New York JFK Airport

Waited over two hours to get processed by one of the armoured immigration officials at T4. Baggage reclaim and the terminal as a whole looked underwhelming not what I was expecting. On the plus side transport by airtrain from various terminals was convenient and efficient.

Arrived via AMS 11/07/12 in short what a dump. You have to feel sorry for the poor souls who work their as most of the locals are just about the rudest people ever. If they stopped charging bag fees and enforced the size policy for carry on bags the security queues would disappear but then its comical to watch them trying to get an extra large carry on into a small overhead bin.

When my husband and I arrived at JFK we were amazed at the short immigration queues (managed by a rude woman who had power issues) and we exited the airport in 30 minutes. On our return however the security queues were extremely long and the staff surly at best. My gripe was they expect you to take off your shoes and do not provide anything for you to wear. When I questioned this I was told why should we provide shoes? You know you are coming to the airport you should wear socks! It was 96 degrees outside socks were the last thought and normally airports in Europe supply them. Once again airport staff seem to be untouchable in attitude and service and we are at their mercy in order to be processed to travel. It seems to be that rudeness is a qualification for the job.

Arriving from AMS in T4 with KLM. I had to wait for an hour for the immigration. Friendly immigration officers compared to other US airports but you have to wait! I rented a car! CDG looks like a breeze compared to JFK. With JFK in a sweltering 100F heat one has to take the sky train to go the main rental station - yes there is no rental station at each terminal. It took me 2hrs to process all that. I thought that CDG was the at the bottom JFK apparently is giving the Paris a close contest!

JFK New York City - Charles de Gaulle Paris France w/ Layover in Geneva. JFK still has the problem of not having enough food choices and Wi-Fi access beyond the security checkpoint. It makes it really hard to get anything done in the airport while you are waiting for your boarding time. The food still is very limited and much more expensive by comparison to other airports I have been to recently. The good qualities are comfortable seats with plugs nearby to keep your computer charged and much better restrooms since the last time I was there. Getting through security was much easier this time with much quicker progress from having more security lines.

I can only comment on Terminal 4. I arrived for my flight to Brazil on a weekday morning thinking I'd be queuing for hours. It turns out the line was not very long for check-in and it was made even quicker with courteous staff members directing everyone where to go. There is a fair amount of shopping before security which is nice. Security checkpoint lines were not very long and the TSA officers were actually friendly and helpful! Once past security Terminal 4 in the gate area is very nice clean and well-kept. Coming back on my return flight from Brazil was an entirely different story. After a 10 hour flight we arrived in the customs hall only to be greeted by screaming and unhelpful customs personnel who didn't seem to care how they treated people. They screamed angry directions in English to mostly Portuguese speaking Brazilians expecting them to understand. Well most of them didn't and the customs officials thought that if they screamed louder they would somehow understand. I was embarrassed that this was the first experience foreigners got when entering the USA.

We arrived at JFK after our transatlantic flight and were ushered into a narrow hot hallway where we waited for a long time before being told to wait to go through passport control. What a terrible introduction to the USA for foreign visitors! Then we picked up our luggage and waited in a mob of people pushing to get through the customs check. Then the real trial began! We waited in an interminably long line to go through the TSA check to re-board our flight to ATL. The line hardly moved because there were hundreds of people and just one line! Finally when several people started expressing fear that we would miss our connecting flight someone called the tower and another line was opened. The location was insufficiently staffed for the number of people trying to go through. Our treatment due to the crowding was unconscionable. As we stood in line we were able to see several TSA agents chatting while we waited to go through the one line. This seems like a very inefficient use of personnel. I feel that such conditions decrease the effectiveness of the TSA workers. Thus it was a very uncomfortable anxiety producing and unsafe situation. I was told that this is common at JFK in the summer. Please correct this.

After arriving at JFK airport on a flight from Rome my wife and I - along with every person arriving at the terminal - were greeted by screaming CBP representatives herding U.S. passport holders to one side and legions of international passport holders to another side. As we passed by hundreds of the latter being shoved to one side in a barely air-conditioned terminal we winced upon finding an equally mammoth group of international travelers waiting for customs clearance around the corner. No more than 50% of the agent stalls were active as if the influx of travelers into the JFK facility was somehow unexpected! The outright rudeness combined with an obviously flawed system made us embarrassed to be Americans. Several other people in our U.S. line expressed the same sad sentiment. At the very least one would think that CBP could muster some employees with a sliver of civility who might greet arriving passengers in a friendly and apologetic manner especially considering the wait ahead. This situation was so utterly and completely inexcusable that even now I regret not saying something to the agents themselves at the time.

Arrived on Aeroflot from Moscow to JFK Terminal 1 and the immigration lines for US Citizens and Non US Citizens was mind blowing. It took 1.5 hrs as a US Citizen to clear customs as Terminal 1 is not equipped to handle immigration. JFK airport officials should require most international carriers on arrival to JFK to use Terminal 4 for clearing customs or expand terminal 1 to handle immigration.

Just come back from New York JFK. As all reviews say I've never ever dealt with such rude staff we queued for nearly 3 hrs to get to passport control 2 flights arrived and 2 desks were open. They shout at people like we are a bunch of naughty school kids these people need to be taught manners.