New York JFK Airport

Not Verified | You need to train TSA agents at this location on true American hospitality and common human decency. TSA staff was extremely rude. They yelled at travelers, waived at them to move through lines with insulting hand gestures that showed impatience, abrasiveness, and disrespect. One agent dropped the buckets on the floor in front of everyone to show them she was unhappy about how the buckets were supposed to be lined up. The TSA agent verifying passports at the entrance was rude taking pictures answering questions with sarcastic and condescending comments to travelers who asked for clarification. It is not like there was a huge line or there were lot of travelers. Most of the end rows were empty. So the excuse that this is a busty airport and that TSA agents have to deal with lot of travelers will not fly in this case. I have gone through this airport many times in the past and I think the service at the international level is getting worse. Yes most travelers are immigrants and their level of English language knowledge could be limited but that is an excuse to bark at people and treat them like dirt. Not in America anyway.

Not Verified | JFK is the worst airport ever. The staff is unfriendly and the waiting times are unbearable. How can such a big airport have such garbage service and border control. It’s ridiculous. Think twice before flying JFK.

✅ Trip Verified | After a disappointing immigration experience, on departure to UK, the security queue was long but did move reasonably, however the security scanning was a complete shambles. We got through but what a fiasco.

Not Verified | Spent 1.5 hrs in line waiting for immigration, 5 officers to process 100's of passengers. Immigration officer was so miserable. Terrible experience.

Not Verified | Extremely rude TSA agent at Arrivals, Terminal 7 Mobile Passport Control Line on October 20, 2023. This guy must have felt he was on some power trip and made a point to be as rude and condescending as possible because I didn't hear his question. It didn't matter that he was talking very low, the area was busy with arriving passengers. I have never encountered anyone this unprofessional at JFK (and the bar is already low there). He even had a nerve to suggest I was talking over him. What a poor representation of TSA for arriving US Citizens.

✅ Trip Verified | Horrible experience. I landed on a flight from London, heading to a connecting flight to Minneapolis. We cleared customs but signs for connecting flights departures were not apparent/user friendly. Staff guided us to an area that eventually mixed with an area where new arrivals could merge. This meant that we had to go through security/x-ray screening all over again. If they had guided through an area of the airport that was still contained within the airport we would not have had to repeat screening, as we had already been screened at our last airport. The line for screening moved extremely slowly, perhaps due to being understaffed? Several of us were concerned about missing connecting flights, I almost missed mine despite having a 2 hour layover. I had to race to the gate and made it just in time to be one of the last people on the flight. I didn't even have enough time to grab a cup of coffee or use the bathroom. Very bad experience.

Not Verified | TSA rude and careless, barking orders and unhelpful. My items were dumped and scattered in various trays and people honestly don’t care. I will avoid this airport in future. With your reviews awful, you really need to have some care training. I am a senior citizen and treated very inequitably.

✅ Trip Verified | This airport goes from disgraceful to utterly disgusting. Not only is the staffing for immigration clearance so poor - this is the second time in 2 months I’ve waited over 2 hours but the staff did not stop the cheats from going round via US Citizen queue then walking across and cutting the line. Complaints fell on uninterested staff who shrugged their shoulders. I will try avoid this airport as much as possible. What a horrible advert for a country when’s its main airport is such a shambles.

Not Verified | I never have much of an issue departing from this airport, but the line attendants for passport control on arrival are always rude. It really leaves a sour taste in your mouth. The passenger in front of me was an older Hispanic woman - she was walking a little slowly, getting her papers and passport together, but there was nobody behind us and I could tell she was older, so I didn’t mind. The line attendant rudely said “let’s go!” To her and then immediately asked her if she was a green card or visa holder - I’m assuming because of her race? It turned out she was an American citizen (duh - we were in the US Citizen line). The attendant just kept barking commands at her and giving her no time to answer any questions. Then she starts barking at me and just being really patronizing. I’ve seen similar behavior multiple times from passport control line attendants when arriving from an international flight.

Not Verified | Absolutely awful experience at this airport! After an amazing 5 night stay in NYC with my family, our holiday quickly turned sour when going through security here. If the 1 hour queue wasn't bad enough, being greeting by shouting security officers made it the worst experience we've ever had in an international airport. I can't single just the one security official out, they were all aggressive, abrupt, and completely unprofessional. This must be in the training, as it was quite consistent throughout. I could add a little assistance if anyone from JFK is reading this. Instead of saying "if I see those phones in your hands I'm pulling you to one side" perhaps say "could everyone please place their phones in the trays provided". Its just a little common courtesy, and plain good manners, and you'd be surprised how far it gets you in life. The whole experience has actually put us off coming back to New York again. Which is a shame, as we really enjoyed it. I was emptying my bag of my laptop and tablet at which time the lady took it from me and put it in a tray, and told me to take my shoes off. I said my laptop is in there and she looked at me with a steely gaze and said "I know.....take your shoes off". Honestly it was just horrendous. Herded through like cattle and shouted at. The whole airport needs massive improvement, and lessons in basic decorum.