Arrived yesterday - Immigration was a dream.

Segdude · 28 Jun 19, 10:53 AM

Admin, please move if you feel this is in the wrong place.
So, quite a familiar scenario for many of you. We arrived yesterday late afternoon/evening. It's now 5am local time and I'm wide awake!
I don't do trip reports (might do a mini one a bit later, see how I feel), but thought I'd quickly let you know about yesterdays experience with immigration...….are you ready? Sit down, take a deep breath and relax. We sailed through! We were first off the plane (yes, seats 19a, c, d,e and f) and for the second time on the trot we were met with an empty immigration hall. Plenty of immigration officers and we were fist up. One of my daughters timed it from touchdown to driving out of the car park 50 minutes.
I'll put a post in the Car Hire section for those of you who are interested.
Right, it's still pitch black outside so I'm off to make my second cup of coffee.

Moz · 28 Jun 19, 10:58 AM

Lucky you...!... we arrived on Monday on the 11.15 Gatwick flight and had the worst immigration queue we have ever seen ... 2 hours and 10 minutes we timed it at from starting to queue to getting our bags

Segdude · 28 Jun 19, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by Moz

Lucky you...!... we arrived on Monday on the 11.15 Gatwick flight and had the worst immigration queue we have ever seen ... 2 hours and 10 minutes we timed it at from starting to queue to getting our bags

Sorry to hear that Moz, it must seem like I'm rubbing your nose in it

I was a little concerned as I'd had a text alert from Virgin the day before saying that due to construction work there may be some delays, but as I've said, it was a dream. There had been an earlier flight from Manchester as there were plenty of people around that luggage carousel but didn't look like any others had arrived prior to us. We were on the 1pm Virgin from Gatwick, which pushed back late and finally took off at 1.40, but the flight time was only 8 hours 15 minutes, so obviously a favourable tail wind

Moz · 28 Jun 19, 11:46 AM

Ha... not at all... glad you were through quick... we were held in a little room first then into the hall.. worst we have seen but here now and enjoying the sunrise from the pool area... bliss

Have a great holiday

Segdude · 28 Jun 19, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by Moz

Ha... not at all... glad you were through quick... we were held in a little room first then into the hall.. worst we have seen but here now and enjoying the sunrise from the pool area... bliss

Have a great holiday

Lol!, by the pool myself, whilst the rest of the family is asleep. They are missing the best part of the day. All I can hear is birds singing, and a very distant background hum of traffic, which I assume is probably the I4 rush hour.

SquishTheWhale · 28 Jun 19, 11:52 AM

Were you in PE? The time we were downstairs PE we were through immigration in under 5 minutes. Last trip we were almost at the back of economy and it was 1.5hrs! And our flight was the 1st into the hall, 2 or 3 others arrived after us until the hall was totally full. God knows how long they had to wait.
Next time I think paying for PE outbound is worth it just to skip that queue!

RickT · 28 Jun 19, 11:55 AM

When we landed in Vegas, we were first off the aircraft and first people into the hall. It was great - then took 90 mins to get the hire car with Alamo as they had none in the garage !

Mr Tom Morrow · 28 Jun 19, 11:56 AM

That was a quick exit. Well done.

Sadly we are going to have to line up in August as the Granddaughter is with us and she doesn't have GE.

Segdude · 28 Jun 19, 12:00 PM

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

Were you in PE? The time we were downstairs PE we were through immigration in under 5 minutes. Last trip we were almost at the back of economy and it was 1.5hrs! And our flight was the 1st into the hall, 2 or 3 others arrived after us until the hall was totally full. God knows how long they had to wait.
Next time I think paying for PE outbound is worth it just to skip that queue!

Yes, we were in PE, row 19, a through f. This is the second time we've arrived into an empty immigration hall. Mind you, we've had some shockers in the past. Christmas 2015 we were held on the plan for 45 minutes, then spent just over two hours in the queue. It was so bad that in 2016 we decided to fly into Tampa. Unfortunately we had such an awful experience with BA that we decided not to fly with them again.

Segdude · 28 Jun 19, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

That was a quick exit. Well done.

Sadly we are going to have to line up in August as the Granddaughter is with us and she doesn't have GE.

Well hopefully it wont be too bad for you Tom. I have to say that 2015 was our worst experience, and the last two trips have been a dream. I seem to recall 2016 being about 45 minute, maybe an hour, I cant honestly remember. In my book, that's not to bad, especially for us ESTA guys who don't have GE!

28 Jun 19, 11:52 AM	#6
	28 Jun 19, 11:52 AM SquishTheWhale Imagineer
SquishTheWhale Imagineer Join Date: Mar 18 Location: Milton Keynes	Were you in PE? The time we were downstairs PE we were through immigration in under 5 minutes. Last trip we were almost at the back of economy and it was 1.5hrs! And our flight was the 1st into the hall, 2 or 3 others arrived after us until the hall was totally full. God knows how long they had to wait. Next time I think paying for PE outbound is worth it just to skip that queue!

28 Jun 19, 11:56 AM	#8
	28 Jun 19, 11:56 AM Mr Tom Morrow Imagineer
Mr Tom Morrow Imagineer Join Date: Jul 14 Location: The Tiki Room. theDIBB Guidebook Pages Created: 3	That was a quick exit. Well done. Sadly we are going to have to line up in August as the Granddaughter is with us and she doesn't have GE. __________________ "PAGING MR MORROW, MR TOM MORROW..." ''I drink Wine and know things'' DVC Owners at SSR since 2003. Multiple annual visits to America since 1976