New York JFK Airport

Arrived at JFK on time and docked straight away, walk to Immigration was was very short, a nice surprise. Actually found a queue-less security booth. We forgot to fill in customs declaration so were pointed to one of the queue marshals who had loads of spares. Filled in form and then went straight through security. Very easy no questions what so ever. Baggage arrived very quickly. Longest wait was 5 minutes for a taxi. Going home Taxi journey from Manhattan was awful rush hour in the rain. Got dropped of at correct check in area and were through to security in minutes. Huge snake like queue so long that I thought we would miss the plane but it was very deceptive. It was very quick moving and 15 minutes later we were airside. Although bit of confusion re my belt and titanium hip although we were all smiling. Looked around duty free got a drink an ambled to out gate. Easy.

Arrival on 17th December into Terminal 4 was good, immigration and customs all swift. Departure was a shambles. We had to wait in a very long line for security for over 20 minutes. I have travelled through JFK Terminal 4 numerous times and never had to wait this long.

We arrived into JFK terminal 7 on Jan 1 at 11pm after a 15 hour flight from HK. The line awaiting customs was not very long, and we hoped, as US citizens, it would be speedy. We were shuffled by a BA Terminal 7 employee (white shirt thus not a customs officer) over to a line to wait for an agent. After several minutes it became clear there were computer issues for the traveler in line. After 10 minutes, while many of the other lines were moving along, I asked the same BA employee to move us to a different line. He said fine but he had to move the 2 groups ahead of us before he moved us, which was fair. He did so, but despite many other lines being available, he did not move us. He had the audacity to tell me to "calm down" and that "I was not in the US yet." We had to wait another 10 minutes before the customs agent logged into another computer.

6:30 pm International Terminal 7, JFK, 12/21/2015. Waiting for 9:00pm departure. This airport is pathetic, a shameful representative of the USA. It is worse than many third world airports. There are not enough seats for all the people waiting. People are sitting on the floor everywhere. Everybody is helplessly accepting the situation as "Oh well, what do you expect". There's no pride evidenced here and there is nothing 21st century here except the pay phones are gone.

Massively under staffed. Almost missed our flight. We allowed ourselves 1.5 hours to travel domestically. Biggest mistake ever. In most counties all you need is max 45 mins, not in the US. The security check had 3 conveyor belts/scanners going and they shut one down. The queue was growing, and at one stage no one was passing through. It was one of the worst airports in the world I have delt with. Management do something - one of the biggest airports in the world, maybe have 10 security check scanners going, not 2.

It seems that every time I return to New York via this airport there is something new and it is not good. The last time I returned from Asia the computers went down at immigration and the officer was rude and obviously annoyed with everything and everybody. This time on my return I cannot complain about the officer but who was the bright mind that decided that citizens should now be sent to the same line as non-citizens? That was terribly frustrating as we had to wait forever for visitors to be fingerprinted etc. it makes no sense. After a very long flight all we older folks want is to get home. What nonsense. Wise up, JFK. The lines did not go faster because of this new silly change.

What an awful experience at New York JFK Airport. I arrived in Terminal 1. The plane waited for 1 hour on the tarmac for a gate to be assigned. Then it took me 2hrs 10min to clear immigration and an extra 20 min to collect my luggage, all that while standing in line with no drinking water available. There were 9 counters open serving thousands of people who have just arrived on transcontinental flights. I almost missed my next flight. Luckily, it was delayed. The transfer between terminals was another awful experience. I will never again fly into JFK when entering the US.

Overall a good experience. For arrival, immigration in T4 was bustling but as I'm a fairly frequent visitor to the US I was able to use the automated machines. These are quite easy to use but can understand less frequent travellers frustration as the photo and fingerprint scans were tricky. Did not have to queue for long for my passport stamp or at customs and as I didn't have checked baggage I was outside in less than 20 minutes (this was around 6.45pm). Departure was also from T4, security processing took about 15-minutes, TSA staff were generally agreeable, which is about as good as one can expect nowadays. Airside shopping experience pretty uninspiring and the departure concourse is a bit dingy and dimly lit. Most seats have power which is a bonus but free WiFi allowance is a paltry 30 minutes and then you have to pay. Overall, quite satisfied - could not fault the arrival, and departure is fine as long as you don't have too much time to kill prior to your flight.

I was surprised at the TSA staff. Some of them were in need of a major overhaul of attitude. No interest in assisting the already confused foreigners and US citizens. It wasn't everyone, but certain people. Food was expensive once you'd gone past security in the terminal that we were in and had only one choice that I was aware of.

Landing at 8.30pm from London, 30 minutes earlier than scheduled, it took 1 hour to get through the inefficient immigration check. The questions asked by the officer were ridiculous. Where are you travelling from? Do you live there? How long have you lived there? What is the purpose of your visit to the US? Where are you staying? Where do you work? What is your job there? Have you travelled to the US before? When? Have you travelled to any other countries in the past 3 weeks? Have you travelled to West Africa in the past 3 weeks? Followed by more ridiculous Q&A read directly from the form. All served up with a "you are most certainly not welcome to America attitude." In the meantime our luggage was piled up on the carousel for anyone to pick up and walk off with. The hypocrisy and harassment of this "procedure' is further illuminated as you step outside the arrivals hall and are greeted by touting unofficial taxi drivers and a total absence of security personnel. For travellers with health related conditions and small children - be prepared to "stand in line" for a long time without access to any seating or toilets whilst waiting for your "interview".