New York JFK Airport

My family arrived at JFK 4 having been very comfortable in Business class on KLM but the immigration experience was a nightmare certainly not fast-track! We were herded like sheep for about 90 minutes. I had already completed the new ESTA forms online but still had to complete the green form for each passenger which I had done on the plane. Only about half the booths were staffed and as we were already exhausted my back was very painful by the time we reached the baggage hall where the bags were already waiting! So much for travelling with hand baggage to speed up arrival process. The USA is a lovely place to visit but surely systems can be improved?

I would have preferred to make a complaint directly to the department in JFK that deals with customer service but I see there is no direct email address. I came through Terminal three at midnight on 16th October and I was traumatized by the whole experience . The place being run down the dirty floor your asked to walk bare feet on I can live with but the staff. Some one in authority needs to go through this as a customer and they would be appalled. You are screamed at glared at they make faces at other customers behind their backs. Even the official at the beginning of the queue said nothing other than chew her gum and flick her finger which was no doubt the JFK International symbol for go past ? We were all screamed at to get our shoes off our belts off etc none of which anyone have a problem with but we were all made to feel like criminals and the atmosphere was disgusting and a disgrace to the USA . The staff here are aggressive bullying and intimidating - as I found when I said in a loud voice "a please and thank you would be nice " all I got was a glare and despite no alarm going of when stepping through the alarm door I was asked to do it again.

Arrived T4 connected to T2. Immigration at T4 was okay but officials were rude. Waited for a long long time at the baggage carousel (I think it may have been randomly searched). Connection to T2 was easy enough but the terminal was ancient and miserable. Was delayed for 2 hours in-terminal and 1 hour on-tarmac. Was exhausted and impatient. I will probably avoid JFK if possible in future.

Terminal 2. Other commentators describe it as a hell-hole how right they are. There are plenty of third world terminals that are better. The awfulness of the whole place is hard to imagine luckily I will never have to return.

Used T4 for DL LAX departure with onward int'l flight. I am writing to alert people to a strange potentially alarming experience at security for the B gates in mid-July. I put my shoes coat bag of toiletries laptop and other items in the trays along with my carry-on bag. In the time it took me to turn around wait for one person ahead of me to walk through the scanner and reach my trays (20 seconds) my laptop had disappeared. I had read about this sort of thing before but thought I had taken the right precautions. No amount of asking staff to help got me anywhere other than a warning to "move away". After 90-120 seconds or rechecking and making a larger and large fuss some one I assume to be the manager asked me what I was missing and "was it a laptop in a black case". Item rescued and I was relieved - until I thought about this and it seemed more and more of a concern. I am not accusing anyone but it took an amazingly short period of time for it to disappear and a strangely long period of time to be "found". Just be careful and be warned. Otherwise T4 is among the best at JFK but shop eat and before security leave enough time to clear security (40 minute queue) and mind your trays!

Experience at JFK will depend entirely on what terminal(s) you're using. If you're not flying Delta you can disregard the gripes and complaints of reviewers talking about T3 etc. Terminal 1 international is good and relatively smooth but almost no food/shopping before security. T2/T3 (Delta) is old and run-down in the extreme. Very sad since it started life as the jetsons-like Pan Am worldport in the 60's. On the other hand I've always found T3 to be the fastest plane-to-gate trip for international travel - provided you know how to navigate the terminal and are a US citizen. T4 (International) is nice and modern has a huge shopping area before security - but security and after is miserable and dull. T5 (JetBlue) is a long hike from the AirTrain to the gates but has the smoothest security great food options and is very comfortable post-security. T7 (British Airways United) is old and poorly maintained. Reasonably quick to get through but hardly an impressive gateway terminal. T8 (American) is very airy and efficient and makes one long that the Airline lived up to it! JFK is a huge airport and international gateway and should be compared alongside Heathrow DeGaulle and the like. As such it doesn't look too bad -- though that's not saying much! Customs and Immigration are definitely a bit closer to being pleasant!

I picked up my wife today from DL97 from Edinburgh at Delta's Terminal 3 International arrivals. The area can only be described as a "hell hole". Dirty poorly lit decrepit. Choose your adjective. This terminal would be right at home in some banana republic but what a horrific introduction to the USA.

My 19 year daughter who had travelled from the UK alone arrived at JFK on 7th June 2009 at 2:20pm. As a worried parent I assured her that there would be people employed at the airport who would be happy to help her. How wrong could I have been! She was "greeted" by surly unhelpful staff that seemed to view visitors to your country as an inconvenience at best and a downright nuisance at worst. I assume these people do not have any form of customer service training. I suggest you rectify this and perhaps tell them they are supposed to welcome visitors to your country - and smile now and again not snarl and growl.

Last week I arrived at JFK T3 and was shocked to see the state it was in. It's disgusting old and dirty not what I expected from an airport of New York. I didn't feel safe in the arrival hall. We were approached by dodgy people and it felt like we were in a ghetto. There was also no clear information displayed how to get to the other terminals (we had to pick up my parents) On the way back the departure lounge was even worse ancient looking dirty carpets rude people and security staff and duty free shopping was a joke. I think America should be really ashamed of the state of this airport it's a disgrace.

Used T8 for a recent trip to and from FCO on American. Found the terminal to be clean with a fair amount of service choices. The customs process on the way back was fairly smooth. All in all not a bad experience despite all of the horror stories you hear about JFK.