Going through customs after traveling abroad is often a painful experience, with customs wait times as long as 50 minutes according to a new ValuePenguin.com study.

The study also found that travelers flying into Orlando, San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno and Miami are most likely to encounter the longest customs wait times in the country.

Key Findings:

• Airports With The Longest Customs Wait Times: Travelers flying to Orlando, Florida face the longest customs wait times. Both Orlando International Airport and Sanford International Airport have average customs wait times of 26-45 minutes. Several of California's airports also have long customs wait times - including Ontario International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Sacramento International Airport and Fresno Yosemite International Airport.


• Airports With The Shortest Customs Wait Times: The airports with the shortest average customs wait times are Palm Beach International Airport, Chicago's Midway International Airport, Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport, Santa Ana's John Wayne Airport, and Baltimore's BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.


• Most Improved Airports: Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Denver International Airport and Sacramento International Airport saw customs wait times drop 35-45% from 2018 to 2019, making them the most improved airports for customs wait times. On the other end of the spectrum, San Diego International Airport airport saw a 107% increase in customs wait times. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport both saw a 14-23% increase in customs wait times.


• August Is The Worst Month for International Travel: The worst month for getting through customs is August, when the average wait is 18 minutes. The month with the shortest average customs wait time is surprisingly November.

ValuePenguin.com analysts collected U.S. Customs and Border Protection data from May 2018 to May 2019 to calculate the average customs wait time by airports. Average wait times were rounded to the nearest minute.






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