USA transit
Is this tolerable these days? - I know that actually wanting to visit the USA goes beyond my tolerance for police states, queuing, and having nasty men with guns stare at you just itching to be allowed to use them, so I don't actually visit the USA.
But what about just changing planes on the way to somewhere more civilised? I hear two stories:
(1) From the airline: it's no big deal, you only have to queue for a few minutes to get fingerprinted, and whilst you're waiting in the queue we'll be round with coffee and sandwiches every now and then. (I wonder if anyone else can spot the internal contradiction there?)
(2) From a frequent traveller: just don't even think about it, the hassle is completely intolerable.
So ... given that a route avoiding changing planes in the USA is going to cost me £300 extra, is it worth paying this to avoid the USA?
(I have to admit that I'm more used to parts of the world where changing planes consists of:
- get out of old plane
- walk to gate for new plane
- get straight on new plane
for a total of a couple of minutes, provided the connection isn't late.)