Orlando Airport

Arrived at Orlando international airport on 07/04/15 after a fantastic Virgin Atlantic flight from Manchester. If we had known what we were about to face. This airport is a disgrace to America it took us 4 hours in total to pass through this place. Is this done on purpose to prepare you for the Disney experience. Isn't filling an ESTA form online supposed to speed things up. Employ more staff when you know large flights are arriving and show some respect for people from abroad bringing there hard earned cash to your country.

This airport is huge and difficult to find your way through if you can find those signs you'd better read them carefully. The parking is far too expensive. I waited over an hour at baggage claim and the lines in general are ridiculous unless you were hoping to hone your skills before tackling the long lines at Disney. Who decided to turn the air conditioning off? Is it the same person who put the food court back around the outside of TSA so if you're hungry then you'll have to go again and get an extra x-ray and overall manhandling. There are alternatives - as far as the overpriced parking get a park and fly. If you really want a great option try Orlando Sanford Airport instead. Short lines cheaper flight tickets and virtually instantaneous luggage retrieval. Friendly staff as well.

We use Orlando Airport at least four times each year and while some people find security a problem I must say I'm quite impressed by its thoroughness and don't mind the queues if it means safer travel. We have used this airport since 1999 and while immigration was a problem in the past it is not so any more. We travel from Dublin Ireland and we now get our immigration clearance done before we leave Dublin. Maybe some of the U.K. travellers could travel via Dublin and get clearance there and so avoid the queues in Orlando on arrival. Love this airport and think the staff including the security and customs are very courteous and pleasant to deal with. Slow baggage reclaim but with Florida waiting who minds an extra thirty minutes!

Arrived on a Virgin flight from Glasgow which was great and on time then downhill from there. They kept us on the plane for twenty minutes as the immigration hall was full when released we were horrified to find around 600 to 1000 passengers in the immigration hall we snaked round and round for just over 2 hours total nightmare before getting through. Then onto car rental with Budget 4 people in front of me and it took over an hour to get the car keys. Certainly will not be flying here again and would definitely recommend you pick any other airport. If you have the patience of a saint and like queuing this is the airport for you.

Arrived 2nd Jan 400 plus passengers through immigration and customs in about 20 minutes all the officers were friendly and very pleasant and this included the computer system going down at immigration. What more could you ask for? Departed March 28th went through passport control and security checks in about 5 minutes selected for expedited security check so did not have to remove shoes or laptops from bags. People who did go through normal checks did not take much longer all done with little fuss and a smile from all those staff on duty.

We flew into MCO from Glasgow via Newark so avoided going through Immigration and once our bags arrived we picked up our hire car and were away from the airport within 40 minutes. The return journey was a bit different. The queues at the United check-in desks were large but we were processed through quite quickly the TSA security checks were extremely busy slow and pretty disorganised. Our flight for Newark was at Gate 47 and when we were called into our respective boarding lines a flight at gate 48 disembarked its passengers who then tried to barge their way through our lines to get to the Air Train resulting in a bit of a shambles not well organised at all with departing and arriving passengers in the one area at the one time.

We have travelled through Orlando MCO regularly over the past 15 years. As Airports go it is one of the better ones as far as catering for the passengers needs. Good facilities pre-Departure plenty shops eating facilities and adequate seating other Airports should take note. Never had a problem at check in and never had to queue for more than a few minutes. Car Rental desks are all on one level and all easily Identified. Policy at these desks is for the agent to try and sell you everything under the sun. Generally if they can see you are a regular and you make it clear at the start that you want nothing that is not already arranged they will not bother. The system would run more smoothly if they simply supplied what was requested on the rental voucher and merely inquired if there was anything else the customer required instead of wasting time pushing everything whist a huge queue gathers waiting for their cars. Now we come to the worst bit the TSA security system at departure is an absolute shambles poorly organised full of unhelpful power crazy staff that are full of there own self importance rather than trying to run a helpful sympathetic and courtesy based system. I suggest someone from this organisation goes to Heathrow terminal 5 or Gatwick and see how a security system should operate. The Customs and Emigration at International arrivals again is an area that requires better organisation there appears to be no collaboration between the Airport Authorities and the Border control Staff with regards manning levels. As for flights arriving from Gatwick UK both the British Airways and Virgin Flights generally land within minutes of each other in the late afternoon this means that the best part of 600 to 700 people need processing. There are a huge amount of desks available over 30 in fact. In all the years we have flown to Orlando I have never seen more than 60% of these desks manned at any one time surely it is not beyond the will of man to organise manning levels according to flight operations. So in conclusion a good airport let down by Government organisations failing to work hand in hand with the Airport also the Government employees seriously need some customer focussed training and learn to smile.

Arrival through immigration can be slow but procedures handled efficiently enough in the circumstances. It is on departure that I was impressed when we had to go through security on two successive days thanks to a cancelled British Airways flight. On each occasion although busy security staff were exemplary and a complete contrast to the officious jobsworthsâwe find on the European side of the Atlantic. The officers engaged in cheerful banter with passengers without losing sight of the objectives of their job. I was helpfully told my 10 year old could keep his shoes on and on the second departure we were profiled for fast track clearance and through in seconds. The rest of the airport runs efficiently and with minimal hassle.

I would have to agree with B Munro's review regarding this airport particularly with regards to lines at immigration (good practice for waiting in line at the theme parks). I spoke to one woman who had already been standing in line for an hour. It was a weekend arrival but again only 6 desks were open out of the 30 or so in total they have there. Our flight was the second of the three to arrive that day from the UK and by the time this flight had started to line up a couple more desks had opened. The blame for that lies with the CBP so this is out of the hands of the airport management. Baggage was again placed on the floor of the carousels for people to find once immigration formalities were completed. Passengers still have the option of either taking their cases onto the train or to put these on the transfer carousel to be collected at the main terminal. Food court at Orlando is very good and has lots of choice.

YYZ-MCO-YYZ. First time travelling through this airport. Great services and tons of space. Taking the monorail was a great experience. Easy to find your way around. Highly recommend this airport.