[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"It's never customs, it's ALWAYS immigration that has massive lines."

You got that right. I recently routed myself through Frankfurt, arriving at 5:30 in the morning. There were no Immigration clerks for non-EU passengers for three hours. Three. Solid. Hours. Then the first clerk came on duty and had a smirking ol' time going through his passport-stamping ritual in ostentatious slow-motion: looking at the passenger, studying the passport, looking back up at the passenger, studying the passport some more, [repeat eight times], sighing heavily, considering the passport, turning the passport this way and that, riffling through the pages of the passport, holding the passport up to the light, looking at the passenger again, sighing heavily, riffling through the pages, selecting a page, pausing, riffling some more, selecting a different page, and... wait for it... raising the stamp high... annnnd... riffling through the pages some more...

I caught the son of a [Hillary] peeking up with barely-concealed mirth at this point. Then he'd stamp his stamp, send the apoplectic passenger on their way, and then the cycle would begin again.

This went on for about an hour.

In all this while, perhaps two or three dozen planes arrived. The line was stretching way back to the far gates.

Finally some more clerks came to their stations, and he shifted into normal speed.

Oh, and all the while, EU citizens were striding briskly past us. They had two clerks who barely glanced at them!

Now you know why they insist passengers be disarmed.

[Malsua]

You know something else....

On my July trip through CDG, I was “waived” through.

My wife wanted a french stamp and after asking, she got it. I have had to get pages added to my passport