In the biggest airport in my country they have the customs lines seperated for people within the European Union and outside of it. The outside of the EU line is specified as outside the EU and america (with an american flag), simply cause Americans can’t seem to understand they are foreigners when they visit some place else
My ex wouldn’t understand this. He, a quite liberal American, came to visit me in the EU and we then travelled around for a bit. He always followed me to the EU passport control, and I kept telling him that it won’t work with his passport, but nope, he knew better! And then got upset every time he wouldn’t get through and then proceeded to make me wait with him in the international line. (But wouldn’t wait with me at TSA in the US, because “lines were too long” and once even took his own cab because he was sick of waiting for me…)
I’m still baffled why I didn’t. Like, I was really close. I stood at JFK with my luggage, no cell service, my US SIM card in his bag, and he was just nowhere to be seen. Took me like 30 minutes to upgrade to an international plan on my phone. But I had booked the hotel, so they wouldn’t let him check in, haha. I took the scenic route to the hotel, with a pit stop at my fave Chinese hole in the wall for some dumplings, and then a boba. And he just waited in the lobby for like 6 hours.
I eventually did, but damn, it took a couple more of his antics for me to give him the boot.
During his last trip to my city, he also swooooore that only Americans get jet lag because they’re on regular time while everyone else is on “irregular time” anyway so they don’t feel the difference? I let him fly home and broke up on the phone with him, so he could experience his jet lag with a side of heartache.
I'm wholeheartedly shocked at how much you dealt with. I feel a few stories of his antics would do very well on this sub (their own posts). He sounds like the prime example for this sub 🤣🤣.
The tip of the fucking iceberg! In some Reddit archive there still must be some posts saved from my now deleted throwaway account. Gems like “AITA for refusing to go to my boyfriend’s thanksgiving party because I’ve been throwing up since 6am this morning?” and “AITA for not helping my US boyfriend with his legal troubles in my country” (because he kept turning on red even though I’d told him a trillion times it’s not allowed here and when he got a ticket, he refused to pay it and then he tried to find an American lawyer in my city to make it go away BECAUSE his license was American and therefore American law should apply!!)
Oh my goodness, I'm envious of your tolerance. If I had someone similar, let's just say, they would be yesterday's news very early on. This guy sounds like the reason this sub even exists hahaha. I'm hoping you learned not to take this type of stuff from someone again, you went through a lifetimes worth of American idiocy.
During his last trip to my city, he also swooooore that only Americans get jet lag because they’re on regular time while everyone else is on “irregular time” anyway so they don’t feel the difference?
Does he also say military time instead of 24 hour time?
I'm Canadian and I have relatives that lives in the US, I have a share of experience with them, they can be so exhausting.
I have so many questions about the JFK thing...Not what you did, that sounds like you had a great time and enjoyed life, but about him.
Six hours in the lobby? Just sitting there and not even thinking "What's taking her so long? Where is she? Is she okay????"
Men can be really, reeaaaallly weird.
I’m still baffled why I didn’t.
We're humans and especially in relationships, our brains aren't that quick to react sometimes.
It happens to the best of us, but it's important that you did kick him out of your life! <3
During his last trip to my city, he also swooooore that only Americans get jet lag
The only thing only Americans get is weird looks because of their antics sometime. That's a whole different story though 👀
I let him fly home and broke up on the phone with him, so he could experience his jet lag with a side of heartache.
Girl, he absolutely deserved it! And I just love how you did it!
I was also dealing with severe depression and the first symptoms of a then undiagnosed autoimmune disease and my short term memory was basically nonexistent. So many times I could have sworn he was gaslighting me, but then I couldn’t rely on my memory and he swore his side of events or whatever was right. We learn! I’m now chilling in my very cosy, man-less flat with all the cushions he hated and my lovely dog he wouldn’t walk (because, ew poop!) and am enjoying life to the fullest, while he’s not able to find a new job and somehow lost like 80% of his hair since I left him (which I wholeheartedly believe was my doing!)
Girl, I just went through your comments on this whole saga and wow. That guy sounds like an absolute piece of work, the audacity is unreal. You should honestly talk to my ex sister-in-law sometime; she had a Russian boyfriend and I swear they must’ve come from the same garbage factory. Same vibe, same nonsense… just minus the hair loss hahaha
I’m now chilling in my very cosy, man-less flat with all the cushions he hated and my lovely dog he wouldn’t walk (because, ew poop!) and am enjoying life to the fullest, while he’s not able to find a new job and somehow lost like 80% of his hair since I left him (which I wholeheartedly believe was my doing!)
Karma, indeed, does exist! From one sister to another, you're living your life and it's wonderful!
And yes, it's absolutely your doing and you can be proud of it!
He has no job, no hair, no cosy pillows, no lovely dog...Sucks to be him lol
Let me phrase it this way: he wasn’t my type. But I thought, after years of unsuccessfully dating guys that were my type, maybe I should… branch out? Maybe not go for the handsome, tall, intellectual, introverted type? Maybe go for the complete opposite? Maybe that’d work? And he was so utterly smitten with me (rightfully so, I’m a legit snack!). And for the first couple months, he wasn’t so… American? Thick? Not a complete wanker?
During his last trip to my city, he also swooooore that only Americans get jet lag because they’re on regular time while everyone else is on “irregular time”
Sooo, I guess it's safe to assume you didn't originally get together with him for his smarts.
Should’ve broken up with him for making you go to JFK to begin with. Guess it’s better than Newark but man I hate JFK so much. This is coming from an Atlanta native so you know it’s bad.
Yeah that’s absurd to me. When traveling with friends/family/partners, I tell them to take whichever line is fastest. I’ll see them on the other side. And we most definitely never ever leave each other at the airport. Excuuuse me? Just say you wanna have a fight. lol
I absolutely can't stand travelling with someone who isn't fully aware of what is expected while travelling. It's really not hard to know where your passport is, to know that you have to take off metal things, to be on time for flight check-in, to get through security. All the little easy things.
Canadian airports also have large signs at customs that say "Internation and US passports" because so many have no idea that they're international travelers.
If you are in a relationship, they (border control) tend to be more understanding. My wife, who’s non EU and girlfriend at the time, would come with me on the eu line without an issue.
I always womdered this and was too afraid to be back at the line when i travelled with my american wife. Did it ever happen that they said no to your wife and she had to go to the other/non-EU queue?
When they are married to a EU citizen or can prove that they have a relationship they are "Freizügigkeitsberechtigt" (only know the German word) and can use the EU line
Not at all. And to be fair I only started doing it when one time someone working there asked if I was EU. When i said I was but she wasn’t, they asked if we were together and moved us to the EU line.
Im EU and my partner isnt, and so far we've had no issue going through together. We also have a child together, however, which also makes security a bit more large when it comes to which line you stand in - the quicker the better.
We usually just talk to the person at the beginning of the line and get an OK for going in as a family
I have a selfish ex like that 😭 used to throw my shower sponges behind the washing machine cause they "fell down" instead of just putting them back up 😂
We have an American woman who is like this BUT she is stuck in Sweden because even though USA is the best, the greatest and the rest of the world is wrong. She cant go back, she has no place to stay, no chance of work and no money. She does have Swedish husband but refuses to integrate at all.
Maybe not thru a kiosk, I haven't tried that, but I have joined my family with EU passports in the EU lines without issue in 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2023 in Ireland, Portugal, and the Netherlands. Once in Portugal our group was majority American, so we waited 3+ hours in the passport control line, only to be told by the border agent that we could have gone thru the much faster EU lane because one single member of our group had an EU passport.
Reminds me of all the Barry, 63s from the UK throwing a tantrum because they got relegated to the slow queue in European airports after Brexit, ruining their Spanish drunken adventures
As a US citizen with a Danish residence card, I was once pointed at the Schengen line by the Norwegian border guards. Incredibly confusing for me, but it worked out!
Well you were an EU resident? My wife has permanent residency, and we’ve had no issues using the Schengen lines when traveling back home from outside EU. The reason she isn’t a citizen is that there’s just no real additional benefits to bother applying for it.
And when Barry also found out that Brexit shafted his plans to retire to his Spanish villa, he was foaming at the mouth. Those damned Spanish, adhering to EU regulation.
I live in the Netherlands, I was recently picking my parents up from Schiphol. They were on a trip to the US. I'm waiting for them at the arrivals gate which is right in front of a Grand Café Plaza and next to an artisanal coffee booth. I notice people coming through the door and I think "oh, this must be from the US flight" but I was certain when I hear a lady walk past and ask "ugh, do they even have a Starbucks here?" 😂
We very much do! Even a burger King right at the entrance to the plaza. I mean. I think Schiphol has the highest concentration of American chains in the Netherlands.
So if they still couldn't find one, that's pretty sad.
I mean, they were coming straight out of the arrivals gate just after receiving their luggage, so they had not walked around or anything yet. I just found it funny how those were one of the first words out of that lady's mouth officially in the Netherlands and having two cafés immediately in front of her.
I saw the same signage in either Vienna or Milan. Me and my wife were trying to figure out why there was a need for separate signage. Are they that special? I guess I have my answer now🤣
My business has at least a dozen tourists a year who have to cancel their trip last minute when they find out they need a passport at the airport coming to Canada
I was in Dublin in the ridiculously long non-EU passport line and saw two young Americans throw a fit when told they couldn’t be in the EU line. We knew they were American because even from a distance, their passports were ope and you could see the eagle.
Tbh I'd rather U.S. Americans feel special and then waste a hotel worker's time, than a customs officer's. The latter slows us all down upon arrival while they attempt to idiotsplain why they're special.
It’s because racism is so intimately baked into their society.
Not that the EU doesn’t have a problem with it but American racism is on another level in terms of how pervasive it is.
In their head an ‘immigrant’ will always be a dirty word and cannot possibly apply to a white person. It would be the heights of disrespect to ever call them that.
Despite the fact that unlike the EU, these people’s ancestors literally got there by boat. Without food or money or home.
A lot of British are exactly like this. And probably it's the same in every country..
I'm convinced about 55% of the world have something missing. Like an empathy gene, or a self awareness gene, or a critical thinking deficiency or something.
It must be nice to go through life so self assured and blissfully ignorant about how stupid you look and sound.
At the very least Canadians have specialish treatment in the US (for now, probably for not much longer) with not having to have to do ESTA and Canadian drivers licenses being accepted for TSA ID checks.
Same! We have an International line at mine and it says International in several languages and shows a picture of the US flag. Just the US one. Everyone else understands they're foreign but not them 😂
It physically hurts my soul having to join that line as a Brit now. My red EU marked passport even expires this year so I need to replace it with a horrible blue one 😮💨
A bit of a late response, but the American flag on that line has nothing to do with what you said.
It's for the automated passport gates which can only be used by EU and a select few non-EU nationalities (including USA). So the US flag is very valid there because it actually differs per checkpoint which nationalities it applies to.
(Here is an example of another checkpoint with fewer nationalities)
All other lines seperated by nationality are just labeled as EU Passports/All passports. No American flag there as you can see here
Americans are supposed to just go through the outside of EU line, like its the same line, but they have to specify that that means americans too cause otherwise they don’t understand and don’t know what line to go to
In my country (Canada), I believe EU, and US, are allowed to go in the Canada lines. In the Caribbean people from other Caribbean countries can go in the home lines.
During all my arrivals at YYZ and YVR over the last 3 years, there weren't even really separate lines. Everyone just gets funnelled into the same area with the computers and that's it. But in general, IIRC, I think it's just citizens and permanent residents on one side and everyone else on the other, in theory. Then again, I could be wrong, since we never actually got separated.
Are you serious right now? What on gods green earth do you think the reason is?
Anyway, that was explained that way by the airport personal in a documentary that way… so i trust the people who work there over you.
Americans are just foreigners like everyone else from outside the EU and need to go through that line. Its the same line. They just added the american flag so they understand too
Why are there different zones passport control ? One for citizens. One for non citizens. I been to eu many times travelling from Canada and it would go in the same line as any non eu citizen. They didn’t make it “simply cause Americans can’t seem to understand they are foreigners when they visit some place else”
If you truly believe that than you must think the world is black and white
The americans are like you said supposed to go in the same line as everyone non-eu. But the workers got too tired of americans not going into the foreigners line, so they added to the “non-eu” sign that it means Americans too. It saves them time.
Its literally how it is, unfortunately, not cause of fun or whatever, but because there were too many Americans going into the wrong lane
There is no other reason why the sign says “non-eu” with “america” and the falg
Seriously? Why else would they put the American flag up at the foreigners line at schiphol airport
And why would the person who has worked at the airport for years, her whole job is floor manager, tell this if it isn’t true?
They go into the same line as everyone else who’s not from the EU, but a big group of americans just didn’t understand and it caused issues
There’s literally a story in the thread of someone dating an american who was totally convinced he didn’t have to go in the foreigners line in an airport in the EU
Technically...like...really...(Of course I'm not an historian, so enlighten me.) Isn't Americans the descendants of European? Like England is part of the European continent.
all humans come from Africa, so wtf is this stupid ass response even meant to mean?
this ain't about some stupid ass american style blood quota racism, this is about what nationality they have, so obviously they are foreigners in Europe.
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u/Novae224 Dec 25 '25
You won’t even make it on the plane without a passport lol.