Orlando Airport

Arrived at Orlando international March 11 2013. There were about a thousand passengers in the long line to Immigration. Only half of the booths were manned. After 1.5 hours 5 of the 10 officers picked up and left bringing the speed to a minimum. Me and many hundreds of other passengers many with small children had to spend 2.5 hours in total standing up in line. This is completely unacceptable. I have travelled to countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Immigration procedure is a lot better in these countries than at Orlando International. My recommendation is to avoid arriving on international flights to Orlando. Better go through a larger airport like EWR or JFK.

We have been visiting Orlando for many years now. This airport is becoming unbearable. We flew in from Manchester UK Sunday 3rd March 2013. We were the 2nd flight to reach Customs and Immigration. Both flights Jumbo's. Followed by another flight being British Airways. Probably a total of at least 1400 people to get process by just 10 Officers. This Airport does not even put into consideration or even care that these passengers have encountered a 9 hour flight and a time difference of 5 hours and many passengers flying with young children. We did not get processed until we had been in line for 2 hours. Somehow this airport thinks that level of queuing is acceptable! They need to now accept that it is switching people like us off. We have be known to visit 3 times a year. We are now contemplating going elsewhere! We are sick of them wasting at least 3 hours of or holiday hours being spent in their airport.

Arrived from Manchester UK on January 21st long wait at immigration due to two UK flights landing at the same time (approx. 2 hours). The immigration officers were all courteous and polite even to those who chose to ignore the no use of mobile phone laws unlike other U.S airports I have travelled to. On leaving the USA from Orlando on February 20th the lines at passport and security appeared to be long but it took only about 15 mins to get airside again the officers on duty were courteous and polite. All in all a better experience than my last visit to the USA using Chicago O'Hare.

After reading several reviews I was not looking forward to the experience but I have got to say arriving just in front of another Transatlantic flight was lucky as our wait to clear immigration was quick maybe 15-20 mins max some off that flight looked in for a long wait. Our bags were on the carousel when we arrived at the collection point and the shuttle to the main terminal was hassle free. We departed the following Saturday which was 22nd December amid reports of one of the busiest days in the year to travel but had no problems at all. TSA had plenty of channels open and got through in under 5 minutes and from a personal point of view the TSA staff were polite and efficient and the best we have come across. Overall a good experience.

This is a tale of 2 airports. For travel within the US overall I have found it reasonable. However for international travellers it is a real pain in terms of getting from the aircraft to the terminal exit door. Having passed through immigration you collect your bags from the carousel then go through customs. Having negotiated that bit unless you are able to carry all of your bags up the escalator you then place them on a conveyor before making your way to the ghost train over to the main terminal building. At this point you hope your bags arrive for a second time. Inevitably they do not come off together resulting in more frayed nerves. Hopefully they all arrive and you are free to go. Why do they not build an international terminal where the bags only need to be collected once rather than have this hugely inefficient method.

I echo Mr Brigance's review. A very pretty airport but going through security is the worst layout ever. The worst design the longest delays. For some reason this was designed so that - rather than each airline having its own security lines or 3 or 4 or 5 airlines sharing one security area MCO is set up so that all airlines all flights share two security areas. Last week on a slow midday afternoon in September I waited 20 minutes just to get to the agent who checked my boarding pass. It was another half hour to get through actual security from there! Seventy gates of passengers were funnelled into 7 lines. Made the NYC subway at rush hour seem like a Disney ride. They desperately need to redesign the security arrangement. I hope smaller airports like Melbourne will grow and become affordable alternatives because I would do almost anything to avoid flying out of Orlando. Coming in no problem but passing through their awful security system - arguably the worst in the US and maybe the world - is just not worth it anymore.

Probably my favorite airport to travel through. Staff are helpful and the terminals are always clean. The gates are very well indicated. Orlando MCO also has a wide variety of shops and restaurants. My favorite part of the airport is probably the main building with the large fountain in the middle. The monorails are also a nice touch. I have never had an issue with bags and my flights are always on time. I have travelled with this airport many times and I recommend it.

Lots of gates lots of people and they all funnel from two supposedly separate terminals into one security zone. Most cumbersome and time-consuming airport I have ever experienced in 5+ millions miles of travelling. TSA folks not the problem. Delta not the problem. Basic design terrible - just compare Tampa for example where you ride the trains to separate gates and then go through security. I will never fly to Orlando again no matter how circuitous my routing has to be in order to avoid it. Also rudest airline employees I have ever seen. As I was about to enter security scan 6 employees pushed in front of me saying "employees go first." After 45 mins in line I had to wait an additional 30 mins for this intrusion as 4 had to be hand-searched. That also was a first for this fairly experienced traveller. Never again.

I do not know if the fact that we landed in the middle of the afternoon helped but immigration was fast (for American airport standards) and it was very easy to find the car rental desk. Overall clean place and organized.

We flew to Manchester from Orlando International. When we tried to reach our gate lines for security were 4 to 5 wide then merged very slowly into 1 line. People that choose either of the outer lines appeared to jump into the middle of the line as it merged. All in all the simple bag and clothing checks were over 1 hour on the day we flew. The whole process was a disaster we could see that Homeland Security people were trying their best but appeared overwhelmed by the situation. Other aspects of the airport are fine road access check-in facilities for eating etc.