"Expess Lane" Inwards AUS Immigration

[simongr]

I find the US immigration to be the equivalent of the Australian customs. A painfully slow process compounded by being in the foreign nationals queue behind multiple people who DONT have the right paperwork (much like consistently getting stuck behind people "smuggling" stuff into Oz and pretending their innocence).

 

[albatross710]

and how do we obtain the priority custom/immigration passes?

J or F?

 

[NM]

I find the US immigration to be the equivalent of the Australian customs. A painfully slow process compounded by being in the foreign nationals queue behind multiple people who DONT have the right paperwork (much like consistently getting stuck behind people "smuggling" stuff into Oz and pretending their innocence).

An APEC card helps avoid the immigration queues. But of course is no benefit in jumping customs queues.

 

[david870mdg]

I find the US immigration to be the equivalent of the Australian customs. A painfully slow process compounded by being in the foreign nationals queue behind multiple people who DONT have the right paperwork (much like consistently getting stuck behind people "smuggling" stuff into Oz and pretending their innocence).

mmm

Never had a problem at US or AUS customs, just be prepared to be honest and answer the questions put to you.
Tip for LAX, head as far away from the first line as you can, shorter cues, less people.

Have this to look forawrd to tomorrow morning.

David

 

[david870mdg]

Yes, last time i got waved to the right??? cue six; side at the customs inspection line. Simple process. Speeded things up. Some people were lucky enough to get a stamp and shoot out the very far right exit near luggage collection belt ten in MEL, randomly selected

 

[dragonman]

I cannot comment on JFK or Montreal, but I do not understand why you have a problem with LAX Customs. I have never had much of a delay lining up to exit LAX Customs. Hardly ever see anyone actually being inspected. Just have to queue to hand in the white slip as leaving the baggage hall. Compared with Australian customs who need to x-ray most passenger's bags, LAX customs is, well, lax.

Sorry you are right I was thinking about passport control.

 

[kiwitripper64]

A colleague of mine is a kiwi born and bred indian female aged 30. Arriving to MEL from AKL she was interrogated and asked repeatedly if she had any curry powder. She was asked 4 times ar you sure you dont have anything to declare.
Makes my trips through immigration look tame.

 

[Hvr]

and how do we obtain the priority custom/immigration passes?

J or F?

Yes, there has been mention that WPs are offered them but having never hit those heights I don't know for sure.

 

[dragonman]

Yes, there has been mention that WPs are offered them but having never hit those heights I don't know for sure.

I have always been offered them flying in Y as a WP when checking in at the F counter.

 

[harvyk]

I have always been offered them flying in Y as a WP when checking in at the F counter.

Y+ are also given them...

 

[FlyboyAl]

I came in throo Syd last Tuesday and used the Smartgate lane - there were hundreds queued in the normal immigration area an 3 of us in the smartgate lanes. Cleared Smartgate in about 60 secs and looked back at all the others in the queue behind me. 4 Jumbos had landed at the same time, so it was hectic.
I had declared both food and commercial items on my card and while waiting for the bags to come out I was checked by a roving customs guy and told him I had 3 jars of marmalade and 10 camera, bought cheap in the US for prizes for a competition.
He doodled on the form and stamped it, and by then the bags were out.
I went down the dutiable lane, where the lovely customs lady looked at the form and pointed to the exit and said " theres the exit there"!!!
I lloked at my watch, and from getting off the plane to walking out into the arrivals area, had taken 12 minutes.

I'm sure many people who have new E-Passports do not go to the Smartgate area - they just follow the crowd into the queues.

There is also a sign at the Smartgate area saying to take off any headgear, and remove glasses.

We take passport photos in our business, and it was great to see and use the new system, which from my point of view was excellent.

 

[david870mdg]

Smartgate works wonders!

Smartgate is great.
Last time I stepped of the flight, pre-registered my PP on the e-machine.
Fed the ticket in and scanned my face. Off I went, about one minute process.
Still got checked by the customs upon exiting although they had a new line set up right next to the exit which I'd never seen before.

 

[NM]

mmm

Never had a problem at US or AUS customs, just be prepared to be honest and answer the questions put to you.
Tip for LAX, head as far away from the first line as you can, shorter cues, less people.

My experience at LAX is that at both TBIT and T4 there is only one customs exit point/queue. I think you may be confusing the discussion on customs processing with the multiple queues/lanes for immigration (passport) processing.

 

[david870mdg]

My experience at LAX is that at both TBIT and T4 there is only one customs exit point/queue. I think you may be confusing the discussion on customs processing with the multiple queues/lanes for immigration (passport) processing.

Correct.
Immigration first.
Multiple lines.
Customs at the door, basically one station.

 

[thewinchester]

I too love the SmartGate system, having just got my new ePassport and used it for the first time when coming home on Sunday.

CBP have put a unit on the arrivals concourse at PER before duty free, used that one as there was no queue - so sailed right through downstairs where people were only just starting to wait for the next free terminal.

All in all, no more than 60sec dealing with Passport control - and thanks to some CBP and AQIS officers who I brought smiles to their faces (hands up here who's told an AQIS officer that they were kissed by a Giraffe with a straight face), my IPC which would have seen me go red channel & duty collection assessment was waved right through to a sniffer dog who gave me the paws up and I was straight out the door.

If it wasn't for QF's lousy baggage handlers and the fact QC membership doesn't give you priority handling on international routes, it could have been no more than 8min from aircraft to exit, including converting over the spare SGD's at Travelex. Oh well, nothing is ever perfect.