Orlando Airport

This is an airport I use a lot and I despise the place. Arriving on a domestic flight into Orlando the experience is pleasant enough but the airport does a dreadful job of catering for international passengers. I now prefer to travel via better airports in the USA where immigration and customs is less time-consuming. On my most recent flight just 10 days ago immigration would not allow our Virgin Atlantic 747 flight to disembark passengers due to excessive queues. We were told to remain on the aircraft for 30 mins. After disembarking we stood in a slow-moving line in immigration for 90 mins before being seen. Definitely not an airport I would recommend. For a speedier immigration and customs experience when arriving from overseas look at travelling indirect and clearing both at some of the country's better airports - New York JFK and Boston Logan in particular were both very efficient.

Orlando International is very similar in layout to Tampa in that it has a landside terminal with several airsides that are connected by overhead trams with one exception: whereas in Tampa security is on the airside after exiting the trams in Orlando it is landside before boarding. Still open lines were ample and even color coded for beginners intermediates and experts. I was in the expert line and cleared security in under 10 minutes. The main terminal is stocked with shops restaurants and even a Hyatt hotel. On the airside there was a Burger King Nathan's Hot Dogs Outback Steakhouse Starbucks a deli and a couple of snack bars however there was not adequate seating at the restaurants themselves. There are coffee tables and chairs in the center atrium of the airside however they are all bolted to the floor. So if you plan to eat before you fly I would advise arriving at the airport early enough to check out the dining options pre-security. I noticed restrooms were inadequate particularly when multiple flights were arriving and they were rather dirty. When arriving at MCO remember that baggage claim is on level 2 and ground transportation (rental car & Disney shuttles and taxis) are on level 1. Long term parking at the airport can be paid by Sunpass however it is expensive. There is ample off-airport parking nearby for as little as $4-5 a day so shop around. Just allow an extra 30-45 minutes depending on distance.

Nice clean well organised. The monorail is amazing and tells you that you have come in the attraction parcs world. I found the airport well organised for both arrival and departures. No queue for me at my checkin only 5 minutes before security. Some restaurants are also available after security the airport provide free wifi. As for arrival and for departure the organisation is lovely if you have for example to rent a car after collecting back your luggage all car rentals are located one floor under and then you just have to get out of the airport a 3 minutes walk and you are at your car.

This airport has really been improved in recent years. Immigration now seems quicker and certainly more well mannered than most US customs halls they almost seem pleased to see you. Transfer by the monorail is quick clean and comfortable however you still need to drag your luggage up an escalator for the final third of the journey. If you are not prepared to haul it up they will transfer it for you but they take an eternity to get it up in the arrivals hall. Very clean airport with good facilities the car hire is the easiest you could hope for Alamo Thrifty Dollar etc providing they are not too busy. Your car is waiting in the car park just yards away and when you return the vehicle you just leave it in the short term parking - no need for shuttle buses. A hundred yards one lift and you are in the terminal.

I have transited many airports in Europe and the US and think that MCO is one of the easiest to get around. It is also one of the more pleasant to wait in as there are plenty of stores to browse and different eateries to select from. Plenty of seating and natural lighting too. What you have to know is that the airside gates are away from the main terminals connected by an elevated tram system. Because of this I would suggest you do any eating or shopping before going through security as the options airside are somewhat limited. Although there seems to be a Starbucks in all the airside gate areas so I'm happy. They have gotten much better with security the last 3 times I've been through (June October November 2009) I never had to wait more than 15 minutes to be screened. Arrivals both domestic and from international have not been a problem either. Passport and customs is pretty smooth and you can now choose if you want to take your bag with you on the tram after clearing customs or put it back on the belt and collect it in baggage claim. This is a wonderful option for those that just want to get out of the airport as quickly as possible after a long plane ride. All in all a pretty pleasant airport to transit - miles better than IAD or ORD but my favorites will always be AMS or MUC.

I departed from MCO and had a mixed experience. Landside MCO is a veritable shopping centre and my wife and I had a browse ate in the food court (very reasonably priced). Security was cleared in minutes and we were airside within minutes. Aer Lingus flights depart from gate 28 and this departure area is not particularly pleasant. The range of shops cafes and bars is limited and in stark contrast to landside is quite expensive. Two glasses of average wine came to just under $20 for example. Very annoyingly only one set of restrooms in this area were working leading to queues! This is wholly unacceptable. Unlike the vast majority of airports this area doesn't have any executive lounges. Servisair operate in the airport surely there is a market for such a lounge. I would be quite happy to pay for this service.

MCO is a great airport for departing passengers: bright airy spacious great range of shops and restaurants. Arriving (from Dublin) is a nightmare. Clearing customs and immigration is pretty efficient. Baggage is anything but. You have to collect your bags deposit them at another belt and then wait for their delivery into the arrivals area. Even allowing for the transit from customs to arrivals we had to wait almost a half an hour for bags to arrive. There's a global recession on folks why not try to make arriving in your airport a less stressful experience. As I said the departure experience is much more pleasant.

This airport must be so new (it is lovely clean light & bright-looks like a mall) that they haven't had time to install signage; or they ran out of money! After we returned our rental car (Avis in the airport) we rode the escalator upstairs to ticketing to check our bags only to discover we didn't know which way to go; apparently finding the airline on your own is the game of the day. Went one way turned around went the other way asked directions were told to go to the other side and take a right didn't find asked directions again told to keep going straight take a right and we'd find USAir. Finally did find it but at no time anywhere was there a sign - for any airline! Is this an airport with airline ticketing? And we must have walked a mile; good thing we had about 2 hours! Oh and lets not forget that before returning the car we found a close-by service station (SunCoast) to fill up the gas tank - at the great price of $4.39 a gallon! We had to go to Orlando on business but you can be sure we won't be going there on pleasure after this experience. We'll take our recession money elsewhere.

On the whole Orlando International Airport is a very enjoyable airport to transit through. The only two problems seem to be security queues and rental-car check-in queues. The security issue has significantly been improved over the 12 years I have been transiting through the airport albeit queues could be around 15-25 minutes at peak times over at Concourse B when the Virgin Atlantic British Airways & Lufthansa International flights depart. The problem with rental car check in has been improved in the last few years. The worst does seem to be Alamo however Dollar seems to be the best contender especially during peak times around 14:00-17:00 with queue to car (Side B) in less than 15 minutes. Overall Orlando is a great and relaxing airport to transit through and I would recommend it to anyone traveling to Florida especially internationally. With the expected terminal renovations it should make the experience even better.

I actually think MCO isnt that bad! The only issue I continue to have is with the rental car checkins - Dollar kept me waiting for around 90 minutes as there were 50 people waiting and only 3 people behind the desks. Maybe we can start reviewing Rental Car Companies on this website?