JFK - A pain in the ass

Customs from overseas is worst at JFK Airport: report


A Global Gateway Alliance study has found that it takes international passengers from 23 minutes to 2 hours to get through customs.

International passengers arriving at JFK International experience the worst customs wait times of all major airports in the country according to a new report.

Coming home from overseas through JFK Airport? Put aside an extra two hours for customs.

International fliers need between 23 to 120 minutes to get through Kennedy Airport's arrivals terminals, an independent study revealed.

The study - conducted by Global Gateway Alliance, an airport watchdog group founded by Thor Equities CEO Joe Sitt - found that the average delay at JFK during the summer was less than a half hour.

But the average maximum delay - during peak hours in August - topped out at a whopping two hours.


More than 3.2 million arriving travelers have gone through customs at JFK this year, more than any airport in the country.

"You've got an eight-hour flight with your family and you're standing on line for two hours just trying to get out of the airport," said Stephen Sigmund, executive director for Global Gateway.

"More than an hour is considered an extreme wait and JFK has more extreme waits than any other airport," said Sigmund.

The next four busiest airports had much shorter maximum wait times, with Chicago's O'Hare Airport (44 minutes), Newark (42) and Miami International and Los Angeles International (both 40) rounding out the top five.


Signs to make passengers aware of US Customs and Border Protection officers watch over passengers arriving Terminal 4 at JFK Airport. Officers are constantly looking for drug mules.

Even during peak hours, O'Hare's customs delay of 74 minutes was far less than JFK's.

To fix the problem, the Global Gateway Alliance wants JFK to get automated kiosks like ones used in O'Hare Airport so agents are not filling out and processing general customs and declaration forms by hand.

They also recommend more staffing at JFK and an on-call rapid response team to help when lines get too long. The watchdog group also wants to eliminate preclearance facilities in unnecessary locations. The changes would improve wait times yet not sacrifice security, the group claims.

"It's bad and it's been bad for a long period of time," said Sigmund.

Officials for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol did not return requests for comment but told The News in July that they are working with air carriers and airport officials to enhance operations.