Customs Idiots

[Fblowjets]

I had a fly over permit last year to cross the Southern Borders and land in Atlanta from the Bahamas to clear Customs. It expired so I sent in the paperwork 45 days before the trip to renew. I called 3 days before the trip for the permit, and was advised:
"Sorry your permit will not be ready till after your flight due to the ONE guy who approves these just left for vacation."

Really do we only have ONE guy that can do these??????

Anyone use (or know) a service that can get these overflight permits done that hold water with Customs?

Its too late for this trip but maybe next year.

Thanks

 

[Gulfstream 200]

I had a fly over permit last year to cross the Southern Borders and land in Atlanta from the Bahamas to clear Customs. It expired so I sent in the paperwork 45 days before the trip to renew. I called 3 days before the trip for the permit, and was advised:
"Sorry your permit will not be ready till after your flight due to the ONE guy who approves these just left for vacation."

Really do we only have ONE guy that can do these??????

Anyone use (or know) a service that can get these overflight permits done that hold water with Customs?

Its too late for this trip but maybe next year.

Thanks

Did you follow up right away after sending it in?

CBP is not the place to assume anything with LOL...I do our overflight permit, including revisions, and always document everything including names, dates, times of phone calls. They are just too unpredictable.

FWIW our overflight only took about a week to get through CBP Newark.

Also, try not to ever let it expire! - this way its easy to make revisions, often within a day.

Its an insane system.

 

[ultrarunner]

I had a fly over permit last year to cross the Southern Borders and land in Atlanta from the Bahamas to clear Customs. It expired so I sent in the paperwork 45 days before the trip to renew. I called 3 days before the trip for the permit, and was advised:
"Sorry your permit will not be ready till after your flight due to the ONE guy who approves these just left for vacation."

Really do we only have ONE guy that can do these??????

Anyone use (or know) a service that can get these overflight permits done that hold water with Customs?

Its too late for this trip but maybe next year.

Thanks

I suspect that your application may have been moved to the bottom of the pile since you had to re-apply for a BOE that had expired.

I have never had a problem getting my renewal back in a couple of weeks, but I don't let it expire. The renewal is a quick process.

A single-trip exemption application is 15 days prior. No sense or reason to us anyone else to do that for you.

If it were me, I would walk in and talk directly to your local customs agent and see if you can get a BOE for that trip directly from that office.

I have done that once via phone when I was out of the country and had trip that changed to an airport not on my BOE. However, I did have a valid BOE.

Good luck

 

[Hugh Johnson]

Did you try one of the commercial providers, Air Routing, Airinc, etc?

 

[LJ45]

Universal can get it done ASAP if needed.

 

[NCherches]

I always call 10 minutes after I fax the paperwork and get the 'officers' last name... That seems to hold them accountable for not loosing stuff. It's like anything international in this business it seems - you have to call, verify, and call to verify again to ensure things run smooth.

US Customs is always the worst part of any international flight...

 

[Fblowjets]

I have been dealing with the same officer for 2 years. I did the follow up calls, and was told over and over again that everything was going fine. The lesson here is never let it expire. Once I get it back, I am gonna hold on to it even if we dont go back.

Thanks

 

[bizjet800]

I always call 10 minutes after I fax the paperwork and get the 'officers' last name... That seems to hold them accountable for not loosing stuff. It's like anything international in this business it seems - you have to call, verify, and call to verify again to ensure things run smooth.

US Customs is always the worst part of any international flight...

You can say that again!

 

[EngineThunder]

We just received an overflight permit for 2010 for KPIT. I have a couple of questions. Is it good for our entire fleet or only the aicraft listed? Does this get me overflight into any airport with customs or is it only good for landing in Pittsburgh? I thought I had a grasp of these questions but then the customs officer in PIT gave our scheduler some verbal okays that I don't think are correct. Thanks for the help.

 

[LJ45]

We just received an overflight permit for 2010 for KPIT. I have a couple of questions. Is it good for our entire fleet or only the aicraft listed? Does this get me overflight into any airport with customs or is it only good for landing in Pittsburgh? I thought I had a grasp of these questions but then the customs officer in PIT gave our scheduler some verbal okays that I don't think are correct. Thanks for the help.

IF you read the overflight permint you have, it should answer all your questions. Did you read it? :erm: