New York JFK Airport

Not Verified | I was early for a flight at 08.05, 12th November 2019. Went up through security and sat by my gate. At 00.30, a civilian security guard asked me to leave Departures as it was more than 4 hours until my flight. This would mean leaving departures. Going to arrivals and re-submitting my luggage and self back through security. This may or may not be correct although the official website does suggest you are at the terminal at least 3 hours before international flights. Anyway the security guard, who was not rude, refused to identify himself by name or personnel number. I pointed out that I would neeed either for a complaint. He stated, 'just tell them security told you that had to'. I spoke to security downstairs, after going back to arrivals. Again professional, however, they said that complaint could not be made as I couldn't identify the guard. Firstly, I pointed out that, that was because he wouldn't identify himself. Secondly, he spoke to me at 00.30 approximately at gate 9, therefore, not an insolvuable problem. I spoke to the security ops and raised my concerns. If I am to admitted 4 hours before flight then that is now only 1 hour 15 away. Where am I supposed to go for that long? Instead arrivals is like, a not entirely clean, zombie movie. A pity most staff really good.

Not Verified | My wife broke her wrist and small finger and her hand was in a cast the day before. Because she was walking unsteadily, we decided it is better that she be in a wheelchair. When we arrive at the security, she was asked to stand up. Trying to comply, she stood rather unsteadily. The immigration officer kept her standing for while. Another officer asked her to go in through another screen but this same officer scolded her and told her to stand there saying words to the effect, "How many times have I got to tell you to stand there?" When he finally deigned to let her go through the security screen, she found herself held up at the other side as two officer tried to find out if her plaster cast on her hand was real or not. "It's real" they concluded finally! We complained to the supervisor who was seated after that and she promise to take action. Whether she did or not we don't know. This is nothing but bullying and humiliating people who have visited the US to spend money and was unfortunate to have a fall. If this is how the US customs treat people I think there are many other countries we can go to. We have resolved not to go back to the US for a long time to come.

✅ Trip Verified | This is really one of the worst airports I have been to. You can compare it with the one of Cuba Havana with the only difference that there is WiFi, which was not working when we arrived. Security queues where really long when we arrived. All staff (except for 1 funny guy) was unfriendly and not helping customers. Temperature control was really awful. It switched from really hot to windy for a few seconds. Air quality was really breath taking and foods and shops were really not up to standard European airport standards. Really strange that one of the biggest cities in the world has an airport like this.

✅ Trip Verified | The passport scanners don't work properly, only passport control person was working. 90 minutes was fun. The airport is dirty and poorly ventilated. Will be sure to avoid in the future and it is a poor reflection on our country. The perfect result of what happens when governments employees run airport.

✅ Trip Verified | My children and I were going through security and had made sure to take off shoes and load trays in readiness for the x-ray machine. In the UK, where we are from, all shoes, coats and bags need to be loaded into trays so this is what we did. Suddenly we found ourselves being shouted at aggressively by a female security attendant who was angry that we hadn’t understood her barked orders to remove bags and shoes from trays. My young son was getting flustered as she was so aggressive in her manner (his first long distance trip) and so she sighed loudly, made some derogatory remark and then removed his shoes angrily from a tray and banged them onto the conveyor belt. Her behaviour was so rude and I politely told her so, whereupon she shouted “I’m not being rude. If you listened the first time there wouldn’t be a problem!” A second attendant then shouted at several of us for standing too close to the gate by the scanner. My sons and I were shocked by the aggressive and rude way we were treated, and other passengers expressed similar feelings. How on earth would people with learning difficulties or other frailties cope with this treatment?! Upsetting end to our holiday in the USA - made us glad to be getting back on a plane to the UK! Training is urgently needed to remind these people that travellers are human beings with feelings, who are paying a lot of money for their flights and who deserve to be treated with basic respect! After security we paid a lot of money for food that arrived cold and after a very long wait. Overall not a positive experience.

✅ Trip Verified | On several locations I really felt treated like cattle. “Move up, stand there, don’t go there’s, etc.. Come on staff, treat us the way you want to be treated yourself.

Not Verified | Went through immigration and customs in 30 minutes. I’ve read a great many reviews about slow long lines at immigration but we arrived on time from UK and were through in a very short time.

✅ Trip Verified | Rude, unhelpful and officious staff; do they receive special training to unlearn basic customer service? My mother taught me to smile and say “please” and “thankyou”. Incompetent and inefficient setup; have they never seen how other international airports work? Please someone, go visit Changi or Haneda to see how to do it properly. On arrival, there was just one immigration officer for two full planes. Long lines of unhappy people ordered around like cattle. I’ve previously missed connecting flights due to extremely long wait times in immigration. On departure, surly staff are needlessly rude. Security is a joke with little understanding of the concept of flow. Terminal 7 is small with very basic amenities. I’ve travelled internationally every month for the last 25-years, and in my experience, JFK is one of the worst airports in the world. If first and last impressions matter, then JFK is a total fail and does NYC a massive disservice. Avoid if at all possible.

Not Verified | I arrived home to find that my checked bag had been opened, it was locked when I checked it and not locked when I got to my destination. I know that TSA will randomly open and check a bag which I have no problem with, however, I had 2 carefully packaged whiskey glasses from Hudson Valley Distillers which were missing. It is a shame when those who have the job of security cannot be trusted. The glasses were of very little value monetarily but a reminder of an otherwise wonderful trip. I was told a long time ago that you are only worth what you are willing to lie or steal for, in this case about $5, oh worthy individuals. Maybe TSA should make those who open a bag register and do so under camera surveillance. Who's the real security threat? Oct 19 Jetblue flight 161 from JFK to Sacramento in case anyone cares

✅ Trip Verified | This was the worst arrivals experience I have ever had. I have visited many airports, including some in developing African countries and JFK stands out from all of them. Standing in a queue for 2 hours (with 2 children) just to get through immigration is totally unacceptable. I thought maybe there were some staff on strike or something, but no, there just weren't enough staff - only about half of the counters were open. Why? When we finally got through our baggage was on the floor next to the carousel - it had had to be taken off so that the carousel could be used for another flight! None of the staff I asked could tell me why the queue was so long (when we were at the back and couldn't see what was going on). One lady, when I said "excuse me, can you tell me what's going on?" Just said "No" and carried on walking! Absolutely dreadful after an eight hour flight. My daughter went to the toilet after we finally retrieved our baggage and said they were disgusting. And when we got I to a taxi and told the driver where we needed to go, which was an airport hotel, he asked "where is that?" and I had to give him the full address! I hadn't realised London was such a paradise. I hope never to fly in to this airport again.