Adobe just posted this Lightroom 6.2 update - they will bring back the old import tool in the next release after multiple reports of crashes and extremely slow imports:
I’d like to thank our customers for their patience while the team reviewed several options for restoring import workflows and addressing quality in Lightroom. We can now confirm that, in our next dot release, we will restore the previous import experience. We are still working on details and timing. In the meantime, if you need to restore previous import functionality prior to the next update, please refer to this document on how to roll back to Lightroom 6.1.1. We will continue to investigate ways to improve the ease of use of our photography products and will do so via an open dialog, with both existing and new customers.
