These Airports Have The Longest Immigration And Customs Lines During Thanksgiving

If you’re travelling for the Thanksgiving holiday, here’s a tip: Give yourself plenty of time at the airport. As is the case every year, this Thanksgiving holiday will be one of the busiest travelling days in 2019″AAA estimates that 4.45 million Americans will be flying this Thursday, alone. According to USA Today, unsurprisingly, inbound travellers from overseas also tend to spike around Thanksgiving day.

What does this mean for you? Well, get ready for traffic, pissed-off people, and long lines. If you’re travelling internationally this holiday, Airside Mobile, makers of Mobile Passport, recently ranked 25 major U.S. airports based on the average time spent travellers spent waiting in customs and immigrations lines (using data provided by the Customs Border Patrol in the days preceding and after Thanksgiving day in 2018). They also took into account the average maximum waiting time in determining the rankings, as well as factors like the numbers of passengers processed per booth.

Which airport ranked the lowest, you ask? Well, if you’re flying through San Francisco International, the average waiting time was 13.8 minutes”with an average maximum waiting time of 44.4 minutes. Next to worst was Miami International, which had an average waiting time of 10.8 minutes and an average maximum waiting time of 38.8 minutes.

On the other end of the spectrum, Phoenix Sky Harbour International ranked number one, with an average waiting time of just 4.9 minutes and an average max time of 18.7 minutes. San Jose International followed closely behind, with an average time of seven minutes and a maximum time of 18.7 minutes, too.

Below you’ll find the result of the results of the study, courtesy of Airside Mobile:

25. San Francisco International. Average waiting time: 13.8 minutes. Average max waiting time: 44.4 minutes.

24. Miami International. Average waiting time: 10.8 minutes. Average max waiting time: 38.8 minutes.

23. Newark Liberty International. Average waiting time: 10.8 minutes. Average max waiting time: 35.3 minutes.

22. Orlando International. Average waiting time: 12.5 minutes. Average max waiting time: 36 minutes.

21. John F. Kennedy International. Average waiting time: 9.7 minutes. Average max waiting time: 34.7 minutes.

20. Los Angeles International. Average waiting time: 10.7 minutes. Average max waiting time: 34.4 minutes.

19. George Bush Intercontinental. Average waiting time: 8.2 minutes. Average max waiting time: 43.1 minutes.

18. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International. Average waiting time: 8.3 minutes. Average max waiting time: 32.4 minutes.

17. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International. Average waiting time: 9.5 minutes. Average max waiting time: 33.4 minutes.

16. Boston Logan International. Average waiting time: 11.1 minutes. Average max waiting time: 31.6 minutes.

15. San Diego International. Average waiting time: 14.1 minutes. Average max waiting time: 29.6 minutes.

14. Denver International. Average waiting time: 9.4 minutes. Average max waiting time: 27.4 minutes.

13. McCarren International. Average waiting time: 9.4 minutes. Average max waiting time: 25.4 minutes.

12. Chicago O’Hare International. Average waiting time: 7.9 minutes. Average max waiting time: 30.8 minutes.

11. Dallas/Fort Worth International. Average waiting time: 7.1 minutes. Average max waiting time: 27.1 minutes.

10. Minneapolis-St. Paul International. Average waiting time: 8.5 minutes. Average max waiting time. 21.5 minutes.

9. Detroit Metro. Average waiting time: 9.6 minutes. Average max waiting time: 28.8 minutes.

8. Seattle-Tacoma International. Average waiting time: 4.9 minutes. Average max waiting time: 25.4 minutes.

7. Daniel K. Inouye International. Average waiting time: 6 minutes. Average max waiting time: 25.1 minutes.

6. Dulles International. Average waiting time: 5.3 minutes. Average max waiting time: 23.4 minutes.

5. Philadelphia International. Average waiting time: 7.6 minutes. Average max waiting time: 25.1 minutes.

4. Charlotte Douglas International. Average waiting time: 5.9 minutes. Average max waiting time: 21.7 minutes.

3. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall. Average waiting time: 5.2 minutes. Average max waiting time: 21.1 minutes.

2. San Jose International. Average waiting time: 7 minutes. Average max waiting time: 18.7 minutes.

1. Phoenix Sky Harbour International. Average waiting time: 4.9 minutes. Average max waiting time: 18.7 minutes.

If you want to avoid these lines, report.


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