Miami Airport Passenger Reviews and Miami Airport Traveller Reports

Came in on BA flight, and found ourselves in a massive herd of people, wondering what on earth was going on. After 2 hours being jostled and funnelled, we found ourselves at the entrance of the immigration hall only to see a massive queue, and a further 2 hour wait. The information was non-existent, airport officials not to be seen anywhere. A lot of time was being wasted once we got to the immigrations desks (which, because of the financial mess, were only staffed 30%) and a significant improvement to the queue could have been made by just a few seconds of greater efficiency at the booths. Complaints after the event have been met by platitudes and a total failure to understand the health and safety implications of the airport's inaction. Told that they'd brought in extra staff (no sign of any) and were handing out bottles of water (we saw none). The general view of my party (2 of whom are over 70) was that this was the worst airport experience. After 40 trips, I will never come here again. This is a true shame on America, and has done more damage to Miami's reputation than they seem to realise. Complaints have been met by platitudes, and it will not be too long before someone takes legal action for the airport's and the US's appalling treatment. A true shame on America.

My husband and I flew into MIA on May 17, 2013. Only had 1.5 hours to make our flight to NYC. However, because my husband does not yet have his greencard, we were taken to the room at immigration and made to wait 2 hours. Ended up missing all flights to NYC that evening and had to stay the night in a hotel. Some officers were nice, gently telling people to put away their phones and to follow them, etc. but then there were others that were barking orders as if we were in jail. After we filled out the form, there was almost nobody on line so we went under the ropes to get to the front. In the process, we got yelled at by another officer. This time around, we went to a different window. The officer was much nicer but in the end he sent us to wait by the wall to be taken into the room. By this time, we were never going to make our flight so I tried calling my travel agent to change the flight. However, just as I was explaining the situation, an extremely hostile officer told me to get off the phone. He then took us into the room, where we waited 2 hours. I could not use my cell phone and there were no public phones. Although the officer that attended to my husband was nice, I saw so many being unjustifiably rude. In the end, because we couldn't cancel our flight before it departed, our tickets were suspended. We ended up having to pay for two new one way tickets just to get home.

Flew into and out of Miami to Cancun (American Airlines). Having used Miami several times in the past, I was pleasantly surprised although arriving at 2pm in the middle of the week may have helped. Through immigration in 35mins (I timed it!) with a friendly and communicative agent. Customs done in just a few minutes. Several gripes though - I find the signage for shuttles etc is poor and security is very variable with security staff 'barking' instructions.

I regret having to say that this airport is a disgrace to the image of the US and is laughing stock. It has always been bad but now ranks lower than any so called 'developing countries' airports I have experienced. Totally dysfunctional in its operation as an airport compounded by rude and arrogant staff (generally). Allow at least 4 hours to clear immigration and customs or you will miss your connecting flight. Every agent and colleague I know is now routing via anywhere but the US as the issues of delay are not unique to Miami, although that is where they are worst.

I had to wait over 2 hours to get through the whole process. The worst thing is that even if I am an American Citizen I was taken to a crowded room full of chairs and people packed like sardines. All they say is that you have to wait. Then an officer took me to retrieve my bag and inspect it. That's it! You can go now. With no explanation. For my particular experience, it is not only the budget cuts affecting this. I truly have reasons to believe that these officers are making the problems worst by delaying everybody they can. They are therefore too worried about their overtime pays and travelers needs to suffer by waiting for hours and missing connections. Officers never greet you, they are rude, non polite and have complete disregard if you are tired from your trip. National and Foreign visitors into Florida should be treated with all the respect possible. What kind of image are they selling about Florida out there?

I travelled through Miami airport on 13th April on the way to San Jose, Costa Rica and back through Miami on 24th April travelling to New York. I had read the reviews and to be quite honest was dreading travelling through this airport! My worries turned out to be completely unfounded as I found Miami airport to be relatively stress free. It only took 1 hour in total to get through Passport Control, immigration and to pick up and recheck in my bags on the way out and 1.5 hours on the way back. To be on the safe side for busy days I'd advise leaving at least 3 hours, then you don't need to worry like I did but I must stress that I found Miami Airport to be absolutely fine to transfer through and even though I only had 2.5 hours between connections, I was at my gate at least 1 hour before my flight.

Brutal night in lines last night (4 May 2013) in MIA. More than 3 hours to get from the airplane through Customs. Numerous flights were missed so the airlines routed everyone back outside to the ticketing counters to rebook. That line was another 4 hours and when I left it still stretched nearly the entire length of Terminal D North. I didn't find anyone to be super rude, but completely uninformed. The airline never had reps at any stage in the process to communicate what was going on nor to take the lead and organize customers. One ticket agent tried to blame the whole thing on sequestration, which didn't fly with anyone. If the airlines know that it is taking MIA Customs 3 to 4 hours to process people entering Miami, I recommend that they make some serious adjustments to the connection times they offer forsaking connecting flights. If this is the new normal for MIA, then the airlines need to get with the program or find a solution (unless of course they like constantly losing money in the form of hotel, taxi, and meal vouchers for stranded customers at MIA. My airline this trip was American.

Long way to passport control after disembarking. Seemed like the staff were on a go slow and protesting about staff cuts, it took over 90 minutes to get through passport control. Many people had connecting flights that they missed, Miami airport staff did not care at all. In all my travels, I have never experienced such rude and arrogant staff. Training in customer service is most definitely required.

Queuing at immigration for more than 2.5 hours, as a result misted my connecting flight to Curacao and had to stay in a nearby hotel delaying our holidays. I can not understand that they question everybody for 5 minutes per person when there is such a queue. Avoid Miami.

One of my worst airport experiences ever. I had almost three hours to make a connection and could not because it took me 2.5 hours to clear immigration. Long lines, rude staff and completely senseless. If you are making airport tax paying passengers wait that long, you are clearly not providing a good service. Hundreds of people were missing their connections. Once it was evident that I had missed my connection staff were extremely rude, unhelpful and unfriendly in directing me where to go in order to rebook my flight. Overall a horrible experience. Avoid Miami at all costs. It is the most dysfunctional airport I have ever been to - and this includes many airports in developing countries.

Don't go through Miami if you can help it - what a nightmare! Arrived from UK tired, as you do and was met by a queue to get into the immigration. It took 2 hours 45 minutes to get there and the officer was extremely curt and to be honest, rude. We had to ring ahead to our hotel in Orlando to say we'd be late and eventually arrived at 2.30am. If you have to do it, beware, make sure you visit the toilet beforehand and also make sure you have water to drink and a shooting stick to sit on between shuffles would be handy. I will never fly into Miami again.

I arrived at Miami airport in March 2013 with BA from LHR only to check through to an AA flight to LPB. Immigration into the USA, even for transit passengers, is mandatory. The queue was immense, so it took me 1.5 hours to get through. On my way back to LHR coming from LIM, I was tormented by US Immigration, as apparently my fingerprints didn’t match with the ones they took 3 weeks before. They brought me to a waiting room which was chock-full of people, mainly from Latin-American countries, but also from Australia, Canada, and EU countries. There were children and disabled people waiting here for hours. It was not allowed to stretch one’s legs or to use a mobile phone. There was only one restroom for men and one for women, one water tap with drinkable water, but no cups. I was kept hold more than 2.5 hours, before an Immigration officer called my name and escorted me to the exit, returning my passport and customs form, with the obligatory stamps in and on it, but without any explanation or apologies. I was lucky to get my connecting flight, but many other people didn’t and US Immigration doesn’t feel responsible for this. If they don’t like your face, they subject you to an interrogation, no matter how long it takes, no matter what future consequences it will have for you, because in their eyes you’re a suspect, and they treat you as a potential terrorist. My lessons learned: Never ever use US airports as transit airports, try to avoid them, even if your journey will take longer or is more expensive.

Myself and my partner travelled from Liberia Costa Rica to MIA airport on Saturday 16th March 2013 on flight AA 2132. We had booked a flight allowing us some 2.5 hours to navigate the complexities of MIA processing systems and get to our flight on time. According to all documentation this is some 1.5 hours more than the minimum required. MIA were in a state of “reduced staff due to budget cuts” according to the signage. We were held prior to immigration and passport control for a term that combined with the queues at immigration resulted in missing the return flight to the UK. AA informed us that the airport was 100% at fault. AA informed us there was no options available to us to return to the UK that evening and for the next 2 days due to flights being fully booked. Only option given to us was a flight to JFK – arriving at 12.15 am on Sunday 17th – then a 9.30am flight to the UK in the morning. The only option we had was to stay on the JFK airport floor for the duration, or until an airport lounge opened at 7.30 am. We are 47 and 50 years old, not some teenagers who would perhaps not find this rather more an adventure. This whole fiasco was directly attributable to MIA international airport and its staff for their delays in missing our scheduled flight.

There was no queue at immigration, and the officer just grunted (without any welcome at all). 'How long are you here' and 'What's the purpose of your visit' were the only words he said, then after the obligatory fingerprint and camera shouted next to the person in the queue, so I assumed it was time to go. The worst part was the Customs man who checked our declaration who when we both (we are a couple travelling together) approached him shouted and reprimanded me that we should see him individually. I told him we approached him together because we are traveling together and that the items in our suitcases were intermingled. He too asked us how long we are staying and the why we are here. Manners would not go amiss.

Only exiting this trip thank goodness as immigration here the last two times was a nightmare. Security very quick and smooth today and access to the shared BA, American lounge close by. Before checking in we noticed two men fighting in one of the entrances. I reported this to a group of five police officers who asked if they were shouting! The cops did nothing. What a great image this gives to people using the airport.

I had to use this airport last Saturday. Immigration control was a nightmare. Together with the TSA control it took me more than 3 hours to go through the whole thing and as a consequence I lost my flight so I had to spend the night in a nearby hotel. Something needs to be done. I have to use this airport 4 times a month minimum.

Passport control was an absolute nightmare. We seemed to be lucky in getting through in 2.5 hours. Apparently some people were queuing for 4 hours. I overheard there were 3000 waiting to be processed. Friends went for the "priority queue" but this was no quicker. They felt the Border staff were working to rule due to the recent cuts. The agent I had however was very polite and quick.

This is the worst airport I have ever been to. Almost 3 hours in immigration for a connecting flight which I made by 1 minute while my bags - which you have to collect and re-check in - did not, no thanks to anyone employed at this disgrace of an airport (although fair play to the AA staff who did their best to get our bags and us on the flight). Rude, unhelpful terminal staff who just grunted at people and made jokes about how slow everything was. Announcements telling you not to abandon your bags so clearly a regular problem. No idea what the terminal was like as I was to busy running through it. I will never fly to or through this airport again and suggest you don't either.

We travelled through MIA on 6th March on route to Jamaica, the distance to walk from plane to immigration was unbelievable. Then the queue for immigration was incredible. It took 1 hr 15 mins to clear immigration. However, the experience on the return was nothing short of terrifying with disorganised queues that stretched back to arrival concourses. We had 3 hrs 15 mins between flights and only just made it. They were having to hand out water, people were getting distressed. It was put down to budget cuts but as far as I am aware airline passengers pay taxes and there are airline charges - so it is not on. On a lower point on the scale, if this is reflected across US entry point, people will stop travelling to or via the US. I have been travelling for 40 years and fly around 20 times a year and this was my worst experience at an airport.

Flying to Bogota from Heathrow, I was extremely impressed by the outbound transit process. We were greeted shortly after arrival, guided to passport control and on to the next departure lounge. Our cases were put on to the next flight without us having to do anything at Miami. Although we only had 1.5 hours to make the connection, we ended up relaxing for nearly an hour before the next flight. Consequently, I was not concerned that we only had 2 hours on the way back. How wrong I was! It was a complete shambles. No one helped us. We had to queue in very long lines, both for passport control and customs. None of the staff were interested that we had very little time to make our connection. We had to collect our cases and take them to the next flight. We caught the flight with 5 minutes to spare. Others missed it. It was like a different country, let alone airport. In fact the transit I experienced in Minsk, Belarus last year was a far better experience than this. To be fair to Minsk, they did a pretty good job. If I do the trip again, I'll probably go via, Madrid or Paris or Frankfurt.

Avoid this airport, only good thing was the staff. Queuing at security and immigration unbelievable, arrived on a BA flight in mid-afternoon, counted over ten gates at immigration closed, our travel agent advised us to allow 4+ hours for a change, it was only just enough. All staff were polite.

I took a trip to Miami just before thanksgiving. Being moderately disabled, I do not use a wheelchair, this place is a nightmare. You have to go extremely far to get to baggage claim then go all the way back to your gate to get a shuttle to the rental car area. I had to stop several times to deal with the pain from traveling this far on foot! I can't fathom a major airport being that unorganized.

Hopeless! Especially frustrating for transit passengers - you have to clear immigration and customs then queue yet again to pass security for you connecting flight. Final insult: our 3 bottles of wine purchased at Heathrow, officially packaged and sealed by the duty free shop as required for security were confiscated. Never again!

Arrival - marathon trek to passport control then wait in line for 2 hours - approx half the booths manned. Immigration officer very polite and friendly when it was eventually our turn. Departure - satisfactory.

I flew through Miami airport and was expecting the worst after being horrified by the reviews here. I was even fearful that the 4 hrs between my flights would not be enough! However, my experience was superb. I flew into Miami from an international destination mid afternoon and was pleasantly surprised with a wait of some 20 minutes at the immigration line - and this taking into account I was unfortunate because the immigration officer took a short break after dealing with the passenger just ahead of me. He even apologised when he returned! There were long lines at the exit from the baggage claim area but officials quickly stepped in to redirect passengers to another line. I needed to clear security to transfer to a domestic flight, but the lines moved briskly and I was waiting for my next flight within an hour of getting off the international flight. Much less painful than I had expected. One drawback is the lack of seats at the gates. Quite a few of the passengers could not find a place to sit while waiting for the gate to open.

Just to balance the record a little, I had two problem-free journeys through MIA last month. Arriving on Thanksgiving Day from Heathrow with Virgin, I expected a long wait at immigration (lower staffing because of the US holiday, but international arrivals as normal), in fact, all was fine - just a 10-minute wait (even after being one of the last to get off the aircraft) and courteous treatment by the officer. The return journey a week later was satisfactory as well, there is some impressive new investment in the combined car rental facility and connecting shuttle train. Overall a far better experience than I had feared.

My wife and I travelled through Miami airport from London Gatwick and then on to Cancun Mexico. I was absolutely appalled at the way we were spoken to and treated in this airport. Staff and employees are a disgrace to the good name of Americans. I understand they have an important job to do but I have never met such ignorant human beings. You can't do anything but agree with them and nod your head and be civil to them. I will be mailing the airport to lodge my complaint but like everything else I know it will fall on deaf ears.

Flew into MIA today from Las Vegas. I'd previously sworn never to use this airport again after a nightmare transfer a few years ago. However, I wanted to see the city and thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I was actually leaving the airport rather than just transferring. More so as it was a domestic flight, so no immigration. WRONG!! The airport is poorly signed, it is an incredibly long hike to baggage reclaim and by the time I got to the correct belt, the carousel had stopped. On asking what had happened to the remaining baggage, including mine, a rude young lady merely said that it would be on the adjoining belt. I told her that I'd checked and the signs did not indicate the arriving flight from Las Vegas, she told me to go to the baggage service desk, which I had to find by myself. The staff there said that I should just go to my hotel and they would deliver my missing suitcase there. Not trusting MIA staff to do this, I said I'd wait at the desk until they found it, which they did surprisingly quickly. Two other passengers on my flight were at the desk with the same problem. The airport is poorly laid out, long, long walks past the gates to baggage reclaim, rude, uncaring staff and generally a total dump. The differences between MIA and McCarran Airport (Las Vegas) are stark, McCarran being a very pleasant experience in contrast. MIA is by a mile the worst airport I've been to (and I've been to scores around the world). If you want to visit Miami, try flying into Fort Lauderdale (not far from Miami). Just avoid Miami airport like the plague!

As a seasoned traveller in EM and developed countries, I can safely say this has been the worst airport experience of my life. On transit from Bogota to London with an AA to BA connection. Long walk to immigration, 2 hours in an interminable line, luggage arrives 3 hours late, with no one from the airlines around for miles to help customers distraught as they were missing their flights. Not even an announcement to say the bags were delayed. No one from BA to receive our bags as the signage pointed I'm the opposite direction, and no one generally to help transit passages at all. After running back and forth in different directions we finally made it to our flight. Some gall to call itself an international airport, with the complete lack of resources, care, basic customer etiquette and signage. Worst airport in the world.

Flew LHR to MIA with British Airways on 1st Nov 2012. Flight arrived on time and after a long walk to the immigration hall the fun and games really began. We started queuing for passport control in the non-US citizen line about 9pm. There were so many people ahead of us and so few immigration staff that it took 1.5 hrs to be seen by an immigration officer. While I was waiting in the public area of the arrivals hall, I witnessed other people who had also been detained for intrusive / abusive questioning. The attitude of US border officials is nothing short of disgusting. While we had a pleasant stay in Miami, we will never go back to the USA and risk experiencing this type of treatment again. A terrible ordeal and their whole attitude seems to be that you are a threat and are guilty until proven innocent and that they are doing you a special favour by letting you in to spend money and have a holiday in their country.

I will never again fly to MIA : coming from London with a connecting flight I had to stand 2 hours for immigration then 1/2 hour for custom and then walk for miles to drop my luggage. The worst airport in the US for sure! Never again.

My mother had a short domestic flight today with American Airlines. She arrived at the airport 2 hours ahead of time. She was advised that customers should arrive at MIA at least 4 hours ahead of their flight (at minimum, 3). That's ludicrous. That's a sign that there's something wrong with your airport! When you arrive at MIA, you have to walk several miles to get to the baggage carousel. It's a mess.

It's not all negative with MIA. Landed with BA late July and got baggage and through immigration and custom in 1 hour. Left the car rental centre after another half hour and on the road after 1.5 hour from landing - not so bad.

In my opinion the worst airport in the US. TSA staff very rude and uncivilised. Staff also rude and unhelpful. Signs were badly placed so easy to get lost. I try to avoid to go to Miami international. I prefer to fly to Ft. Lauderdale Int'l.

The most awful airport I have ever used. Miami Intl makes transiting in Frankfurt a marvellous experience. We had almost 3 hours for our connecting flight but made it to our connecting BA flight to London only because we were travelling First and BA kept our seats. Staff at Miami appear to be trained to be rude and unhelpful to passengers. We asked a female staff if we could go in front of the massive queue as we were just about to miss our flight and she said if we miss our flight we just miss it. After immigration one has to endure the other queue to get through customs, which is another awful experience. There were more than 1000 arriving passengers and only two members of staff dealing with the queue. We waited an eternity for our bags at carrousel 8 where it was announced they will be delivered. However, they were delivered at 6 and we were not told of the changes. Staff just do not care about passengers. No one helps and they seem to see all visitors as a security threat rather than passengers who pay money to use this airport. Avoid this if you can.

The airport is not a suitable gateway. It's not fit for it's purpose. Walkways to gates are long and if you have luggage that is not wheeled, you are left alone to carry it yourself. The little carts cost $5. Toilets are plentiful but the cleanliness is atrocious. The immigration queues take forever. This is not a good introduction. I had to queue again to rebook as my incoming flight was delayed by AA. The queue to reach the attendant took over 1 and half hours. It was a mad rush to my connecting flight. Everyone has to clear immigration and customs, even if you are just transiting. To their credit though people were polite and friendly when you do eventually reach them. Better transit in Europe or Brazil for me sorry AA.

Within the last week I and two travelling companions have flown from London Heathrow to Lima, Peru, via Miami. It has confirmed that I will never fly to the USA again, even in transit. And this is not because of the affect of all the additional security measures etc. that the USA have introduced. Miami Airport is too spread out. Very long walks to departure gates. It's too much in need of and upgrade. A bit like Heathrow 10 years ago. So don't have a go at Heathrow now. As for immigrations. Even when in transit it took us over two hours to get through. The staff managing the queues were the picture of helpfulness, but by the time you met the immigration staff themselves you might as well have dealt with a machine. Clearly displaying signs of utter boredom. What sort of advertisement for a country is that? Sorry USA must try harder, because I'm not coming back.

This is by far the worst airport in the US that we have travelled to and we have used many. After a 30 minute walk from the gate you are greeted by a snaking line which moves at snails pace. It is only when you get to the front of the line that you realise you are sent to another line in front of each immigration desk. Immigration officers seem to spend more time complaining to each other than dealing with passengers. The airport staff who direct you to the desks no doubt try their best, but admit defeat by stating that the immigration officers are in charge and what they say goes. The unfriendly, surly attitude of the immigration staff after having queued for up to 90 minutes does nothing to welcome you to the USA. In future we will fly to anywhere else in the US and transfer to Miami if we need to go there. Added to the immigration problems we then had a 75 minute queue to get a pre-ordered Alamo car from the car rental centre.

MIA has got to be one the of the worst airport in the US. By all means, avoid travelling through it of you are arriving from abroad. If you don't, you will encounter USA's rudest and most unhelpful staff including security and immigration officers. I live in Miami and I travel abroad several times a year for my job, staff here never fail to demonstrate their ignorance and lack of interest in helping (let alone welcoming) traveler to thus beautiful country. This is astonishing to me considering this is the first gateway to the US for many of the 1st time tourists. On a normal busy day, expect delays upwards of 3 hours. During which time, take notice of the number of officers who are standing around doing nothing when they can be helping distraught old ladies or families with crying children. I have never seen such lack of compassion! MIA, where is your airport manager? How can this happen in 2012?

The queues for immigration (after 3/4 mile walk) were unbelievable. The immigration staff were reasonable but security staff are so rude they need serious customer relations training. Shouting commands 'out', 'here' 'you'. Absolutely incredible the most unfriendly airport ever with the most ignorant staff.

Crowded, noisy, and poor signage. This airport needs new management and a serious overhaul. Customs is too small for the number of flights arriving, so the lines are huge. Baggage pickup after customs is extremely dense, with not enough space between the carousels to accommodate a normal number of passengers. Baggage handlers will take baggage off the carousels and stack them behind the carousels - but there are no signs to give you a hint that they're intercepting and hiding your bags! After baggage pickup, customs once again had no room to accommodate te lines, so these backed up into baggage pickup. The exit area has poor signage and again, way too small for the number of flights. We had to call the hotel to find where the shuttles stop - there were no signs inside or out. And both escalators to that level were broken, so we had to run up the stairs with heavy bags to catch the shuttle.

We were unfortunate enough to have to transit through this airport on 15th July 2012. The problems started when we were instructed by an extremely rude airport official to form two lines (left hand side for US citizens and right hand side for everyone else). However, on entering the immigration area all the US citizen booths were on the right and everyone else on the left, causing chaos and confusion. We waited over an hour in a line which did not seem to move . At this point we were thinking that a 3 hour transit would not be sufficient. Worrying that we may miss our transit into Lima, my wife asked the same rude official if there was a separate line for transit passengers. Once again he was rude and unhelpful and said we should wait in the same line or find one that was shorter as there wasn't a separate line! After waiting another half an hour, we found a helpful lady who directed us towards a transit booth. We just about made our flight no thanks to the serious lack of organisation and awful customer service we had received! This airport is a total joke.

Very long line at immigration on return. 70 minutes. Lots of staff standing around and chatting. Baggage area very dated and bags always lined up as you have been so long in line. By comparison, Fort Lauderdale is much easier to navigate.

Came into Miami International on an American Airlines flight in Concourse 'D'. Long walk with intermittent moving sidewalks to Passport Control. Finally got to a small room with four open stations and no working air conditioning. Next onto baggage pick-up and Customs. It seemed like we had entered the third world. The carousels were clumped together right next to the Customs lines going out of the hall. Both groups of people and their luggage morphed together into an unmoving mess. Minimal signage following yellow footprints to bag recheck where we came to another bottleneck with no organization. All in all a 1.25 hour process to get out of the mess.

What a nightmare, arrived 26/5/12 and waited 2½ hours to get through immigration. This is my third visit here and never has it been a pleasant experience. Staff are ignorant rude and seem to delight in making you wait as long as possible. People keep shuffling across queues and pushing in there is no order here at all. I know this was a holiday weekend but even so. Asked an AA staff representative if I could have a Customs form he refused as I was not flying AA, although I was the next morning. This is such a shame as Miami once you get past immigration on this holiday turned out to be a really nice place with very friendly people. Shame the airport lets it down.

With the opening of the new car rental facility the connecting train stops only at the first concourse and if your airline leaves from concourse J you have to walk all the way - it is very hard to drag your hand luggage on the filthy and soft carpet. Only very few areas have stone flooring. Proper signage to for the various airlines and to check-in areas is basically non existent. Security check points are a mess. Passengers are being pushed by TSA staff to hurry up to put their belongings through the x-ray while there is hardly enough space that you can sort your belongings into the plastic containers. That is not what I would consider as a decent passenger service. How about one single jetway for a 747? Especially on disembarking this takes forever. International arrival on a third floor with only 4 elevators to go down (and missing signs) but 200 passengers with baggage trolleys? No other airport has such a deficiency.

This has to be the worst airport in the country. Poor sign-age, huge distances to gates, and horrendous passport control make this a nightmare airport. There are supposed to be designated lanes for US passport holders but there are people of all nationalities in these lanes getting fingerprinted photographed etc; it takes ages which after a long flight is too much.

My wife and I flew Saint Lucia to Miami. It took nearly 2 hours to clear immigration and customs. Thank goodness we had 3 hours between flights or we would not have made our connection. No crowd control, no information, no courtesy, no help. We will henceforth avoid Miami and American Airlines for all of our travel, the pain is just not worth it.

BOS-MIA-GGT-MIA-BOS. The trip to Georgetown, Bahamas on American Airlines was satisfactory and uneventful. Changing planes at the American Airlines terminal in Miami, while not bad, had one curiosity that I do not understand. It turns out that the terminal, has a small train service that can whisk you from one side to the other in less than 5 minutes. There was no signage in the terminal indicating that this convenience even existed. When I finally asked for help, I found out about the train and where to catch it. Terminal 3 at Heathrow has much better signage for its labyrinths. On the return, it took us an hour to get through Customs, get our luggage and check-in to TSA security. While waiting for our aircraft to arrive, 3 hours late, we noticed that the airport restaurants, coffee shops, etc. started to close down at 9 pm! By 10 pm there was nothing available. I would rather go through Toronto to return to Boston, and go through customs twice rather than go through this awful experience in Miami again.

American Airlines from Heathrow to Miami to get a connecting flight to Orlando. Arrived ahead of time, had 2hrs 40 mins to get through immigration, reclaim bags and check-in for connecting flight. It was nowhere near enough time for this airport, we were in the immigration queue for 2.5 hrs so missed connecting flight. Put on standby for next two with no luck, so had to spend night at airport and got flight in the morning. Leave enough time between flights at least 4/5 hours.

Arrived from an international flight. Unfriendly staff stopped us right outside of the gate and took us on a hike around the airport to an immigration booth where only one counter was manned. Luggage claim is a joke and chaos, all the luggage of passengers delayed by this horrible immigration system, is taken off the luggage belt and put disordered in the luggage claim area. Avoid if possible.

You have to get used to security and passport controls and queues: relax, smile and we now get folks smiling back and the process seamless painful. When you get to immigration, stand in a queue as close as possible to the US National queues - you'll get called over when US passengers have got through. The Terminal itself is the usual American 'nothing special' airport - fast food outlets, a few book/gift and duty free outlets. The good news is that Car Rental Desks and cars have been centralised - in one circular courtyard in one building connected to the main Terminals by a short Transit Train ride - no more Car Rental Bus.

Arrived at MIA from MVD at 5.00am. The walk from the gate to the AirTrain was endless. Lines at immigration were fairly long. After Immigration and customs, it was another hike to security for domestic flights. More long and chaotic lines. Then another half mile to my gate. The difference between MIA and MVD was like night and day-MVD being much more civilized and pleasant.

We had a reasonably civilized experience, albeit painfully slow. Crowd control wasn't too bad, officials directed passengers to the shortest lines and spoke English. They haven't learned to smile yet or say please, but neither were they rude or overly aggressive. We were in transit from London to Nicaragua and our bags went straight through. On the return our experience was even better. The Immigration Officer was charming. The only negative was that our bags couldn't go straight through so we had to reclaim them, they'd been removed from the carousel and were stood next to it. Maybe somebody's been taking note of all the adverse reports and action has finally been taken.

Miami airport has refined the usual misery of entering the United States into a fine art. We arrived on a Virgin flight from Heathrow and found ourselves wandering down endless corridors to immigration. Here we queued for nearly an hour. Immigration staff were surly and, in one case, downright rude. What made this worse is that we were transiting through to Grand Cayman but Miami airport has no facilities for transit passengers. Luckily we had 3 hours before our flight out, goodness knows how anyone would manage with any less time between flights. The building itself has obviously been designed by someone who builds mazes for a living. Security staff who checked us through to the gate for the flight to Cayman were equally abrupt and unhelpful. We went and got a drink at the bar near the departure gate to find the tables piled high with dirty glasses and food packaging Does someone have responsibility for managing this shambles or are staff encouraged to treat passengers as an inconvenience.

Miami International Airport does not cater for international passengers. We would have expected more from such a major hub. Breezed through security but there are Very limited facilities for passengers. Not a terrific experience, but a means to an end.

My wife and I flew Montego Bay to Miami. American Airlines in its wisdom dumped nearly 3,000 passengers from international flights into Immigration at Miami airport at the same time as our plane landed. It took nearly 4 hours to clear immigration and customs, by which time all connecting flights were long gone. No crowd control, no information, no courtesy, no help. We will henceforth avoid Miami and American Airlines for all of our travel, the pain is just not worth it.

Worst airport experience I've had, arrived at 6.30pm and it took 3 hours to get through immigration! No staff to sort lines or help passengers and with people fainting, arguing, queue jumping etc was just chaos. On to baggage reclaim to find more chaos, bags all over the floor, most not even near their corresponding carousel and staff completely unhelpful. After that only one exit through customs so this took another hour - four hours in total so I pity anyone with a connection. Staff unhelpful, rude and most would not even speak to you in English.

Don't even think about flying American to/from the Miami airport to the Caribbean or Mexico during the holidays! We arrived back from Barbados today and had to wait over 2 hours to get through customs. We missed our connecting flight and were told to wait in American's re-booking line that only had one person trying to handle hundreds of unhappy customers. No one was courteous or helpful. Poor planning on everyone's part, including ours! We will never do this again! We will go through JFK or a Texas airport (really any, but Miami).

Generally a smooth running airport. However, the air conditioning is extremely cold, rude staff, inefficient lift systems are a pain with normally only one small lift working at a time. For non-US citizens it can be a bit of a harassing experience due to the long lines. Good culinary experiences here.

This airport is a disgrace. We arrived Monday evening from Jamaica, I had wondered why American Air built an overnight stay into the schedule. It took 2 hours to get through passport control. Organization was non- existent. The lines for residents were slower than the lines for non-residents. How can it take longer to process a legal resident than someone entering on a visa? With the exception of the American Airlines own personnel and the bartender, every single employee was rude. Curbside check-in was a joke. My husband and I were waiting to check-in and two baggage handlers walked past us to help people who had just pulled up and were unloading their vehicles. When we and other people in front of us complained, we were told "there is no line, you just have to grab one of us. " The food choices are limited and expensive. Avoid this airport at all costs!

I am a US citizen but had a 90 min wait to go through immigration. Our line had a faulty computer but we weren't allowed to move to another agent for 30 mins. Why can't their be a common line for all agents - the room gets so overcrowded as to be dangerous. Fortunately we didn't have a connection or anyone waiting for us but surely things could be improved!

I go through US Immigration at multiple airports 15-20 times per year, and I simply dread Miami. The rudest, most chaotic immigration experience - even in the US Citizen line, you can wait 2-3 hrs - and it is the only place you might have to wait 20-30 minutes once through immigration just to clear customs even if nothing to declare. Everyone seems to be brusque, many difficult to understand yet bark at you nonetheless.

Miami airport has seemingly had a few upgrades over the last few years but somehow the efficiency of immigration is left trawling behind. I recently had to queue for 2 hours from a Heathrow BA flight yet a friend also arriving at Miami on a Delta flight from Heathrow landed 10 minutes after me and got through immigration in 15 minutes. If one immigration port is overcrowded whilst another is empty why cant they bus passengers and luggage to the quieter port. My daughter travelling alone a week ago had to catch a connecting flight 3 hours after landing, but endured a 2 hour wait to get through and was met with a rude response from airport personnel when she asked if she could get some assistance.

International flight from London, luckily our plane arrived at MIA early at 2.15pm so queues at immigration were not too long and only took 40 mins. Went to pick up my bags to find the carousel with my flight number still showing but no bags on it, an airport employee said the bags have been taken off the carousel ready for the next flight, so the bags were strewn around with lots of frustrated passengers. After that is a mad scrum to get through a small cordoned off area to the customs hall, I can just imagine how bad things are later in the day. On the return flight I found the choice of bars and restaurants very limited and quite expensive.

Customer Rating :  1/5

Queuing

Cleanliness

Facilities

Customer Rating :  1/5

Queuing

Cleanliness

Facilities