Miami Airport

Arrived Saturday 24 July from London and was pleasantly surprised by how easy the passage through immigration was. Short queue and through to collect baggage which was waiting for us. The walk from plane to immigration was longer than expected but when compared with Atlanta where we as family have waited over an hour after passing through immigration for bags to arrive this was much better experience. In all some 45 mins from landing to being on the shuttle to collect the hire car. Traveled home on 11 Aug no queue at check in and access to fast track through security made it very easy. Used the Club America F lounge very spacious and clean. Perhaps we were lucky but overall our experience of Miami from an arrival/departure perspective was very positive.

With building work still going on it's a mixed bag. International arrivals & immigration (as UK citizen) O.K. Easel in immigration with poster saying Arrivals with arrow then confusingly lots of corridors with signs to immigration!? Eventually picked up signs for Baggage Claim. Domestic arrivals okay except for truly appalling baggage claim carousels - just inside roadside doors where anyone can come and grab a bag. Have they learned anything from Phoenix? Check-in average poor where there is building work. Airport seems to be getting its act together but be prepared to walks miles!

Mixed review here. Arrived mid afternoon on CO. Signage is horrible. Followed signs for ground transportation - but no. Hotel shuttles are upstairs. Try and find an escalator to go back up. Then waiting on outer curb under 'Hotel Shuttles' sign only to notice all hotel shuttles are on inner curb. Check in for departure easy and fast lane at Security meant we were there only 10-15 minutes mid morning. Nice selection of shops on concourse but eating was limited.

Nightmare. Arrived at 0635 for a 0800 NW flight to MDW via DTW- hundreds in line. Self- service kiosk could not provide boarding pass (tried all 3 methods of accessing) with instruction to "see an agent". No airline personnel were available to help passengers (there were many with the same problem with kiosk) only airport personnel ; one of whom just shrugged and walked away. Angry very vocal crowd! We waited 4.5 hours in line obviously missed flight. We were rebooked on a 1425 flight to ORD. Happy to get out of Miami; however since my car was at MDW I had to pay $16. bus fare to MDW and then a 2 hr drive to my home in Michigan. Not one Delta or NW employee could explain the problem. There did not appear to be any weather delays or cancellations posted on monitors. I cannot understand why this airport checks in international passengers as well as domestic passengers in the same lines. Entire families traveling to South America or Asia needed translators which of course meant all others had to wait until a translator could be found. Unbelievable. Another customer in line with me wanted only to check his bag - he had a boarding pass. He said he was at airport at 0616 for 0715 flight and only wanted to check his bag. Curbside checkin was a disaster with long lines and then closing down so passengers then had to go inside and get at end of long long lines there. ORD and MDW work in a professional efficient courteous way. Never will I go near Miami airport again. Sad thing is that no one could or would assist passengers and I truly doubt corporate Delta could care.

Great improvements at MIA with the opening of the new South and North Terminals - great shopping stores food and beverage and services. Short security lines good signage and pleasant employees. Overall great improvement at MIA since three years ago.

Had to change planes in both directions on an international trip. The airport appears to be in a constant state of construction with areas blocked off at various locations. Waiting areas at the gates were rather small and overflowing with people. Limited shopping after passing thru security. Food selection was slightly better and I could not find a single hamburger stand. On the return flight I had to go thru customs and passport control. After a long walk to passport control there were nothing but long lines (10 to 20 deep). Baggage claim was also packed and again with long lines. I will try to avoid MIA in the future if at all possible.

On arrival short queues 4/5 long at non-US desks but staff directed people to US citizen desks as some of these were free. Immigration staff unsmiling but not unpleasant and through customs in no time at all. On departure no queues at all at security and AA lounge quite pleasant to pass an hour in. Not many shops airside but reasonable eating facilities.

I was not looking forward to arriving at Miami Airport as an international passenger. However I was pleasantly surprised with the very short queue at immigration and baggage claim and was through both formalities in under 30 mins. It look over twice that time to get the hire car. Return was also easy with only a short queue for security etc

I live in Miami and use MIA about once a month. It's average for US airports. Confusing signage. Some modern areas. Some from the 1970s / 80's. Just OK retail and amenities. That said travelers - especially transit passengers and those originating at MIA - beware. On two of the last seven trips I've taken out of MIA I have had items pilfered from my luggage. My advice: Do not check any luggage through MIA. Otherwise avoid this airport and transit through Spain. LGW LHR or CDG if you are going to Latin America from Europe or maybe ATL DFW or JFK if you must use a US airport.

Landed internationally in Miami on June 6. Weather was bad and we missed every connection. Customs for US citizens went fairly quickly but rebooking of luggage was a nightmare due to missed connections. AA staff were highly unmotivated and complained about how long they had to work that day. Like we wanted to sit aound for 10 hours. Go upstairs to check in and rebook you will save yourself a lot of time. Locals told us never to connect in Miami in June and July. AA terminal was a dump with limited restaurants other than self service food lines. Miami airport makes Chicago's O'Hare look great!