Miami Airport

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.

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.

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.

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.