Miami airport madness

[wendychloecruiser]

i worked in a hospital in Fort Lauderdale and had to call the blood bank for URGENT blood for a baby and was greeted with "No englee call back."

[jagoffee]

Not on the PA in the baggage claim area . Because of the prevalence of Spanish spoken in Miami-Dade County , people don't have to learn English . As a Firefighter- Paramedic , we had a number of people angry at us if nobody on our unit spoke Spanish . :rolleyes:

 

An airport PA who cannot speak English in an international airport in the US and therefore all announcements are Spanish only? Again, who ever made that decision should be fired. It could even be a safety issue.

[2onboardagain]

An airport PA who cannot speak English in an international airport in the US and therefore all announcements are Spanish only? Again, who ever made that decision should be fired. It could even be a safety issue.

 

The America that WAS a melting pot has been replaced by the Tower of Babel know as "Diversity". A pox on all of our elected officials who have either encouraged or allowed this to happen.

[helen haywood]

A few years ago when driving around Miami looking for a CVS I could not find a single radio station broadcasting in English.

[Seasickwithoutpatch]

My wife and I have a cruise out of Miami in a couple of weeks. Have read about nightmares getting out of the airport in a reasonable amount of time. The posts refer to international flights coming in, we are domestic coming from Atlanta. Curious about time for domestic travelers?

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Jon from Atlanta

[bEwAbG]

Lots of vaguely racist drivel being spouted here. Maybe the PA announcement was directed to passengers arriving from Spanish-speaking countries? The signs are all in English. Most airports have monitors in English that show you the location of the baggage claims. Sometimes changes are made. I had it happen to me at a regional airport just this past week—no PA announcements about it. That’s bad customer service and not a reflection of the demographic makeup of airport workers and how many languages they speak.

 

Passport control is another matter. Without getting into the politics of it all, I think everyone recognizes that the U.S. immigration arrival process in most every airport is hardly ever pleasant. Sometimes it’s just less annoying than other times.

[Gordoncruickshank]

Oh yes there is but it cost $$$

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/11974722/Fast-track-entry-to-US-arrives-for-British-travellers-at-a-cost.html

 

This does not start until 3 December. Big issue is the second part where you need to have the interview from my reading, in the US. I don't know if we could fit this in when we are there in February, but the cost, spread over 5 years, isn't huge unless we need to fly to US seperately from when we intend to be there for out cruises.

[DZalumni]

Oh yes there is but it cost $$$

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/11974722/Fast-track-entry-to-US-arrives-for-British-travellers-at-a-cost.html

 

Wow that is cheap compared to Global entry. I wonder if they get pre too with this...

[elbowroom]

As a European and frequent visitor to the USA, there is a marked contrast between the pleasant, hospitable and open character of the majority of the American people, and the general bossiness of the border officials, particularly towards transit passengers who are naturally anxious to make their connecting flights.

 

There can be long queues at any airport; it's simply a question of staffing levels. LHR is a good example; usually it's slow, but during the 2012 Olympic games it was quicker than it's ever been, past or present! I wonder why?

[A Sixth?]

Well, finally at our hotel, the Savoy in south beach after two and a half hours that is the madness of Miami Airport. Worst experience of any airport we have ever used. Why an earth do they recheck passports at the exits after you have already gone through passport control ? The lines just to get out were horrendous. Lots of people close to losing their tempers and after being up nearly 24 hours and it being 2-30am UK time very tired.

 

[Ceeborne]

 

I love your sense of humour😂😂

[yorkyred]

 

And yet they apparently had the same problems in 2012/2013/2014 for starters. I also doubt not having enough staff with a good few not knowing what's going on has much to do with 2015. Strangely Heathrow don't seem to struggle with this 2015 phenomenon.

[Hlitner]

This is somewhat related in that the US Global Entry Program was recently opened to UK Citizens. And there are also deals with several similar European programs. These programs can usually mean that you get to skip the long lines at US airports, but the programs are not inexpensive and you do have to go through the approval process.

 

Hank

[AquariusOne]

My wife and I have a cruise out of Miami in a couple of weeks. Have read about nightmares getting out of the airport in a reasonable amount of time. The posts refer to international flights coming in, we are domestic coming from Atlanta. Curious about time for domestic travelers?

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Jon from Atlanta

 

Hello all,

We are in similar situation. Our light is from Dellas into Miami. Are we going face same delay issues, as people coming in from International flights?

Hope someone can shed some light on this issue.

Thanks

[Host CJSKIDS]

A few years ago when driving around Miami looking for a CVS I could not find a single radio station broadcasting in English.

 

Come on, really??!!!!

[HawksFan74]

Lots of vaguely racist drivel being spouted here.

Not sure what language has to do with racism?

[ldlewis45]

Ok ,had a decent nights sleep now in a very nice bed. To be fair there were a good few flights in last night all at the same time but the organisation, certainly in the baggage reclaim area was a complete shambles. The lines at passport control were huge to start with and people were split into nationals and none nationals which confused many with not enough staff to direct people. After long flights people were making mistakes and I saw a guy in front of us sent right back to the back of the other line after a full hour in ours. Then the carnage that was baggage reclaim. Oh my god two separate lines a mile long just to leave the building with no staff telling anyone where or why they were queuing, people were cutting into lines that went past one of their carousels in all innocence which of course upset others. This was just to take another look at the immigration form already stamped by passport control. Now I've flown into a few airports in America including Orlando, Sanford, and Tampa last year and we did not have to go through that second process which caused those further delays. Remember to many if the Europeans this was 2-30 am in the morning with a good few having children. Now I'm all for security but all the second guy did was literally take the immigration form and ask us were we were staying. I've always been asked that at passport control. Anyway rant over but for those flying in I would suggest take some water with you be prepared to be patient. On the plus side the organisation of yellow taxi's was great and we only waited 5 minutes with a flat fee of $35 down to south beach displayed by the driver. You just pressed a small button to accept. Pity the weather here is crap though.

 

It's not "just to take another look at the declaration form." They're doing that to weed out the people that are referred for secondary inspection, as the people referred to agriculture or baggage inspections have to pick up their luggage before being inspected. The officer indicates the referral on the paper, so if you haven't been referred for further inspection or aren't picked for a random inspection, you get to leave with no problems. Plus, the officers are only human and sometimes make mistakes, so the checkpoint at exit also double checks to make sure that the primary officer did everything correctly and didn't miss something that needs to be inspected further (e.g, the passenger didn't check "yes" for having food products but wrote food on the back on the form).

[bEwAbG]

Not sure what language has to do with racism?

 

I'm talking about the anti-immigrant/foreigner/other tone to some of the posts. Someone has already pointed one of them out, so it's not just me being overly sensitive. There are other posts full of dog-whistle talking points.

Edited November 16, 2015 by bEwAbG

[LA_Design]

Apparently you clear US immigration if you fly from Ireland. It would be an option for us, as our home airport is Manchester, so we could fly to Dublin just as easily as LHR. You would then fly into FLl.

 

 

pending the supposed flights from Carlisle to dublin (ever the optimist [emoji41]) our options are from newcastle -mia via lhr ( once and once only [emoji13])

 

Our preferred option now is to fly virgin to orlando a few days before and after. direct flight and the immigration process is not too bad. pick up a car and have a few games of golf then head down slowly to Miami. Usually stay one night in the area.

 

Last time we stayed Sunny Isles Beach and previously Don Shula's near Miami Lakes. This time we have got a condo in downtown Miami.

 

Anything to avoid. MIA and / or LHR.