Three Hours at Airport Before Flight??????

[dasan]

Another thing you have to take in count, is that DME picks you up at your resort
(in our case Movies) and also stopped at Music, Sports and Coronado.
This can add quite a bit of time as well.

 

[CDNCA]

Is the Air Canada flight direct to a Canadian city or is it a partner flight with a US Connection?

If there is a US connection, provide the US Flight number to ME and it will save you an hour. They do not have to know the next flight you get on to crosses the border.

I have been told that he 3 hr / 4 hr rule is dictated by the Orlando airport and was a condition for setting up the service.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I have been told that he 3 hr / 4 hr rule is dictated by the Orlando airport and was a condition for setting up the service.

That's what I got told when I tried to talk to them I even tried to tell them that the airline said I din't have to be there until two hours before, my flight and that there would be no one at the counter they stills said hey couldn't change it as they didn't want me to be late for my flight.

 

[ottawafamilyof4]

Does anyone know if any flights to Canada pre-clear immigration and customs at MCO? I know my flight from Ottawa to MCO pre-clears US immigration in Canada. If the return flight does the same, that would add time at MCO.

 

[StacyMarie]

To be honest with ya, I wouldn't chance it. You don't know if you are the first stop for DME or the last. When we flew home a few weeks ago, we were the last stop for our particular DME. The bus was packed. There were obviously a couple resorts that were picked up before us, each at least 15-20 minute stops. There goes any extra time you thought you had.

Then, once we got to the airport, there were multiple drop offs so if you weren't at the first drop off, you had to wait for everybody who was to get off the bus and get anything that was stored below out before DME went to the next drop off. Those 2 things alone would make me question whether or not to mess with the time. What if you mess with your pick up time by one hour and come to find out when you get on DME that you are the first stop and there are 4 or 5 more resort pick ups after you. There's that extra hour that you thought you were going to waste at the airport gone, and now you're running late.

Also, the security lines at MCO can get backed up like nothing I've ever seen.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Does anyone know if any flights to Canada pre-clear immigration and customs at MCO? I know my flight from Ottawa to MCO pre-clears US immigration in Canada. If the return flight does the same, that would add time at MCO.

Unfortuitly not, but according to the agreement that we have with them for the ones in Canada we can do it, the only reason for not doing it is there are too many large airports in the US and not a lot of cross boarder air travel to warrant having them.

 

[jsebsirois]

Here's our experience :

Flying from a US airport : 2 hours should be plenty of time. We always get there earlier (about three hours) but ending telling ourselves we should have schedule our pick-up later!

Flying from a CAN airport to USA : we had a flight to Las Vegas a month after they stopped a terrorist attack in Amsterdam. We were told to be at the airport 4 hours before our flight. We hesitated but decided to listen to the tip and thank god we did for it really took us almost 4 hours from entering the airport to arrive at our gate, in time for bording!

 

[DMKarmac]

we just got back last month from Orlando.
I would suggest the 3 hour time span. We flew air canada coming home and it took them over an hour to check us in and process our luggage. I would suggest online check in if you can. Sometimes the security lines can cause delays, and there's always the unexpected. I've been flying to Orlando for the past 5 years and , Yes, I would suggest that the 3 hours is a good idea. If anything, you can sit and relax a bit before your flight leaves.