Meg Butler highlights a discussion of ‘the least racist airports’ to enter the U.S.
There’s no question that immigration and customs develops a different culture and reputation at different airports in the U.S. While you’d hope they would apply standards and procedures from their handbook uniformly, there’s a difference between de facto practice and de jure rules.
People learn procedures by watching other people, and by discussing how to go about doing their jobs with colleagues. In other words, customs and immigration procedures are carried out by people.
Copyright: andreyuu / 123RF Stock Photo
When I used to manage immigration for scholars at work our (very high end) immigration counsel used to recommend that Canadians coming to the U.S. for employment never enter the country through the Toronto airport. U.S. authorities there simply took a tougher stance questioning employees.
Twenty years ago Portland airport became known as ‘Deportland’. Asian travel agencies used to advise their customers not to fly to the U.S. via Portland. That contributed to Delta dropping Portland – Taipei and Portland – Seoul although it was never clear to me that was the primary reason those flights didn’t work.
At the time Portland airport’s “deportation rates were demonstrably higher than those in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.”
I don’t have the latest comprehensive sense of airport cultures. I’m a white male U.S. citizen with Global Entry so my own personal experience offers little guidance here, and my own personal experience wouldn’t likely be enough data points in any case — although I can certainly observe what’s going on around me.
For instance I’ve noticed in Tokyo that it’s inadvisable to stand in a customs line to exit the airport behind Indians and South Asians. They will invariably get much more extensive questioning and searches that Japanese and Caucasian travelers.
If I were from Latin America my approach would be to fly through Miami. Even if border officials there were racist I’d largely blend in with other travelers rather than standing out. The odds that racism would cause them to treat that passenger differently that other passengers seems reduced. Similarly I’d think I would prefer to enter the U.S. via Honolulu as an Asian passenger.
What’s been your experience at different U.S. points of entry?
Interesting post. I don’t think I’ve seen this covered before. Well done.
Gary don’t we have enough news about racism today without having to see it on FT? I mean really. You of all people the most respected of bloggers here.
Sure it is a fact of life has been so for ever and eternity while I will not go into my personal experiences with it I am just sadden to see this in the forum. I have been traveling internationally for 45 years and can not remember an incident around racism, not withstanding the presenting an American Passport brings you in some countries.
I do understand some of the “tips” you gave but those to me would be more in line with “customs” like pointing fingers in some countries.
So this week FT brought us “racism” and what sex toys can you bring through TSA. Are clicks that important ?
One last point, sorry when I wrote a reply to Meg ( respectful) she refused to allow it, then another one and that was not posted. Censorship? If you post should you not allow an opposing view as long as it is tasteful / respectfully ?
HMM
Done
I am of Indian origin and have been travelling internationally for over 20 years and this is a real issue.
My first experiences were while going to Hong Kong for a few days every month when I worked for a very large, well known American company. Customs used to open my small carry on bag almost every time while Europeans or Americans would walk through even if it looked as if they were moving houses. In the Middle East, South Asians are the cheap labour and even if you are a high ranking executive, you get treated with disdain. In UK, the general rule amongst frequent travellers of South Asian origin is to avoid an immigration officer of South Asian origin. Living in London for over 4 years now, my personal experience supports this.
No bad experience while travelling to the US but Canada is just like the UK.
ghostrider +1
ghostrider – Hum, 45 years traveling and never seen an instance of racism… I’d imagine you’re white and don’t experience this (and don’t care if it happens around you, after all, it doesn’t apply to you), Therefore why anyone would waste time with this – after all racism ended when slavery ended, right?…
Now, if one day you become the target of broad discrimination, I’m sure you’ll think there will never be enough discussion about it.
Typical republican/conservative empathy gap.
Even as an older white woman with Global Entry, I appreciate the perspective here. Interesting post, Gary. Thank you.
No problems with entry for me as an Asian man but I avoid lax customs whenever possible. Was told once that a packet of crackers I brought from overseas had ‘pork’ in it. Also I have global entry.
As an Asian, I haven’t noticed any race based treatment from customs. I have global entry too. I would think LAX and SFO would be preferable for Asian travelers entering the US.
While this incident is not explicitly racist, I thought it was a bit too much. I am an Asian male who was travelling with my family through Alaska. My son aged 5 then had a bought a kiddie bow and arrow in Alaska and liked it so much that he carried it around on his shoulder.
We were returning from Ketchikan airport and the TSA wouldn’t let him carry it through the checkpoint. He was tears and to be honest the TSA officials were feeling bad too. We had to dump it. I guess it is a weapon and maybe TSA folks in Ketchikan didn’t have much choice.
On the other hand i have had excellent experience travelling to Bentonville, AR or Greensboro, NC. Sometimes the TSA officials even recognize me when i was heading back from these smaller airports.
There was a Flyertalk thread about this issue but then management of sort there disappeared the topic into a sort of hidden part of FT that most FTers and the general public cannot see.
In that FT thread from a few days ago, I suggested JFK as the least problematic airport of this sort.
I do agree that where it’s possible to blend in best with the crowd is where the passenger is least likely to be on the bad end of the CBP stick.
Keep in mind that CBP lobbied hard to keep being exempted from anti-racist profiling rules being considered by the Obama Admin.
I’m a US born Asian and while this isn’t about immigration, I find that I get MUCH worse treatment from security at airports where the security is contracted out compared to airports where security is run by government workers. I consistently get rude remarks or just cold treatment from SFO security agents and that’s the only airport that I’ve been “randomly” selected for pat downs and secondary screening at. I’ve even been pat down when I was the only one at security at midnight for a red eye a couple days after Christmas when I arrived during boarding time and told all the agents that my flight was already boarding. My wife who is also Asian gets the same treatment; just this morning she was “randomly” selected for secondary screening and a pat down almost making her late for her 6am flight. She also reports snark and bad attitudes, and there have been quite a few high profile social media incidents amongst Asian Americans showcasing that SFO security has a thing against Asians, often telling elderly grandparents to speak English or saying “Ching Chong” to them when they fly back from visiting their family in the US. You can try to convince me otherwise but I firmly believe that SFO security is racist.
On the other hand, security at IAH is always consistently delightful. The screeners there are generally in a pretty good mood and always smile and have a little chat. You’d think that Texas would be a lot more racist than San Francisco, but I’ve never had any rudeness from IAH security. The screeners are pretty diverse and I notice there are a lot more black and Latinos working but even the white screeners are very friendly.
The difference? “Covenant Aviation Security, a private company under contract with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), provides passenger and baggage screening at SFO.” Meanwhile the IAH screeners are TSA agents. Private contractors are obviously stiffing their employees more giving them low pay, bad hours, and bad benefits which leads to an overall bad work environment and poor service compared to the higher pay and generous benefits offered by the government. It’s shameful that SFO and other airports use private contractors.
Although I”ve never had an issue here for the more obvious reasons
its a fascinating look as to how our international guests and fellow travelers have to experience in their entry experience into the US
Especially with the current sad administration who can never seem to treat others with dignity and respect especially while shaping or enforcing policies
The closest I could come is an hour long grilling once in Auckland New Zealand and the other in Toronto both years ago where they thought I was coming into their country to relocate or do something illegally against rules.Was incredibly annoying
It never happened again
I think sometimes they have to justify their jobs like TSA workers who have by far over the years who occasionally made a big security issue over my chocolates in my carry on bag
Testing it for explosives etc
I still find it amazing that after billions in hi tech x ray machines they can not distinguish between guns or chocolate bars but that’s off topic 🙂
Nothing to do with racism, but an odd phenomenon with Global Entry. Whenever I *fly* into the US I literally hand over the GE receipt and the guy just takes it and I walk by.
However, if you’re clearing into the USA in Canada, where you do it at the Canadian airport, US passport control mostly ignores that you just handed them a GE receipt and asks many of the questions anyway. It’s most bizarre.
@SadStateOfOurNation. When I was in college, my roommate told me that when he was growing up, kids would throw pennies at him and say “pick up the penny Jew.” He grew up in upper middle class Wellesley Massachusetts. Personally, I think growing anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party and in Europe are one of the biggest problems in the world today. What do you think?
Great question. My daughter, 26, grad student, pressure, Caucasian and born in US to fair-haired US citizens, has dark hair, very un-British voluptuous lips, and appears to be Latin/ME. She travels internationally frequently and has had the worst experiences coming through Miami. On 2 of 2 occasions she was detained.
The first time she was 22 and returning from a 10- day research trip to Guatemala. She had her video gear, University ID, etc. But she was interrogated repeatedly about her nationality, as it was believed she was NOT a US citizen (despite having a very British name!) and what her reason was for visiting the US. When she answered “I live here”,, she was told that answer want good enough. IShe was held for about 45 minutes (crtpying) until her identity could be verified..
The second time coming through Miami was worse. She was 23 and returning from a 3-month backpacking trip through Europe. In the detainment room she was held for nearly 2 hours and repeatedly grilled about her reasons for traveling through Europe, and asked how she could afford such a trip. She explained that she had saved some scholarship money while attending University (true) and her flights were paid for with FF miles. The agents did not believe her. They said she appeared to anxious. She explained that yes, she was anxious, she did not like flying, and had prescription meds for it, then she showed her bottle. Finally a supervisor was called in and apologized, saying she had been wrongfully detained and he released her. It was a terrible experience for her.
Contrast that with 2 times that she has entered JFK arriving from İstanbul, smoooth sailing. Orlando entry, the same. ORD and AUS, easy. IAD and SFO, no big deal.
İn addition, my husband (71) and I (57), are both Florida residents, and MIA agents have also been rude and unnecessarily questioning of us, also. Such as “why have you been gone from the the US for so long?” ( 2 months touring South Africa). “Why are you looking for a retirement home THERE?” (we were returning from 1 month in Mexico researching San Miguel de Allende and Oaxaca properties).
I am wondering is any other readers have MIA horror stories.
This post is definitely relevant. It’s an experience that a lot of non-white travelers can relate to. As a brown skinned Asian man who travels the world, I’ve seen people who look like me being selected randomly a bit too often to make it look random. I’ve experienced it at LHR and CDG quite a lot. At CDG, I recently had an issue with a flight delay and wanted to sort it out with the AF airline staff. We were standing in a line waiting for our turn. 5 white families (non-French speaking) were in line ahead of us. The agent was extremely polite and nice to them and served them with a smile. When our turn came, she looked pissed and treated us with absolute disdain, and murmured something in anger to a fellow agent in French while were standing there to get our issue resolved.
My experience while traveling in the US has been surprisingly positive and thankfully I’ve had no negative experience so far. Now I just avoid connecting via Europe unless I really need to.
The sad fact that I’ve realized after traveling the world is that no matter what your social or economic status, it doesn’t insulate you from being ‘randomly selected’ or questioned aggressively at an airport. The reason is the color of your skin. Thank you for talking about this, Gary.
I was talking to a friend who is a Caucasian Brit just a couple of weeks ago (there, not here). He said he has stopped visiting the U.S. because the agents here are so hostile and unwelcoming, unlike anywhere else. If it’s bad for him, I can’t imagine what it’s like for someone who looks different. I have Global Entry, and never had a serious issue myself, but I find the rude questions and arrogant attitude others have described to be disgraceful.
I remember coming back from London with my Chinese American girlfriend at the time. She grew up on Long Island. She is the most good person in the universe, and would be mortified even to get a parking ticket. We both has American passports. I handed my passport to the Customs, stamp. My girlfriend handed her passport, they asked her a bunch of questions trying to trip her up about where she had lived. It took her 15 minutes before they let her through Seriously.
It reminded me of a family friend in SFO who was Chinese, that was a very well off Stockbroker in the 1980s. According to him, because he was wearing expensive clothing and was Chinese, the customs assumed he must be a drug dealer. Often they sent him to secondary. Once or twice they X-rayed him just in case. I know that was a long time ago, but Seriously!
I have a white friend (Vietnam Vet) that is around 70 years old. He wants to marry his Thai fiance (who is like 50). While he is not rich, he is very comfortable. He has spent thousands trying to get her a Visa to visit him (not stay) in the USA. Recently, he has started being sent to secondary when her returned from Thailand, on the theory that if he visits Thailand too much, he most not be up to any good. Seriously.
I have an Indian friend who migrated to the USA with his parents when he was around 10 yo. He is an American Citizen and travels on an American passport. When I go to India, they pass me straight on through. When he goes to India, they give him the 10th degree and send him to secondary. Seriously.
Thank you for discussing racism- an unfortunate reality. There is never enough news to raise awareness and invite discussion. Thank you for not looking the other way.
Once again, clickbait title from the thought leader. Isn’t division in the country bad enough without you adding fuel to the fire, thought leader? Personally, I don’t care if there is profiling because the underlying reason is SECURITY and not RACISM. This is a good example of how the twisted, liberal mind thinks. Everyone is a victim. Oh, the horror…the horror.
Similarly I’d think I would prefer to enter the U.S. via Honolulu as an Asian passenger.
—
Is this true? Is this an assumption? Is this racist? Could they be racist against only some Asian backgrounds? People can be racist against Asians except Japanese or against Eastern Europeans but not other Whites.
(Nah, Gary is a good guy and blogger)
My airport of preference to enter US is SJC. My airline of preference is ANA or JAL (then SFO). Pay a little extra and avoid potentially stressful situations
To this day. To this very day, the legend of DePortland lives on
It is been getting worse over the years. We leisure travel a lot internationally and because of our white privilege we have never been seriously questioned when returning internationally even with an unpronounceable last name. We have to be on high alert when our Mexican National friends come to visit us (ACLU phone number in hand and near a phone in case called). I try to route them through cities that have a large Hispanic population so they look local. Our international (white) friends and family are often hassled now and in the current climate I do not recommend that they visit the US anymore as we are increasingly unwelcoming and xenophobic. We visit internationally more- spending our money in other countries- not here. We are often ashamed to be US citizens and sometimes we represent ourselves as Canadian.
First it’s border security- then profiling and lists, followed by the brown shirts and segregation then history repeats itself.
Just so you have the context, I an Indian citizen and US resident. I’m male, brown and I have a somewhat easy to tell Hindu name, or if the immigration agent is not culturally savvy, I don’t have an obvious Muslim or Christian name. I used to be on a visa, and now a US permanent resident.
I visited South Korea several years ago and wanted to use the visa-free transit for a week to visit my Korean in-laws on my way to India. Was promptly send to secondary inspection when they asked me what residence permit I have in the US and I said I am on a visa. There were approximately 12 people in secondary, 11 were South Asian and 1 was African. Apparently, not a single white or East Asian was in secondary. They checked something on their computer (probably my previous visits, which the first immigration agent could have done just as easily) and let me go through after about 15 minutes. Others apparently were waiting them for much longer.
So far, I’ve been asked too many questions by a Canadian immigration officer once (out of a few visits) that I have the visa to reenter the US, and by a United Airlines rep in Stockholm airport that the US immigration will let me in. Both were courteous but persistent. The Canadian agent didn’t ask me much questions about why I was visiting Canada, he was welcoming, but just wanted to make sure (beyond reasonable doubt) that I can reenter the US and won’t stay in Canada for good.
Other than that, I’ve visited plenty of countries in different continents and reentered the US and I have treated with respect and courtesy by both foreign and US immigration agents. US immigration officers talk like cops interrogating a suspect though – I guess being armed and wearing uniforms that’s similar to police gives them that state of mind. In most other countries, they wear suits, they are unarmed, and talk like business professionals. So, I was glad I got global entry as soon as I got my green card so I don’t have to deal with the mild interrogation every time.
I think it has less to do with race, and more to do with nationality. You get treated better when is your passport is issued by a wealthier nation. Caucasian guy here with dual citizenship.
Paul the Anti-American says. “We are often ashamed to be US citizens and sometimes we represent ourselves as Canadian.” Sure you do. What is your national anthem, oh I see, “God Save the Queen.” Bow to the Queen, throw shoes at Trump. Next time I hear of a USA flag burning, I will let you know.
@derek – re-read what I wrote. You’re making some assumptions that have nothing whatsoever to do with my argument.
@Berry I don’t think you’re familiar with what clickbait is, because this post is very much talking about what the title talks about
I am asian with global entry- and last time i was passing through iah, i was handled pretty roughly ( stopped despite global entry, and was threatened directly about confiscating greencard after a 2 months overseas business trip). Never had such experience with sfo, pdx, lax, and nyc airports. I compared notes with friends and one spanish person told me that he got scolded for not taking greencard out of the sleeve. He lives in texas and he now chooses to fly through dfw where his experience is significantly better.
I’m part latin. That US airports are racist: I wouldn’t know whereas I’m treated fairly. Maybe I’m lucky or maybe it’s my demeanor.
@ Other Just Saying:
Our friend lived in Hamburg for 25 years and spoke of anti-semitism being on the rise there. After 12 years in Munich, I noticed it too.
The Dems anti-semetic? That’s worth debating.
Average looking Indian guy with a common name and Canadian permanent resident – even with GE (through nexus which I had for approx 2 years), I was have been asked for my passport, visa checked, questions asked more than 90% of the times in the nexus line. White companions have been waived through.
It has been a mixed experience. My parents in law traveling business class (paid) have been asked by immigration authorities for weird questions. I have been car-searched once in Detroit, sent to secondary in Newark, Chicago and Dulles when I was in the US on a student visa (for 10+ years). Lease racist were Boston (I studied there for 10 years and averaged 6-8 international trips a year).
I don’t mind the profiling, but DHS has to be smart about it. If I have entered the US 200 times in 10 years, have never had an issue, that should count for some courtesy. Interestingly often when I am asked what I do (US educated and trained physician), the tone changes drastically. Then they ask me why I didn’t live in the US.
You know where I got the worst treatment crossing a border? Driving from New York into Canada form the canadian border guards. Repeatedly I was asked if I had any firearms. Over and over again. If I say no that should be the end of it but he just kept asking. If the dumbass had any education he would know that since my license said NYC that I am coming from a place with some of the toughest gun laws in the entire US. Really left a bad taste in my mouth being interrogated like that, because apparently ALL Americans carry firearms.
Disgusted that this headline even exists.
Never knew this blog to traffic in clickbait, but this about takes the cake.
Pretty despicable to casually throw around the term “racism” (discrimination based on the color of one’s skin) when a far less malevolent explanation is readily available, i.e. discrimination based on the color of one’s passport. Nationality is not race (despite it being strongly correlated in some parts of the world), and filtering based on nationality at the border is the entire purpose of immigration control (just ask an Iranian passport holder and a German passport holder how their experiences getting into the US differ). Without evidence of holders of the same passport being treated differently based on their races (I have little doubt this happens at times, but that is not at all what your post is about), using “racist” just devalues the term for the times when it actually applies. Thumbs down.
@chas
@Barry
@ghostrider
I think you all need to read the comments to see other people’s experiences. You may never have see discrimation, but it does not mean discrimination is not there.
Profiling is different than racism. It seems to work fairly well for Israel airport security.
I mostly go through LAX with Global Entry and haven’t encountered any issues. I’m an immigrant from an Asian country and have lived in the US for over 20 years. Racism is alive and well, and I always try to act “extra American” like smiling, making eye contact, make small appropriate jokes while going through immigration. When my family members come visit me from Asia and I can see how differently they are treated. I keep telling myself not to act too much like a FOB (Fresh Off the Boat).
It is a kind of “When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife” type of headline.
Not that many years ago, my firm was managing the IPO for a Mexican company controlled by a billionaire. We were beginning the marketing road show in Paris and the billionaire flew commercial with one of our investment bankers. The banker was a 6’2″ white American and the billionaire was a short, heavy, clearly hispanic male travelling on a Mexican passport with a one way ticket. He only had a one way ticket because Boeing was trying to sell him the Boeing business jet and was flying him home in it. At immigration, the banker went through seamlessly and the billionaire was questioned at length with the officers not seeming to accept his explanation about Boeing. Not used to being challenged, and a rather arrogant individual, the Mexican began loudly complaining that they had let the banker who works for him through while treating him like an illegal immigrant. He accused them of racism and, perhaps surprisingly, was eventually waved through.
Hey Chas, if it isn’t racism, then explain why my family of 6 (three apparently white, two black, one Native American, which apparently looks middle eastern to some CBP) who all have Canadian passports, seem to be treated differently? Traveling with my two black children, we have been to secondary twice. Traveling with my Native American child at three years old, she is taken from us and swabbed for explosives (that was TSA at LAX) as well as secondary twice. Traveling by myself or with my white wife? Never even slowed down.
Sorry, you can’t explain away the racism shown by CBP and TSA as shown in these comments by American and Canadian passport holders as effective security. We all wish it wasn’t so, but it is important to recognize it for what it is, not explain it away.
For our part, we have not seen significant differences between airports in regard to racist incidents, however, the CBP officers based in Canadian airports at preclearance facilities do seem to give everyone a harder time than those at actual US facilities.
To “Sad state of our nation” I am not going to bite, but your off. Oh if you want to know if I have experienced differing “customs” thats one thing but not out and out racisms no. I think at times people tend to use the “race “card way too early in a situation. And domestically growing up in the middle Atlantic states I saw plenty and experienced plenty for me. Serving in the military mostly over seas can remember being told by the base commanders that certain events were going on off base and some of us should exercise caution, I,E. stay on base.
Example I am sitting on a plane we are boarding almost done annas the gentleman that has the seat next to me boards, overhead full he pushes in his bag and sits down, a gentleman across the isle who’s bad was forced in when my seat mate pushed his in got up and made a big deal of moving bags around to which my seat mate then made a big deal and a shouting match began. To the point that security was brought in. Now here is the race card, my seat mate was Indian the gentleman across was Caucasian ( very New England ) my seat mate then made the comment to the gentleman that’s bag was pushed in tight asking him if HE was racist ? To which I promptly commented that was bullshit and no race card here you sir were at fault. I then said I want another seat. I am on my main carrier first class and fully paid first. It was worked out but clearly when my seat mate was cornered at being at fault he reverted to the race card
That Sir is my issue. Case closed for me.
Sorry Gary
The anecdotes in the comments are really interesting. It sounds like most people are either targeted for additional screening all the time or are (almost) never subject to such screening.
That is also my experience when traveling with my family. I fly much more often than my wife, but she gets selected for additional screening regularly (probably 20% of trips), while I have been only once (<0.2%). We're both white, for what it's worth.
I gotta say when I (as a white dude) am stopped and tons of what I feel are unnecessary questions and procedures are applied I am happy bc at least then I feel people are doing thier jobs. I do not know what it’s like to not be white, I have heard some horrible stories but they were border crossings by car and not by plane. I do hope everyone does thier best to apply the rules evenly because that’s the best practice both fairly and to keep everyone as safe as possible.
@farnorthtrader
Read Gary’s post again carefully. Your experience isn’t what he’s talking about; South Asians taking longer to process in Tokyo and East Asians being more likely to be deported in Portland has little to do with race and everything to do with national origin. Ironically it was me, not Gary, who acknowledged situations like yours likely exist (and are aptly called racism) while pointing out that his use of the term racist to describe what I referenced above devalues the term for experiences like yours.
As an aside, isn’t the term “First Nations” where you’re from?
I’d have to say there’s good clickbait, and there’s bad clickbait. This definitely falls into the latter category, relying as it does on the instant American trigger of all things racial. Don’t know how it will sell credit cards, either…
Is it racism, or just bad attitudes? I suspect the latter. The most unnecessary rudeness and attitude I have encountered has been entering Canada in Toronto and Vancouver. I travel for business, don’t present as a denizen of the streets, and still can’t account for it since this was before the current trade spat.
Is it racism, or just profiling? I suspect the latter. In the last 12 months, inbound to the US from LHR and HKG, I have been pinged for SSSS (Seriously Stupid Security System) more times than can be accounted for by random selection. The biggest problem being the loss of PreCheck in the US. I have a name that although English, if mispronounced by the ignorant, can sound Asian. My guess is that accounts for that.
Not every bad experience is the result of racialism. Get over it for Christ’s sake. Please.
Yes, our child is actually part of a Dene nation, however, Native American is acceptable to most and, generally, better understood by most people. Really didn’t like having to refer to her as an American Indian when dealing with the US government, but one does what one has to.
As an aside, and completely off topic, I am disappointed that the use of “nation” has become so commonplace. Nations are a European/North American creation and it seems to me that aboriginal peoples have done themselves a disservice in subsuming their natural organizational structure to a foreign political structure. Nonetheless, it is not for me to make such a decision
Deporting travellers who don’t fulfill entry criteria and sending suspicious individuals to secondary inspection has nothing to do with racism – the officers are doing their job!
Let’s face it, much of the transborder traffic between Canada and the U.S. (in both directions) is often in clear violation of the rules and the individuals would require a work visa for their occupation.
Travelers from countries who have a reputation to overstay, smuggle goods or are otherwise up to no good can be spotted from miles away by an experienced customs and immigration officer.
Gary, I would like to say as a white Anglo male in his 50’s that pretty much every International American airport has a terrible attitude, and quite often it is the female, heavier, dark skinned employees that treat people, both male and female badly.
The airports I have experienced this are LAX, SFO, JFK. It didn’t seem to happen in Las Vegas or Orlando .
I’ve never noticed it at Toronto or Vancouver, where people were generally pleasant to passengers.