Do I just have to accept that flying out of MCO is always going to be bad?

[MrKnight]

In a perfect world, of course we would avoid layovers! But we don’t live in a city of that size unfortunately, so nonstop flights are extremely rare.

What is your home airport?

 

[sndral]

So I have had TERRIBLE luck with MCO lately. and maybe I'm just extremely unlucky....I was flying home last week, and my flight was delayed FOUR hours. They never said why, but I missed my connection, got stuck with a three hour layover, and got home 7 hours later than originally scheduled.

I have a trip planned for January, and I'm flying out around 6:30 pm, because were doing a park on that day. I've done this before and it worked out park-wise. But, the last time I did it, my flight was also delayed like two hours. I thought maybe it was just a fluke thing, but after last week, I'm getting worried. I have a 45 minute layover in STL, which is a very small airport, and easy to navigate. Southwest is all in one terminal, so the walk between gates is like, 5 minutes, and that's walking slowly. Normally, if I was flying in from anywhere else, I wouldn't be concerned, but MCO has me worried.

I'm not sure what to do, since I already have the 4-day tickets purchased. My flight currently is the latest flight out, and there are no other flights that night. If I was traveling by myself, I would probably change my flight to the next morning, just in case. But I'm with friends, and I don't think that'll work for them, since they'll have to take another day off work.

Should I just hope for the best? I don't know what other option there is, other than getting an earlier flight, but then I could see people getting upset about that too since we'll lose park time.

Has anyone else had these problems with MCO or has your flight been on time?

That 45 minute layover is really 35 minutes since SWA closes boarding 10 minutes prior to scheduled departure. Add in time to deplane assuming on time arrival… I took a look at SWA 550 - the last SWA MCO-STL flight for the last 10 days - if that’s your flight you would have made your connection 8 times & likely missed it 2 times. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA555/history/20221213/0305Z/KMCO/KSTL
Good luck, if you find yourself sitting at your MCO departure gate facing a delay that’ll cause you to miss your connection jump on rebooking fast before the next available STL outbound flight books up.
BTW, I flew out of MCO Sat., TSA was the worst I’ve ever seen it - over an hour w/ the line stretching beyond the roped queue switchbacks & way down the terminal, hopefully it’ll be better when you fly in Jan. - but I’d keep an eye on it when juggling park time v. MCO arrival time.

 

[EACarlson]

I don't plan anything on my departure day and book the earliest flight out I can get. I was there in October and had a 7am flight out, will be there next month and have a 7:30am flight out. I've never had a delay at MCO. I've had issues with TSA and baggage, but never operationally.

 

[easyas123]

IMHO there are a few strategies that I would strongly recommend you consider to mitigate issues especially when flying out of busy airports like MCO:

1. I typically try to book the earliest possible flights as morning flights have a SIGNFICANTLY lower chance of getting delayed/cancelled, something to consider when booking flights..
2. I always book direct non-stop flights even if the price is higher, MCO has direct flights to practically every major to mid-sized US city plus a handful of international destinations. I would avoid layovers if possible to mitigate the associated stress, especially when flying out of a large airport like MCO that has direct service to so many cities.. If you would like to provide your destination airport happy to provide you with dire

There are of course no guarantees but from my experience the above typically works in most scenarios.. Hope this helps!

I don't plan anything on my departure day and book the earliest flight out I can get. I was there in October and had a 7am flight out, will be there next month and have a 7:30am flight out. I've never had a delay at MCO. I've had issues with TSA and baggage, but never operationally.

I agree, flights out first thing are one of the best ways to help prevent delays. If your local airport doesn't have a n/s flight, perhaps consider the next nearest airport, even if you have to drive a bit further.

Knock wood, we've never experienced a delay into & out of MCO, but I think we've just been lucky.

 

[ttintagel]

I think it's one of those cases where it's best to set expectations at low and be pleasantly surprised if it goes better

 

[georgina]

We have pre-check which takes care of the TSA issues. Have been delayed out of MCO several times due to weather. My last flight in August the pilot came on and told everyone to hurry up and get settled because there was bad weather approaching and if we didn’t get out soon we would be delayed. Another night we were delayed several hours, the real problem was when we got to Reagan all the gates had planes at them for the next morning. So we sat for a long time waiting for someone to move a plane, with some poor kid screaming ‘I WANT TO GET OFF THE PLANE’ repeatedly. Then baggage was super slow. That was a bad one. I have had more problems in Atlanta than Orlando. Flying out of MCO tonight, looks good so far.

 

[StageTek]

I have flown out of MCO seven times this year (2022). Never once experienced a flight delay.

 

[ajollyholidaywithjo]

I agree, flights out first thing are one of the best ways to help prevent delays. If your local airport doesn't have a n/s flight, perhaps consider the next nearest airport, even if you have to drive a bit further.

Knock wood, we've never experienced a delay into & out of MCO, but I think we've just been lucky.

The nearest airport that has non-stop flights is over 3 hours away, no way am I adding another 3 hours onto travel time.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Maybe it depends on where you are going?
We fly to either Atlanta or Charlotte to make connections.
Hubs for Delta/AA, which may make a difference too. The flights we take tend to be back/forth. Meaning they go from ATL to MCO, back to ATL (and same for Charlotte). They aren't usually connecting to other airports, so this probably cuts down on delays "down the line"
In all our trips, 5, 6 per year, past 9 years, we've only had maybe 3 delays that impacted a connection.
Some things I always (or maybe should say never) do
I never fly out early. Until recently, flew out last flight of the day. Now, we fly out about 3-4ish or so. I will NOT ever get to the airport before noon to go home. That's the worse way to end a vacation to us. We do not do it.
I try to book about an hour connection. Try to not go with less and try to avoid longer layovers if possible. I just hate hanging out in airports. I usually go with whatever the airline suggests that is closest to the 1 hour connection time.
These parameters work well for our destination but luckily we rarely have weather related delays in this region.

Now, TSA, that is a different story. It was a nightmare. Till we got Pre-check about 8 years ago. Now we breeze through security, even at MCO. Flew home yesterday and took 1 min to get through.

 

[Lumpy1106]

MCO security line is one of the inner circles of (I'll say for purposes of DIS) heck. AND, no matter how much time has passed or what changes they have made, it only gets more baffling and, well, bad. We pray we end up in a line that is being walked past a magic dog, but then other times we have been pulled over to the DAS line - those poor people - that awful line. Not only that, but the security people at MCO, more than anywhere else I have flown, seem far more concerned about what time and how long of a break they will be taking than they are of actually screening travellers.

AND...
As bad as flying OUT of MCO is, I find flying IN to LAX to be every bit as bad. Imagine our return trip where we have to do both. I've never understood why LA doesn't see LAX for what it is - THE first impression for anyone visiting So Cal. It should be nothing short of phenomenal, it's AWFUL! I describe it as a punch-to-the-face, welcome to LA - suckers! It used to be tighter security getting your bag out of baggage claim than getting on the plane, now they just don't seem to care if you do get robbed. You can instantly tell CA is one of the "weed is legal" states as you hit the curb. From there you have to fight through the never-ending construction, homeless people, and foul tempered shuttle drivers just to get to your rental car. Then, and only then, are you introduced to your first taste of the infamous LA freeway system. Any time I see someone post here about how much they loved So Cal and DL, I know one thing FOR CERTAIN; they either flew into LGB or SNA, because they sure as heck would say that after a first visit flying into LAX.

 

[jo-jo]

We flew home on Sat. Awful awful day. One thing I still can't figure out, my husband has an extra seat and was being pushed in a wheelchair......was in early boarding line and was denied. Gate agent told him two seats does not qualify for preboarding. 1 - unless you get an A group, how can you be sure you'll get two seats together. 2- he was in a wheelchair, why he was denied?

I was talking to desk agent at the time.

 

[sndral]

…
Now, TSA, that is a different story. It was a nightmare. Till we got Pre-check about 8 years ago. Now we breeze through security, even at MCO. Flew home yesterday and took 1 min to get through.

Things must have improved from Sat., my queue snaked right by the pre line for awhile & they were backed up too, likely because the clear people were escorting their folks to the front of the pre’s carryon conveyer belts/search machine & because a TSA guy would periodically open a stanchion & funnel groups of 20 or so from the regular line to the pre line - I got shuttled into that faster track which likely saved me some time.

 

[Mrs.AMC]

Things must have improved from Sat., my queue snaked right by the pre line for awhile & they were backed up too, likely because the clear people were escorting their folks to the front of the pre’s carryon conveyer belts/search machine & because a TSA guy would periodically open a stanchion & funnel groups of 20 or so from the regular line to the pre line - I got shuttled into that faster track which likely saved me some time.

I'm Clear too, and yea, we go in front of all, TSA Precheck too. Sorry, left that part out. Tuesday afternoon the TSA Pre line was non-existent too so it didn't matter
I love Clear in that I don't have to wrangle an ID. And have a credit card that covers it.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

We've had a mixed bag with MCO over the years - sometimes we go right through, often we have delays of some sort. But to be fair, we have that at other airports at times, too - especially the really busy ones like ATL and even Newark. At times our delays at MCO are due to an issue that happened earlier in the day in San Francisco or Chicago - these flights are so intertwined across the country and world. MCO isn't always to blame.

 

[Mle8308]

MCO security line is one of the inner circles of (I'll say for purposes of DIS) heck. AND, no matter how much time has passed or what changes they have made, it only gets more baffling and, well, bad. We pray we end up in a line that is being walked past a magic dog, but then other times we have been pulled over to the DAS line - those poor people - that awful line. Not only that, but the security people at MCO, more than anywhere else I have flown, seem far more concerned about what time and how long of a break they will be taking than they are of actually screening travellers.

AND...
As bad as flying OUT of MCO is, I find flying IN to LAX to be every bit as bad. Imagine our return trip where we have to do both. I've never understood why LA doesn't see LAX for what it is - THE first impression for anyone visiting So Cal. It should be nothing short of phenomenal, it's AWFUL! I describe it as a punch-to-the-face, welcome to LA - suckers! It used to be tighter security getting your bag out of baggage claim than getting on the plane, now they just don't seem to care if you do get robbed. You can instantly tell CA is one of the "weed is legal" states as you hit the curb. From there you have to fight through the never-ending construction, homeless people, and foul tempered shuttle drivers just to get to your rental car. Then, and only then, are you introduced to your first taste of the infamous LA freeway system. Any time I see someone post here about how much they loved So Cal and DL, I know one thing FOR CERTAIN; they either flew into LGB or SNA, because they sure as heck would say that after a first visit flying into LAX.

Gotta love the magic dogs!!!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We flew home on Sat. Awful awful day. One thing I still can't figure out, my husband has an extra seat and was being pushed in a wheelchair......was in early boarding line and was denied. Gate agent told him two seats does not qualify for preboarding. 1 - unless you get an A group, how can you be sure you'll get two seats together. 2- he was in a wheelchair, why he was denied?

I was talking to desk agent at the time.

What was the reason for the purchasing of two seats? Did he go to the gate agents before boarding time to speak with them regarding pre-boarding? You're supposed to do that so you can get pre-board on your ticket.

Just being in a wheelchair doesn't mean you can pre-board and just purchasing two seats doesn't mean you get to pre-board either. I'm assuming you're meaning you flew with SWA as you mentioned A group.

 

[jo-jo]

What was the reason for the purchasing of two seats? Did he go to the gate agents before boarding time to speak with them regarding pre-boarding? You're supposed to do that so you can get pre-board on your ticket.

Just being in a wheelchair doesn't mean you can pre-board and just purchasing two seats doesn't mean you get to pre-board either. I'm assuming you're meaning you flew with SWA as you mentioned A group.

He needs two seats or the person next to him will be very unhappy. We had purchased two seats for him for several years now and have always had preboarding and have only gone to the desk for those flights to have a tag for his rollator. This was the second set of tickets that we had that day. Not sure if the tickets had preboarding on them or not.
The desk agent did say being in wheelchair does count as preboarding. And yes, SWA.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This was the second set of tickets that we had that day. Not sure if the tickets had preboarding on them or not.

That would be something that could make it go awry if you're trying to pre-board as opposed to boarding in your Boarding position (which you can still do this if you purchase an additional seat).

The desk agent did say being in wheelchair does count as preboarding.

I meant you wouldn't want to just show up in line to pre-board with a wheelchair thinking that the wheelchair automatically grants you pre-board. Otherwise everyone would just rent a wheelchair (or find a random one) and get in line to board early. It's why they have a process in place for pre-boarding (however generous the airlines can be sometimes with pre-boarding).

Vast majority of the times the gate agents verbalize "can I get my pre-boarders to line up, if you've got pre-board on your ticket go ahead and get lined up" and then they tell people waiting (for Family Boarding or A group) "we'll be boarding our pre-boarders first, those with pre-board on your ticket can now board" so that's why I was posing the question. It's not that your husband in wheelchair wouldn't qualify for pre-board but that you have to make sure you've gone through the process to get that pre-board before getting in line.




Being delicate in your husband's situation I'm guessing maybe customer of size. For customer of size they advise (underline is mine)

• Domestic U.S. Travel: You can check in online or at a self-service check-in kiosk to reserve your boarding positions, but you must see a Customer Service Agent to receive the required documents and be eligible for a refund after the flight.
• If you have an Extra Seat Boarding document, you can choose to preboard to select seats that best meet your needs. You can also choose to board with your original boarding group and position. Once onboard, if necessary, please request a seatbelt extension from our Flight Attendant.
• We encourage you to preboard to locate adequate seating and place the Seat Reserved Document in the adjacent seat. Our Ground Operations and Inflight Employees communicate about Customers’ needs, and if you need seating assistance, you should ask an Employee for help.

https://www.southwest.com/help/booking/extra-seat-policy

To put it another way I don't think it's that your husband didn't necessarily qualify but rather the gate agents need you to go through the process to verify that eligibility. Sounds like your husband was ahead of you and you were talking to a different agent at the time.

 

[stinkpickle]

I must prefer flying in and out of Tampa. I don't even mind the drive.

 

[jo-jo]

That would be something that could make it go awry if you're trying to pre-board as opposed to boarding in your Boarding position (which you can still do this if you purchase an additional seat).

I meant you wouldn't want to just show up in line to pre-board with a wheelchair thinking that the wheelchair automatically grants you pre-board. Otherwise everyone would just rent a wheelchair (or find a random one) and get in line to board early. It's why they have a process in place for pre-boarding (however generous the airlines can be sometimes with pre-boarding).

Vast majority of the times the gate agents verbalize "can I get my pre-boarders to line up, if you've got pre-board on your ticket go ahead and get lined up" and then they tell people waiting (for Family Boarding or A group) "we'll be boarding our pre-boarders first, those with pre-board on your ticket can now board" so that's why I was posing the question. It's not that your husband in wheelchair wouldn't qualify for pre-board but that you have to make sure you've gone through the process to get that pre-board before getting in line.




Being delicate in your husband's situation I'm guessing maybe customer of size. For customer of size they advise (underline is mine)

• Domestic U.S. Travel: You can check in online or at a self-service check-in kiosk to reserve your boarding positions, but you must see a Customer Service Agent to receive the required documents and be eligible for a refund after the flight.
• If you have an Extra Seat Boarding document, you can choose to preboard to select seats that best meet your needs. You can also choose to board with your original boarding group and position. Once onboard, if necessary, please request a seatbelt extension from our Flight Attendant.
• We encourage you to preboard to locate adequate seating and place the Seat Reserved Document in the adjacent seat. Our Ground Operations and Inflight Employees communicate about Customers’ needs, and if you need seating assistance, you should ask an Employee for help.

https://www.southwest.com/help/booking/extra-seat-policy

To put it another way I don't think it's that your husband didn't necessarily qualify but rather the gate agents need you to go through the process to verify that eligibility. Sounds like your husband was ahead of you and you were talking to a different agent at the

That would be something that could make it go awry if you're trying to pre-board as opposed to boarding in your Boarding position (which you can still do this if you purchase an additional seat).

I meant you wouldn't want to just show up in line to pre-board with a wheelchair thinking that the wheelchair automatically grants you pre-board. Otherwise everyone would just rent a wheelchair (or find a random one) and get in line to board early. It's why they have a process in place for pre-boarding (however generous the airlines can be sometimes with pre-boarding).

Vast majority of the times the gate agents verbalize "can I get my pre-boarders to line up, if you've got pre-board on your ticket go ahead and get lined up" and then they tell people waiting (for Family Boarding or A group) "we'll be boarding our pre-boarders first, those with pre-board on your ticket can now board" so that's why I was posing the question. It's not that your husband in wheelchair wouldn't qualify for pre-board but that you have to make sure you've gone through the process to get that pre-board before getting in line.




Being delicate in your husband's situation I'm guessing maybe customer of size. For customer of size they advise (underline is mine)

• Domestic U.S. Travel: You can check in online or at a self-service check-in kiosk to reserve your boarding positions, but you must see a Customer Service Agent to receive the required documents and be eligible for a refund after the flight.
• If you have an Extra Seat Boarding document, you can choose to preboard to select seats that best meet your needs. You can also choose to board with your original boarding group and position. Once onboard, if necessary, please request a seatbelt extension from our Flight Attendant.
• We encourage you to preboard to locate adequate seating and place the Seat Reserved Document in the adjacent seat. Our Ground Operations and Inflight Employees communicate about Customers’ needs, and if you need seating assistance, you should ask an Employee for help.

https://www.southwest.com/help/booking/extra-seat-policy

To put it another way I don't think it's that your husband didn't necessarily qualify but rather the gate agents need you to go through the process to verify that eligibility. Sounds like your husband was ahead of you and you were talking to a different agent at the time.

Just as we were getting to the gate, they were announcing preboarder, then A, etc. We got in line, with the preboarders. At that moment, our names were requested to desk for a message. I gave DH his tickets and went to see about the message. Before someone could help me, DH was by my side saying he was denied boarding. If there was an error , it would have been when agent downstairs rebooked us.