customer service, but what are the repercussions against them? Minimal, if any. The people at immigration are doing a job, and I doubt are sitting next to their phone just WAITING to get a call that "oh staff is low! please come in!"

How easily people forget that everyone else's lives don't exist to make their's easier.

They are goverment workers afterall. My fiance told me that they would work a little, talk on the phone, drink something, talk, and then work a little more. I told him that I already knew it would be like that. They are not productive workers.

I take offense to this statement...

Actually most of the time, if they're in the office, they're on their break, because we're not allowed to leave the office for lunch or anything like that... most of the time CBP officers are on the line or doing some sort of work. Honestly, I never worked harder at another job.. ever...

Edited April 30, 2007 by zyggy

[Marry American 0]

From what I can see it was partly a JFK problem in that they should have known (i think) that x many people would be coming through and therefore should have increased staff accordingly to handle the load. Do they get a list of travelers coming in each day from the airlines so they can staff accordingly? If not then they should. Just makes sense.

I am sure they schedule based on historical trends but think about what you suggest... Do you enjoy getting called in on your day off? Or if you are scheduled to work, do you enjoy getting "called off?"?

Well no I wouldn't but I don't work in the type of industry that does that type of thing.

Oh please. The best any industry can do, if it's not an on-call job (and immigration checkpoints, security checkpoints, etc. at any airport are not on-call jobs), is offer people the option of overtime. When I worked in retail, they couldn't call me up and force me to come in on my day off. In the publishing industry, just because we get 4,000 contracts in on one day doesn't mean they can call up everyone who has the day off and REQUIRE they come in. They're providing a service - processing you at immigration so you can enter the country is a service - so the best you can do is complain about poor customer service, but what are the repercussions against them? Minimal, if any. The people at immigration are doing a job, and I doubt are sitting next to their phone just WAITING to get a call that "oh staff is low! please come in!"

How easily people forget that everyone else's lives don't exist to make their's easier.

They are goverment workers afterall. My fiance told me that they would work a little, talk on the phone, drink something, talk, and then work a little more. I told him that I already knew it would be like that. They are not productive workers.

And, like I said, the best you can do is complain about poor customer service. Write a letter to DHS if you feel it has affected your life that much.

It has no effect on my life at this moment. It was a terrible time for my fiance last Thursday. I posted my experience.

[Marry American 0]

From what I can see it was partly a JFK problem in that they should have known (i think) that x many people would be coming through and therefore should have increased staff accordingly to handle the load. Do they get a list of travelers coming in each day from the airlines so they can staff accordingly? If not then they should. Just makes sense.

I am sure they schedule based on historical trends but think about what you suggest... Do you enjoy getting called in on your day off? Or if you are scheduled to work, do you enjoy getting "called off?"?

Well no I wouldn't but I don't work in the type of industry that does that type of thing.

Oh please. The best any industry can do, if it's not an on-call job (and immigration checkpoints, security checkpoints, etc. at any airport are not on-call jobs), is offer people the option of overtime. When I worked in retail, they couldn't call me up and force me to come in on my day off. In the publishing industry, just because we get 4,000 contracts in on one day doesn't mean they can call up everyone who has the day off and REQUIRE they come in. They're providing a service - processing you at immigration so you can enter the country is a service - so the best you can do is complain about poor customer service, but what are the repercussions against them? Minimal, if any. The people at immigration are doing a job, and I doubt are sitting next to their phone just WAITING to get a call that "oh staff is low! please come in!"

How easily people forget that everyone else's lives don't exist to make their's easier.

They are goverment workers afterall. My fiance told me that they would work a little, talk on the phone, drink something, talk, and then work a little more. I told him that I already knew it would be like that. They are not productive workers.

I take offense to this statement...

Actually most of the time, if they're in the office, they're on their break, because we're not allowed to leave the office for lunch or anything like that... most of the time CBP officers are on the line or doing some sort of work. Honestly, I never worked harder at another job.. ever...

I knew someone would get offemded. Sorry you got offended. You were probably a very good worker. My fiance told me otherwise regarding his experience last week.

[athena_ny 1]

From what I can see it was partly a JFK problem in that they should have known (i think) that x many people would be coming through and therefore should have increased staff accordingly to handle the load. Do they get a list of travelers coming in each day from the airlines so they can staff accordingly? If not then they should. Just makes sense.

I am sure they schedule based on historical trends but think about what you suggest... Do you enjoy getting called in on your day off? Or if you are scheduled to work, do you enjoy getting "called off?"?

Well no I wouldn't but I don't work in the type of industry that does that type of thing.

Oh please. The best any industry can do, if it's not an on-call job (and immigration checkpoints, security checkpoints, etc. at any airport are not on-call jobs), is offer people the option of overtime. When I worked in retail, they couldn't call me up and force me to come in on my day off. In the publishing industry, just because we get 4,000 contracts in on one day doesn't mean they can call up everyone who has the day off and REQUIRE they come in. They're providing a service - processing you at immigration so you can enter the country is a service - so the best you can do is complain about poor customer service, but what are the repercussions against them? Minimal, if any. The people at immigration are doing a job, and I doubt are sitting next to their phone just WAITING to get a call that "oh staff is low! please come in!"

How easily people forget that everyone else's lives don't exist to make their's easier.

They are goverment workers afterall. My fiance told me that they would work a little, talk on the phone, drink something, talk, and then work a little more. I told him that I already knew it would be like that. They are not productive workers.

I take offense to this statement...

Actually most of the time, if they're in the office, they're on their break, because we're not allowed to leave the office for lunch or anything like that... most of the time CBP officers are on the line or doing some sort of work. Honestly, I never worked harder at another job.. ever...

[keltic 1]

it does seem that it had more to do with the larger number of immigration visas to be checked and the missed flight...

when my hubby came thru PHL on his first visit, he was detained for over an hour and 45 mins, had to tell his story to 6 different officers, had his luggage searched thru (the officer even commented that his mother must have packed his bag because it was so neat)...

when he came thru on the K1 at JFK, it took 12 mins and he got the stamp without asking

i have heard from several ppl that PHL is really tough for international arrivals... my hubby is an average caucasian male... dutch in nationality... so it had nothing to do with middleeastern appearance

[Liquesce 0]

For whatever it's worth, I flew in through JFK a couple of months ago as a pre-existing U.S. citizen and it still took three hours just to get through the line. There are just too many international flights for the staff at that airport sometimes. (Included in our timeslot were flights from Egypt, Italy, and Israel ... the lines were an "a priest, a rabbi, and an imam" joke just waiting to be told.)

The plan for my husband's arrival will probably include an intention to just stay overnight in New York ... not realistic for everyone, I know, but at least planning for a long delay seems in order. The worst that can happen is you get stuck wandering around killing time on a layover.

[chispas 0]

I have a friend who just came in from France two weeks ago. His flight arrived in the US late, so he had to take an early flight the next morning. Well he thought he would sleep in the airport, but was not allowed to do so. He says people with money went to a hotel to spend the night and others without money or a credit card walked around the hotel and slept in the stairwells that night. Imagine coming in and being told you have to leave the airport and find a place to stay in strange city that you've never visited before!

[JODO 2]

I have a friend who just came in from France two weeks ago. His flight arrived in the US late, so he had to take an early flight the next morning. Well he thought he would sleep in the airport, but was not allowed to do so. He says people with money went to a hotel to spend the night and others without money or a credit card walked around the hotel and slept in the stairwells that night. Imagine coming in and being told you have to leave the airport and find a place to stay in strange city that you've never visited before!

Can the airport do that???

Edited May 1, 2007 by JODO

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I have a friend who just came in from France two weeks ago. His flight arrived in the US late, so he had to take an early flight the next morning. Well he thought he would sleep in the airport, but was not allowed to do so. He says people with money went to a hotel to spend the night and others without money or a credit card walked around the hotel and slept in the stairwells that night. Imagine coming in and being told you have to leave the airport and find a place to stay in strange city that you've never visited before!

Can the airport do that???

Not sure about that, but...

US airports are generally NOT well-designed for transit passengers. The only one where I've actually seen an AT-AIRPORT hotel is DTW (where you can enter the Mariott directly--though you have to clear security to re-enter airport). The very seating in airports is not designed for people to lie upon (even at Heathrow, one can stretch out over multiple seats--as well, most Canuck airports have such a design albeit with more padding than Heathrow).