Orlando Airport

✅ Verified Review | Avoid this airport at all costs. I travel extensively all over the world, however the last time I had to fly via Orlando MCO was thankfully 2003 as it was pretty dreadful even then! I had the opportunity to visit a friend in Fort Myers and the only flight I could get came into Orlando, so I decided to fly and drive. My flight with Virgin Atlantic came in on time and we were all about to disembark when we were told we had to remain on the plane for an additional 30 minutes due to the fact that 'immigration was so busy'! We all waited patiently, and eventually allowed off the plane, just to join an enormous queue for the passport identification machines. Thinking this would speed things along, I waited a further 20 mins and eventually had my passport scanned and photo taken. We then turned the next corner to discover another snaking queue for the passport security check! After waiting a further 30 minutes, I eventually got in front of the Passport Control Security Officer, who I can honestly say was one of the most rude, acerbic and disrespectful men I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. He basically grilled me for around 10-15 minutes on every aspect of my life professional and personal. I eventually picked up my bag from the carousel, in a room with no air conditioning on day with temperature around 89 degrees, just to discover the necessity to join yet another huge snaking queue to show my documents yet again! This took a further 20 minutes and at this point, people were starting to look seriously unwell, with old people looking faint and babies crying non stop. In total this rigmarole took around 2 hours and all before having to get the shuttle to the other terminal in order to queue yet again to pick up my hire car. Unfortunately, I have to travel through the same airport with my children at the end of June and I can honestly say I am absolutely dreading the experience. Not only will it be even hotter then, but due to holidays I'm sure it will be twice as crowded! If they weren't coping with the volume of passengers in May, I really can't see how they will cope during the annual holidays. On the return flight, the security was yet again in total chaos with massive delays and once I got through this unpleasant part of travelling, there was basically only one restaurant which served table dinning; quite unbelievable for an International Airport. There also appeared to be no flight information whatsoever on the flight departures and the only way to get an update was to go to the actual gate. My advice to anyone with the choice, would be to fly into a neighboring airport, even if it's two hours or more away and just drive. I flew into San Francisco International back in March and the experience, could not have been different. The staff were quick, efficient and extremely polite an helpful. The whole process from leaving the aircraft to leaving the terminal was around 30 mins in total. I can therefore only sum up and say I will make sure everyone I know, avoids Orlando International at all costs. Just don't go there and they will have to review their policies.

✅ Verified Review | Orlando is a zoo! Poor signage makes it difficult to navigate, not enough lifts to cope with the numbers, checking and security takes an age and some staff are not helpful and clearly under pressure. The airport can't cope with the number of travellers so I'll help them out by not using Orlando again, ever.

✅ Verified Review | 5th May 2017 flight from Glasgow to Orlando International, scheduled to land at 14.05 landed at 15.15 due to 1hr + delay at Glasgow, then held on the plane for 3+ hrs due to reduce handling capacity in airport then queued for 2.5 hrs for immigration checks, then queued for secondary security checks then pick up hired car and drove out of airport at 21.30. I would not believe this story if someone else told me it. Welcome to Florida I don't think so.

✅ Verified Review | Arrived at about 5.30pm, Fri 5th May on BA 2039. We had then to wait initially an extended 30 mins on the tarmac as the gate was occupied, then at the gate we were told it would be another hour which again was extended before Immigration would let us off the plane. After we were allowed off the queues were horrendous and even after using the APC machines had to queue to see and be questioned by an immigration official also dealing with non machine authorized people. The best welcome from the immigration officer was to tell me that I wasnt allowed to hold my cell phone in my hand, even after telling him it was turned off, and he said I had to put it in my pocket. He even grilled me as to why I was travelling alone but looked sheepish when I told him my wife died tragically 18 months ago, but he didnt manage to say "Oh I am sorry to hear that" as most people do, especially after a 9 hr flight and 3 hour unnecessary delay. Then there was a horrendous queue at Customs making it difficult to get bags off and then to get to the exit. Overall I was delayed 3 and half hours from landing, the only consolation was that talking to Virgin and Lufthansa passenger arriving at roughly the same same said they were delayed 4 hours! Can you imagine the pain for about 2000 people arriving and being delayed by an average of 3 hours. What an awful airport, will never fly to MCO directly again, they just cant cope and don't seem to want to welcome people or to help to reduce the delays. Just get audio messages on the hub trains saying what a modern hi tech and progressive city Orlando is, maybe the authors ought to experience what visitors really experience.

✅ Verified Review | Orlando airport is generally fine. Decent food options, easy access from city, good signage and easy to navigate. Unfortunately, both the TSA security setup and the TSA staff is just plain horrendous compared to TSA at all other airports I have ever been to. I'm a frequent traveler. 2-4 flights a month is normal, and sometimes it's a lot more than that. I have been to over 30 airports in the country and I've never seen a TSA setup like this. Lines coming from 2 different, opposite terminal entrances running into each other and then being allowed in one at a time. It's quite bizarre especially given the elegant alternative of just splitting the available security lanes into two - one for each terminal. This creates a lot of blockages and inefficiency as each side is temporarily halted while the other side goes on. The TSA staff only adds to this confusion. Not only are the staff incompetent at this airport, as is evident from their mismanagement of the lines, they are also rude, almost all angry, and very loud and unempathetic. I saw people getting yelled at unnecessarily, being made to wait, being given conflicting instructions and just generally having a bad experience over the course of 2 different departures in the same week from this airport. This is not including my own personal experience where it took 3 agents to resolve the security threat of me having a personal flask of water with...water inside. Instead of being allowed to drain it or drink it, I was sent back outside and forced to go through the entire security process again. My only other option was throwing the flask which was a biryhday gift and which I didn't want to forfeit. Overall, this airportms TSA general manager needs to look into the situation. They are turning what could otherwise be quite a decent airport into a terrible one.

✅ Verified Review | I have used Orlando Airport in the past and had forgot what arriving here is like. The past couple of times in Florida I have been to SFB and what a pleasure that small airport is in comparison. On to MCO, we arrived on time from London and taxied to our gate, everyone was getting things sorted to disemabark when we're were told the airport could not handle anymore people. We were kept on the plane for 20 minutes before being allowed to leave and that was just the start of the waiting. Queued for the self service machines to scan passports answer questions etc, you then have to queue to do exactly the same thing with a real person so I don't understand the self service machines use? Having finally cleared security we got our bags only to have to put them on another belt to collect in terminal B belt 29 according to screens. Anyway 3 out of 4 bags arrived on belt 28 despite screens saying 29. By the time I got 4th bag from belt 28 and got up to Avis and collected the car it had been over 3 hours since landing. When I used SFB time from leaving aircraft to driving car away was an hour, that's the reason I stopped using MCO as it is so painfully slow.

The area in Orlando Airport where the APC machines are kept was blocked off by a single person for unknown reasons so passengers had to instead walk to the main hall for processing. It took a long time with Disney style weaving up and down lines for a few rows. As with previous visits there were insufficient staff numbers to process the sheer volume of people arriving (only around 10 desks were being manned). The immigration officer who processed my family was quite unpleasant and brusque in manner. He certainly needed further customer service training. Afterwards we collected our bags from the carousel and made our way over towards customs and the transfer carousel. A tannoy announcement instructed passengers to either put their bags on the transfer carousel (not recommended as it takes an age for bags to arrive) or to take luggage onto the train. We elected to put our cases onto the train with us and then further walked to Ground Transportation. Two weeks later we returned via this airport and ate at the food court before entering the security lines. We were given a Preferred Lane but upon rounding a corner simply merged into all the other lanes. One TSA officer shouted that the bags will not move by themselves and that shoes should not be placed in the plastic bins. Why not have a sign indicating that instruction then? Do note your gate number carefully as these can be quite spread out. The terminals airside do have some shopping and restaurants but more is to be found landside prior to going through security.

An appalling experience at Orlando Airport. The buggy didn't arrive at the aircraft door. By the time we got to immigration there was a huge queue which we had to wait in with a toddler and baby with no buggy. It took an immense amount of time. Then collect the luggage and then unbelievably a second huge queue to get out after some sort of 'second check' - absolutely no idea what that was for. Then no elevator after immigration. They took the big luggage from us again with no real explanation other than to collect it at terminal b. Where of course it didn't arrive. There was no staff available to assist. The luggage eventually arrived in terminal b on a carousel after around half an hour whilst our driver was waiting for us. A third rate airport.

Once again a fiasco at arrivals security at a US airport. Took 2 hours to clear security with a ridiculous 'secondary inspection' which accomplished absolutely nothing that that the first one didn't do. Remains the one thing that makes me seriously consider visiting the US.

✅ Verified Review | I moved to Orlando almost a year ago. I travel extensively. This airport has easily the worst baggage delivery times of any airport in the world. I routinely wait up to an hour and have had to wait over that once. I have no idea why every other airport can figure this out and they cannot. Do not check baggage unless you absolutely have to.