Crazy: Australian Man Denied Entry To USA Because He Flew Via Hong Kong

An Australian man claims he was held for eight hours and then denied entry to the USA for the high crime of flying from Australia to the United States via Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific.

Claim: Australian Man Denied Entry To USA For Flying Via Hong Kong On Cathay Pacific

The travelers purchased a premium economy ticket on Cathay Pacific to travel from Sydney (SYD) to New York (JFK) via Hong Kong (HKG) because it was the cheapest ticket…and having just booked an Award Expert client on the same routing, I can personally attest that you can save a lot of money by traveling from Australia to the USA via East Asia rather than nonstop.

But upon reaching New York, he was pulled aside for “enhanced vetting” (President Trump directed harsher vetting of foreign visitors arriving via US airports in a January 20, 2025 executive order). Eight hours later, after three interviews and an extensive examination of his laptop and iPhone, he was sent back to Australia.

There was no problem with his visa. There was no criminal record. The agents simply did not like that he flew Cathay Pacific to the USA…they could not understand it.

His final destination in the USA was Florida to take a $15,000 cruise, which he forfeited (with no refund) when he was denied entry to the USA.

The Sydney Morning Herald is not a fringe publication in Australia, but one of the most respected and centrist newspapers and the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia (dating back to 1831).

This isn’t fake news. We’ve heard anecdote after anecdote like this and you can read the executive order yourself. This is becoming the new norm and this will certainly scare off visitors to the USA. The latest red flag is from the Accor hotel chain, which warns that bookings from Europe to the USA for the summer high season are down 25%.

As tariffs make us poor again (foolish people do not remember that the US has tried mass tariffs twice before and both led to economic depressions), international travelers are justifiably choosing to skip travel to the USA, which will hurt American workers and have a devastating ripple effect across the economy.

Wake up folks, this is getting worse, not better. The “land of the free” is quickly becoming a home for only the bravest tourists.

If you’re coming to the USA, consider leaving your laptops and other devices, including tablets, at home entirely and travel only with a “burner phone” (a cheap, prepaid model) to the USA. That’s the type of advice I used to reserve for traveling to the People’s Republic of China but we’re in a different era now.

#Make American Poor Again