$10 To Enter the USA - What the Buck is Going on!

Plans are aloft to charge tourists $10 to enter the USA.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1214093/U-S-set-charge-10-ESTA-fee-visa-waiver-UK-tourists.html

Regular theatre goers to New York will be affected by this news, already paying sky high money for theatre and hotels, not to mention high flight prices and restaurants, also hit by high charges to go into museums, e.g. The Met $20 admission, why is the tourist being hit by another fee?

Funny you should say that Mama, I go to the states a lot for business and pleasure, and what always surprises me is New York (and New Jersey if counting Newark) are often the friendlier of welcomes. The Southern states less so!

How much does it cost you guys to fly to the US? Every time I check on flights to the UK, the taxes are between $100-150 round-trip in addition to the fare (currently, the best fare for my London trip is Feb is around $750). New York is expensive for most Americans as well (and we have to pay a fee to enter Manhattan already) and London isn't exactly a bargain for us, either.

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But Americans dont get charged to enter the UK.
Nobody does!

Updated On: 10/5/09 at 05:58 PM

West End shows are often cheaper than Broadway, it's true, but that's pretty much it. Hotels, food, retail and transportation are all more expensive than anything I paid in the US, even most of NYC.

I did get a great flight deal last year to London on British Airways, though they ripped me off on the hotel promotion by refusing to adhere to their own rules and regulations. I wrote twice to Customer Service as well as called and they refuse to respond (even though I have several emails from British Airways with case numbers attached stating I will receive a response from a manager). But until someone can find anything that clearly states hotel room "occupancy" is defined by the number of seats purchased on an airplane, I'll be the first to say I was wrong. I always thought hotel room occupancy was the number of occupants in the hotel room, but British Airways insisted I was wrong and told me I was a manipulative liar trying to swindle them (and that was the Supervisor!).

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I have to agree with Bob 100% here.

I dont object to the $10 entry fee to the US as much as I object to the £80 - £100 passport charge for the privalage of leaving my own country!

Princeton 2 great point you made, when you look at your point in black and white, kind of makes sense.

"How much does it cost you guys to fly to the US?"

OK - so $10 isn't material to my budget.

But it's the principle of the issue I object to: no taxation without representation!

"I wrote twice to Customer Service as well as called"

British customer service in many sectors is crap and could be referred to more accurately as customer contempt.

Scripps, I'll happily pay your $10 next time you fly over.

A boy's got to eat . . .