An American living in Hong Kong, I have read with much interest the letters about conditions at Hong Kong and San Francisco airport immigration counters.
If all there is to worry about at Hong Kong airport is having to stand in long lines, thank God.
When I visited my family near New York City last year, I flew into John F. Kennedy International Airport, where I had a bad experience.
I travelled on a Korean airline, so the majority of the passengers were Koreans. A lot of them did not speak English, but the airport officers did not acknowledge this and yelled and screamed at everyone for no reason as they were lining up to go through customs.
Like another of your readers, I do not like rudeness (especially when it is uncalled for). So I asked the two officers who were yelling to please stop as most of the people it was directed at - elderly Korean men and women - had no idea what they were saying.
Immediately, I was pulled out of the line for what turned out to be almost two hours. Officers rummaged through my two suitcases and continued to be rude. I had just spent 30 hours travelling and wanted to get home, so I bit my tongue.
