Rushman

Let me get this straight.....our POE officers are just as rude to Asians "apparently" but you've never actually seen this because all they did was check your passport.Hmmm

That's funny because as far as I can remember all the POE officers at LHR that checked my passport were Asian., reasonable polite given the monotony of their job.

gsnichol

Just passing on what some Chinese (as in citizen) friends of mine tell me whenever they pass through Heathrow... Brits never get the arsey, cantankerous questions because we can't be denied entry, so it's somewhat pointless. But it must be a bloody boring job.. 'hello' *swipe*; 'hello' *swipe*; 'hello' *swipe*; although once I had a lady ask me to remove my Panama..

Rushman

I'm not suprised. I wouldn't want to be breathing in cigar smoke either....you inconsiderate f**ker.

gsnichol

gardnma

(Panama Cigar)

joto

We have been here just over 9 years and when we flew back to Boston in June after a short visit abroad that was the only time one of the immigration officials was remotely pleasant to us. Most of the time they give us the third degree as to why we have been out of the country etc, etc., and not in a very nice way either. When these people go through their training, they must get points to which of them will graduate "nasty school" as the nastiest, most awkward immigration officer at Logan airport.

Ray

More likely they don't want to be the person who has to stand in front of Congess explaing why they let a terrorist into the country ..

gardnma

They certainly take their jobs seriously and have no fun at work. Typical yanks.

ironporer

In Cathy and my 28 trips across the Atlantic and my probably 12 trips to Mexico we have had both good and bad. Returning from MTY to ATL one time I had a Hispanic officer once tell me that I had to "Stand behind the yellow line- when my left foot was 1/2 way across the tape on the carpet. He then scowled "And why were you in Mexico, Mr. XXX...beezness? No asshole, I just like to flydown for 36 hours with only a briefcase and a carryon. Dickhead. So at least you know that they are arrogant pricks to Yanks as well as immigrants.
Cathy also had 2 bad experiences in ATL, both with the same red haired prick who bullied and intimifated her...though he did let her pass. Her experience in Newark was a nightmare, when she was denied entry and handcuffed and driven (sirens blaring) to another plane hours later...while the officers 'high fived' the fat bitch who 'caught' her. 4 times thru Philly we together and she alone had very pleasant experiences.

That being said, EVERY time we entered Spain, or I entered Mexico, we got a nice, polite "welcome to our country".

SecretGarden

This was my experience coming back from Heathrow to Chicago which I wrote about on another thread:

I've flown to the UK and back a total of four times (once with my husband). I am a 42 year old white American female and each of the three times I flew back alone, I was sent to "secondary security" or whatever they call it. This would have been in 2002, 2003, and 2005. All my carryon was dumped on a conveyor belt, the contents of my purse rifled through, my cellphone dismantled, eyeglasses broken and then summarily dumped in the garbage by the security person ("guess you won't be needing THESE now, will you???" as I watched her throw them), and candy that my future mother in law had sent as a present to my kids confiscated and thrown away ("Don't they have candy in the United States???")

Each time this has happened, I have answered their questions calmly and truthfully and not argued with anything anyone said or said anything that could have been interpreted as suspicious. I don't know why I was picked for this special treatment, or why in the hell that b*tch said those horrible things to me, but I got on the plane, shut my mouth and got what I needed, which was to get where I was going.

None of this occurred on the flight back when I was with my English husband.

So, it's certainly not just the US that has surly, unpleasant and yes, unfriendly officers. Even though I didn't like the way I was treated, I would have to say that it wasn't this woman's job to be friendly. The goal is to keep people OUT until they show that they should be let IN, and I guess she accomplished that goal.

~SecretGarden

Elvira

OMG this is horrible! Why on earth did they refuse entry to your wife? And why the need for handcuffs? I am completely flabbergasted

Elvira

Are you referring to the security inspection, or immigration? I suspect the former, and I'm afraid the inspectors at Heathrow are some of the unfriendliest I have come across.

gardnma

I'm a little concerned for when we visit the UK next year. Myself and the kids will be going through the UK line and my Mrs will be going through the other one for foreign nationals.

If they choose to be silly buggers with her at Gatwick, how the hell will we know about it? I wonder if we can all go through together and show our UK passports while the wife shows her US one......?

Anyone ever had to split up at port of entry with the kids???

BigDavyG

Bloody hell - care to explain ??

Anyway - I suppose this is one advantage of flying here from Dublin - you go through immigration in Ireland and when you get to the US you just go straight to the baggage carousel.
Obviously you deal with the same ignorant douchebags that have been described on this thread (some real wankpots too) but for me anyway, at least if I ever got knocked back I could just jump on a bus and be home in a few hours, and to be honest I prob wouldn't be that bothered

SecretGarden

Good point. Yep, there is a distinction, and I thank you for pointing that out. I was referring to the security people at the gate right before boarding the plane.

I've never gotten a friendly "Welcome to England" at the POE, mostly "Purpose of your trip?" , stamp the passport, that's it.

I don't need to be welcomed by the people at the desk; that's why I have family waiting for me on the other side. The lack of "friendliness" hasn't bothered me at all---they're not party hostesses after all---but the security thing did tick me off quite nicely during what was already a pretty emotional time for me (leaving fiance behind for what would be almost a year).

Ah well. If I can persuade husband to naturalize in a year, part of this problem might go away for us.

~SG