Originally Posted By tiki tiki tiki tiki I´ll be flying out to L.A. in July & I need some help on picking my routes. It´s just me & my 4 year old boy traveling this time so I want to make our change of planes as quickly & as smoothly as possible. Last year we had to go through customs in Miami & it was just a nightmare! 4 police controls, baggage search & tons of problems & stress. We had 3 & a half hours between one flight & another & we just barely made it, literally. Since I don´t want to go through that again, I´m looking at other options with other airlines like British, Air France, Lufthansa, Delta. Stopover airports, with our mandatory customs checks, are Heathrow, C. de Gaulle, Frankfurt & Atlanta. I´d like to stay away from Miami & JFK if possible! Any first hand information would be greatly appreciated. My travel agent has given me some tips but I´d really like to hear some other opinions also. Thank you!!!!!
Originally Posted By Mr X Your milage may vary, but I've been through Newark N.J. customs 8 times now and they are reasonably friendly and efficient. I've never encountered a significant delay there. Is Newark an option? (I believe that's a hub for Continental airlines, if you're searching)
Originally Posted By trekkeruss Here's a list of ratings I found on a 'net search: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/dl9ftv" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/dl9ftv</a>
Originally Posted By trekkeruss As for first-hand experience, I've been through all the airports on your list, but Heathrow is the only one I've been to numerous times. I've never had any problems at any of them; from memory I liked Frankfurt the best.
Originally Posted By tiki tiki tiki tiki Continental was an option until I saw the airfare, yikes! It is so much more expensive compared to various others for the dates I want, I have no idea why. I was inclining toward Heathrow but I´ve heard many stories lately about hassles & complications in customs & just caos in general. Frankfurt is ending up to be my first option, I haven´t heard anything negative about it & to be honest, I´d love to fly Lufthansa. They still are a great airline aren´t they? ...or is that history?
Originally Posted By Mr X Not sure which airlines are best, but I would say that EVEN IF you carefully choose your airport and airline, you still might end up experiencing delays. And conversely, you could happen to end up in Miami or J.F.K. on a "good day", and have no problems at all. It's all a crapshoot really. Isn't it? I would take a look at that star system Russ provided in post 3, pick a "four star" airport, and then just not worry about it.
Originally Posted By leemac tiki - you won't have to clear immigration and customs in the UK if you are in transit. You simply stay on neutral territory and just transfer. I would strongly recommend Iberia to LHR and then onward service to LAX with BA. They can ticket it on one ticket through the OneWorld alliance then. I don't believe there is another option - except to transit to MAD on Iberia and then BA to Heathrow.
Originally Posted By tiki tiki tiki tiki You´re right Mr X, I agree with you totally. No matter how careful one is choosing the right everything for a trip, a wide array of things can go wrong. I guess my fear of flying combined with my terrible habit of wanting to organize everything down to perfection complicates my decision! leemac - It´s on the way back to Spain that I would have to pass through customs in London & by some of the stories I´ve heard they´re quite strict. But I will take your recommendation into consideration. I wouldn´t mind going with BA again, both times I flew with them were great.
Originally Posted By travellerandquilter Re Heathrow. April 2 years ago we were in tranist from Singapore to Paris via London. We had quite a long walk thru Heathrow and did go thru at least 1 bag xray and as hubby had some alcohol from Singapore he had to pack it as thru bags even though we were transit only. Needless to say the alcohol did not arrive in 1 piece in Paris! It was like going through customs all over again. This may have changed as it was 2 yeas ago.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< It´s on the way back to Spain that I would have to pass through customs in London >>> Are you saying that if you flew from LAX to LHR to Spain, that you'd have to go through Customs at LHR? I don't see why that would be, and don't think it's true. <<< April 2 years ago we were in tranist from Singapore to Paris via London. We had quite a long walk thru Heathrow and did go thru at least 1 bag xray and as hubby had some alcohol from Singapore he had to pack it as thru bags even though we were transit only. >>> This is true at most non-US int'l airports: int'l-to-int'l connections require that you go through security. Although there is no Immigration or Customs inspection, you can't bring anything with you that can't otherwise go through security, including liquid duty-free items purchased past security at your original airport or on board the first flight. But this is going to be true almost anywhere. Just about the only place you have to go through Immigration and Customs inspection when making an int'l-int'l connection is in the US, since we no longer have TWOV (Transit With Out Visa).
Originally Posted By tiki tiki tiki tiki So sorry, my mistake, I apologize! Customs inspections take place in the US. Of course, that´s where we encountered so many problems last summer, in Miami. When coming back to Spain from LAX, we have to pass through customs (if you want to call it that since they seldom look at your bags) in Sevilla, our final destination. I want to avoid the hassle of having to go through customs on the way to LAX. Flying from LHR with British or from Munich with Lufthansa lets me calmly catch my flight without having to worry about missing my connecting flight due to long lines & police controls. If I go through customs at my final destination, it takes a load off my worries.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Just as an aside, in case it comes up on your search, I see that Air Canada flies from Madrid to Toronto to LAX. Be aware that flights from Canada to the US clear US Immigration and Customs before departure in Canada, not upon arrival in the US (the US gov't actually has officers stationed at Canadian airports to accomplish this). So, an inbound connection from Europe to the US in Canada will have the same issues as your connection in Miami did: a potential to miss the connection due to slow Immigration/Customs procedures.
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin I've flown through Heathrow, CDG, and Frankfurt and would say I like Frankfurt the best. I found CDG difficult to get around in, and I speak French! Of course I agree with everyone else that any airport will be bad or good at certain times and you might be unlucky. My fiance always flies Lufthansa, and he has other options.
Originally Posted By tiki tiki tiki tiki Flights are booked!! I rerouted a bit but it´s going to work out much better than I thought. We´ll be flying out of Málaga, which is about a two hour drive from Sevilla, to Frankfurt & directly on to LAX with Lufthansa & flying the same route back home to Spain. This way we only catch 2 flights each way instead of 3, so much better. Also we´ll only go through customs in L.A. & in Frankfurt on the way back but with a 3 hour layover which is more than enough time to calmly catch our flight back home. AND I got a GREAT fare considering it´s for travel in July: 1600 euros/$2115.00 for both of us. I´m so happy I had to share it with y´all! And thanks for the help! I really appreciate it.
