Bonaire Travelers Using Aruba Gateway to Return to U.S.A. Advised of Long Delays in Clearing Customs The Aruba Airport Authority (AAA) has issued an advisory for all passengers flying from Aruba to the United States, due to under-staffing of U.S. Customs and Immigration personnel, an outcome of some U.S. Governmental facility shutdowns. Those Bonaire visitors who are planning a return to the States via Aruba might be affected. The AAA is recommended that U.S.-bound passengers flying from Aruba check in three to four hours earlier than normal. “The under-staffing causes considerable delays,” AAA-spokesperson Hendrik Croes stated. “"The number of employees of US Customs and Border Protection have been reduced from ten to five and can be even less on some days, which leads to long queues between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM.” The pre-clearance of passengers to America--an initiative of the government of Aruba--by members of the American government service US Customs and Border Protection is done so that passengers need not go through extensive border control upon arrival in the US. By pre-clearing Customs and Immigration, those on pre-cleared flights are considered as flying “domestically” within the U.S.A. and do not need to go through border control upon arrival in the States. (Source: Amigoe)
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 16:58:29 +0000