Miami Airport

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.

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.

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!