About how long for customs

[Anonymous]

I have not traveled internationally in a long while. We do not have global entry but will try the new state department ap. It will be a Monday in November. Just trying to schedule transport home and a further flight for part of the group. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the airport and how many flights are coming in. Generally customs is a joke. You just walk through.
Immigration is what you’ll be standing in line for.

[Anonymous]

Which airport and which time of day ?

Example: At Dulles many flights from Europe land mid-afternoon, which leads to a crush at immigration then. Other airports vary.

[Anonymous]

What country?

It's hard to say.

I was at Dulles last month and the line looked long but I think it was about 25 minutes. I have Global Entry so I took about 2 minutes. My friend met me shortly after.

It also depends on what airport you're coming from. There are several (Toronto, Dublin, others) where you do US Immigration in that country and just walk off the plane like it's a domestic flight in the US. It's called PreClearance. That's usually a line but not too long and ultimately, easier when you land.

[Anonymous]

You can’t really time a pick up- too many variables.

Plane landing time
Immigration
Baggage pick up

They are all places to get hung up.

[Anonymous]

40 minutes ? Will depend on how many planes come in.

Most companies that do airport transport know how to factor Customs in.

You are overthinking this. It is part of the experience and cannot be controlled or tightly predicted.

[Anonymous]

Something went wrong at Heathrow recently and the lines were taking four hours

[Anonymous]

Depends on time, airport, country arriving from, etc.

I have global entry but when I used to come back home, I'd noticed flights from Israel, Jamaica, some African countries, and the Netherlands always seem to have longer delays going through customs then when I returned from Asia (as an example).

[Anonymous]

Definitely get the MPC app. We went through Dulles on a Saturday evening recently without the app, and it took us over 2 hours. Family on the same flight with the app got through in a lot less time.

[Anonymous]

My wife says the new app is really fast. I haven’t traveled internationally since we discovered it so no personal experience.

[Anonymous]

We used the MPC app at Dulles twice this summer coming from Europe and were through within 5-10 minutes. The regular line was not super long - I'd guess 30-45 minutes. We also pay for seats near the front of the plane so we're some of the first people off our flight.

[Anonymous]

The biggest problem at Dulles lately is waiting for one of those busses to come pick up everyone to transport you to the customs area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The biggest problem at Dulles lately is waiting for one of those busses to come pick up everyone to transport you to the customs area.

Yup- why being first off the plane doesn't necessarily mean that much at Dulles- it's not like you are head of a walking line or anything. All it means is you are among the first on the bus thing- which may not mean you are first off.

[Anonymous]

Sorry fir lack of details...IAD from Spain. I guess I will just call DH after customs and wait. He will be like 40 minutes away.

[Anonymous]

At Dulles or Baltimore / one hour minimum every time I’ve gone through them. It’s wretched.