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The 13 longest wait times at U.S. Customs in May

Dennis Schaal photo
Dennis Schaal

Photo Credit: Travelers departing and arriving at JFK Terminal 4 better get their walking shoes ready, but that's the least of the problems for arriving international travelers. They have to wait an average of an hour-and-a-half to get through Customs during peak periods.  flickr.com / James Long

Skift Take

Delta is trying to woo business travelers on lucrative long-haul flights from JFK Terminal 4, but the airline likely won't be publicizing the fact that arriving passengers face the longest peak-wait times of any airport in the country in trying to get through Customs.

Among the largest U.S. airports for international arrivals, JFK Terminal 4 had the longest average daily peak waiting time, a whopping 93 minutes, in May 2013. If you had arrived in JFK Terminal 4 during the busiest hours from overseas a year earlier, in May 2012, your wait time would have been 24 minutes less, at just under 70 minutes. After getting off a lengthy flight, anxious to get into the city or onto begin the next stage of your journey, these sorts of protracted and frustrating wait times at Customs are the last thing you desire, and the 34.6% increase in the average daily peak waiting time to 93 minutes in May 2013 shows that the situation has deteriorated. "There's been a reduction in manpower and the process isn't as efficient as it should be," says Stephen Sigmund, executiv

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