I recently returned from a trip to Europe and came through the customs and immigration screening at Philadelphia Airport. My wife had contracted some intestinal virus just before leaving Germany, and was intensely ill on the flight back to the USA. It took us nearly an hour to clear passport control, retrieve our baggage, clear customs and pass through the TSA security screening. That hour was extremely uncomfortable for my wife, so the inconvenience and wait was very trying to our patience.
We were required to wait nearly 20 minutes to go through passport control. The agent was very polite. She simply asked a few inane questions and handed back our passport. With machine readable passports and sophisticated computers, it hardly seems necessary to make people wait 20 minutes just to have a beaurocrat ask a few useless questions.
Customs control took less than a minure and there was no wait.
Going back through security screening was a real ordeal. We were required to wait over 30 minutes just to get to the security screening. It caused us to miss our connecting flight. My wife nearly passed out standing in the screening line for over half an hour. I sought out the TSA security screening supervisor, explained that my wife was very ill, explained that we were going to miss our connecting flight, thus requiring another four to six hour delay in getting home, and asked if there was any possibility of expediting the wait. He was not very polite and not the slightest bit compassionate. He merely said, "You must stay in the line and wait your turn". Good grief! One can get more compassion and understanding from a robot.
As it turned out, we missed our connecting flight and were delayed in Philadelphia Airport for an additional four hours. Fortunately, there is a medical clinic within the airport terminal. My wife was able to obtain some medical assistance and even permitted to lay down for a few hours of rest and recuperation before the next flight.
I have written many posts defending the TSA, and saying that I have always found them to be friendly and courteous. I now understand why so many overseas travelers have expressed criticisms over the inconvenience in entering the USA. Perhaps Philadelphia Airport is just an exception, or perhaps, the TSA supervisor that I encountered was particularly inconsiderate. I know that this was not the proper way to treat people. I saw at least three or four other overseas tourists, panic stricken about missing their airline connections, approach the same TSA supervisor and receive equally inconsiderate treatment.