Miami Airport

Travelled LHR to MIA and arrived at rear of 90 min queue for immigration late afternoon. Lucky we changed our plans 2 months earlier as a result of reading this site. We had allowed 1 hr 45 mins to change to AA flight to Cancun which was OK with airlines who allow 1 hr 35 for transfer but clearly not enough time. We therefore stayed overnight and travelled the next day. On our return flight it could not have been more different we arrived early afternoon and there were no queues at all we were through immigration in 5 mins. That was great but we will never transfer through an airport again unless we can overnight as you just don't know how long the Immigration Q will be not just in the USA but worldwide. Miami is an older airport in the BA and AA areas and reminded me of 1960's 'Thunderbirds' film settings. Real vintage stuff but it has all you need with regard to toilets and food. Passenger search was reasonably quick and no complaints there. It is confusing checking in with AA but if you memorise the airport layout on the website you get an idea of where to go to checkin which helped us find BA check-in.

I mostly agree with Vincent Smith's comments. MIA is not a particularly pleasant airport but that does mostly apply to the older AA-dominated terminal(s) and to non-US residents going through immigration. However having said that I fly out of MIA constantly on international flights and rarely am held up due to the fact that I am an AA frequent flyer so get fast- tracked through baggage check. The new terminals are fine and will be a big improvement. As to Spanish and Creole-speaking staff most travelers are from Latin America and the Caribbean however all customer service staff speak English. If you are addressed in Spanish once they realize that you don't speak it they will switch to English. US residents rarely wait more than 15 minutes in immigration and officials have always been polite in my experience. Non- resident friends have complained. However even US citizens may be subject to questioning and stopped at Customs and asked lengthy questions about the purpose of their trip. Duty-free is almost non-existent baggage claim in the old terminals is utter chaos.

Do not clear immigration in Miami if you are not capable of walking a long long distance. My husband and I are in our 70's and last month came home from the Caribbean through Miami. Our plane landed at the very farthest point from immigration and we were concerned we might not be able to complete the walk. We did not have long to wait at the Immigration line but had a heck of a time trying to figure out what carousel our luggage came in on. There were mobs of people and no help!

Good to read some positive reviews here but my advice is to prepare for the worst if you ever have the misfortune to go through MIA in transit. Having read some reviews here I changed my return flight to a later one as it seemed that 2 hours would not be enough to go through immigration & customs. New arrangements provided for 4.5 hours. Well I'm glad I did. After a 15 minute run from the plane I joined a queue at immigration at 5.45pm and was finally granted permission to enter the USA at 7.30pm. Some people in my queue and those adjacent were pulled for questioning by officials after queuing already for an hour or more. Guess they didn't make their connections. The baggage bit was hopeless - despite being told that I would have to collect my bag and go through customs to clear it and recheck it it wasn't on the carousel (no signs telling you what carousel to go to - you just have to wander up and down and hope you can spot your flight). Piles of bags everywhere - some of them were from flights which had landed several hours earlier. The concept of customer service is clearly non-existent in staff at this airport: to get help I had to break up conversations between staff who would have quote happily chatted indefinitely looking at pictures on their mobile phones flirting with each other etc. if I hadn't forced my way into their conversation. Turns out that despite what my Air Jamaica people were told in JA my bag was checked through already (apparently) though the staff at my departure gate denied this. I did have to check in again at Departures and eventually arrived at my gate at 9pm for a 9.30 flight. Concourse E - dismal place rubbish facilities (hot dogs and a tiny Pizza Hut concession - and that's about it). My bag did reappear in London. I dislike Heathrow and UK airports in general but it seemed like a paradise of good signage helpful staff and logical transit arrangements by comparison. If I can avoid it I will never go to MIA again nor will I book flights requiring a transit at a US airport - nearly missed my connection on the way out at JFK because of a 50 minute wait for baggage and being misadvised about transfer of luggage to next flight from different terminal. But that's another story.

The new terminals are exceptionally attractive organized and comfortable. If checking in with a pre-printed boarding pass and carry-on only I can make it from curbside to gate in under 30 minutes for domestic flights. The food options in the airport are good and service is generally above- average for Miami.

First time flying in and out of the new South Terminal complex. Finally there is a modern and clean section to this airport with upgraded store selections compared to other terminals. On the downside it is very far and alot of walking when arriving in Terminal H and going to Immigration and Customs in Terminal J. Why the moving walkway in secured Terminal H was not done in sections so that more gates can utilize this system is beyond comprehension. Fastest and most pleasant TSA check in any busy major US airport This was the nicest part of the South Terminal complex

Even though the new E terminal is modern and spacious the rest of the airport falls behind. Arrivals area for international flights at D is shabby looking cramped confusing. Transferring between flights as noted by another reader is a joke. To recheck a bag one must leave the secure area follow some a path of yellow dots which lead only back to the terminal. Signage is unclear confusing. There's no intra-terminal TSA clearance like other major airport. It seems the airport has gotten better from a few years ago when I was there last but my biggest pet peeve about MIA is that the airport official language is Spanish not English. I was given directions several by airport staff in Spanish!

Good but not great airport. It was spacious and clean though signage to our terminal was a bit tricky. Security check was not an issue. I was in the LTU/Air Berlin terminal and they only had a sandwich stand and newspaper shop after security which was very disappointing. Also upon arrival from Germany it was a long walk to passport control and they only had customs reports in Spanish! From my recent knowledge Miami is still part of the USA. It wasn't a perfect experience but I would have no big worries about using MIA again.

Decent variety of shops and restaurants though better outside of security than inside. Various terminals not all linked so to get from one flight to another you may well have to exit the secure area walk a ways and then go back through another security line (similar to many other airports; need to keep this in mind when calculating transit times). Terminal J still in the process of being finished so fewer choices for dining and shopping than in some other areas (you can get to Terminal H without exiting security). One nice thing about MIA is the number of hotels near the airport. Even one inside the terminal itself though it is not cheap and the rooms are rather small. Car rental agencies are located a ways from the airport terminal.

As with my most recent posting on LHR I have to speak as I find and MIA on 2 April was a good experience. It is a long walk from the gate (BA) to immigration but ours was the only flight and we were processed in five minutes. Officials were marshalling excess visitors into residents booths and keeping the whole thing moving. Surroundings were light and airy and fairly clean. They have introduced the ten digit scan but it was not unduly time consuming. My immigration official was pleasant. Baggage was fairly swift. The high outside temperatures seep into many parts of the building. The Alamo shuttle staff were very friendly. Alamo itself was a bit of a let down as there was a problem with our reservation and no easy access to baggage carts.