Holiday travel is basically a contact sport and if you’re planning to flee the country for some festive R&R, you might want to factor in… customs purgatory. A new report from Upgraded Points ranks the worst U.S. airports for international arrivals during the winter rush and Los Angeles International Airport didn’t exactly shine. In fact, it landed at the number two spot for longest wait times, trailing only Orlando.
Researchers analyzed U.S. Customs and Border Protection data from last year’s holiday period (the week before Christmas through New Year’s), crunching average wait times, max waits and how different citizenship groups fared. The result was a scoreboard of who glides through passport control and who spends quality time staring at the floor tiles and wondering if that bottle of duty-free Campari was worth it.
At LAX, the average customs wait clocked in at 30.3 minutes last holiday season, the second-longest of all 41 airports reviewed. Nearly a third of travelers (29.5 percent) managed to breeze through in 15 minutes or less, which sounds dreamy until you hit the other end of the spectrum: 11.5 percent waited more than an hour. If you’ve ever stood in the Bradley Terminal line watching your phone die and your jet lag get personal, you know how that feels.
Citizenship status also plays a role. Across the country, non-U.S. travelers waited almost twice as long as citizens and LAX was no exception. U.S. travelers there averaged 20.1 minutes, while non-citizens averaged 41.4 minutes. Consider that your cue to charge your phone fully before landing, grab a snack on board and maybe download something soothing for the queue. (Sounds like the universe is endorsing a little guided meditation and a smug Global Entry enrollment.)
Of course, this isn’t all a doom-scroll. Travel demand has cooled a bit since the peak “revenge travel” era, but airports are still juggling surges, staffing shifts and seasonal crowds. Some airports in the study looked like customs VIP rooms: Palm Beach International clocked an average of just 3.8 minutes, while John Wayne Airport clocked 4.9. Phoenix Sky Harbor, moving far more passengers than both combined, still averaged just seven minutes.
Moral of the story: airport choice matters. If you’re flying into LAX this holiday season, expect lines and pack patience. Or upgrade your traveler status and float past the chaos like it’s your holiday superpower.