MCO immigration

[chmurf]

One, or even a couple of hours in line at MCO is not a real issue. You're "home" and even if it's frustrating to stand still so close to the goal.

Going indirect is another ball game though.
Even if your airline will, most of the time, reschedule you on the next flight, or even rebook you on a partner airline, there are lots of options for things to get awry.
Having to stay overnight at the airport is one of them. it causes a issues with your bookings in Orlando, not picking up the car on the date, or not checking in ... it can be sorted, but it's a lot of hassle.
And even if you're rescheduled, there are chances your luggage don't get through ... I should know, it happened to me last time we came back from the WorlD

First timers and people with anxiety might find reports like these quite upsetting. But don't we say things like "better safe than sorry", "forrewarned is forearmed", and so on ... ?

What effect do those post have on those guests ?
I guess it depends on how you're willing to accept them.
The positive reaction, for the first timer, is to use a lot of caution when booking a flight.
One hour is nothing, but it's a lot when we talk about connection.

First timer will be equally "scared" by a horrid delay report on the forum, than by a 4h connection. They will most likely go for a 90 minutes connection which is basically not doable for someone who never took the plane to the US before.

Giving a little "scare" there is a tradeoff i'm willing to accept. Because when we "scare" someone into going for the 4h connection instead of the 2h connection, there is a fairly high possibility that this guest will breeze past the immigration process, and will have 3hrs of painful wait at the next boarding gate. But it's an almost absolute certainty that, if he goes for the shorter connection, everything that could go wrong will go wrong
It's Murphy's law

So under the current circumstances, with longer delays to be expected, let's tell our fellow DISers that it *might* be wise to go for the longer connection.

But for those who go direct, being in the US will already be such an amazement that any line will seem to be shorter

 

[tigger137]

On Sat 23 Feb 13, VS075, arrived at the MCO gate 1545. Was through Immigration, picked up luggage and checked into Hyatt within 20 minutes.

 

[wayneg]

On Sat 23 Feb 13, VS075, arrived at the MCO gate 1545. Was through Immigration, picked up luggage and checked into Hyatt within 20 minutes.

That was before the current problems started though. The story didn't break until the 26th, it reported "a problem that could get much worse in just a few days"
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-customs-orlando-airport-20130225,0,4569259.story

 

[Lesleyluvsdisney]

That was before the current problems started though. The story didn't break until the 26th, it reported "a problem that could get much worse in just a few days"
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-customs-orlando-airport-20130225,0,4569259.story

 

[starrysky]

I'm a natural worrier at heart. But the issue I have with immigration is that I'm generally very tired after a long flight and the last thing I want to do is stand in a room shuffling forward for what could be hours. Granted my first night we don't tend to do much other than get to our resort, check in eat and then sleep.
I have seen the reports about the issues in Miami and I do hope that they sort it out so that they can keep people moving quickly. One of the people I work with said his family got caught up in that mess and said it was horrendous.
I agree the length of wait in lines can be longer but with fast pass and planning you can avoid that. Standing in the immigration hall at any airport you can't.
I think most first timers just need to be prepared to wait and if they are lucky it will be a quick process but fore told is fore warned.

 

[Wills Mom]

Personally I have no problem waiting in MCO, just cause I know whats ahead of me and I'm excited to be there. The first time when it was a 3 hour wait just threw me a little as I wasnt expecting it. The next time we go I'd love to be one of the lucky ones who experiences no delays just because we'll have our one year old with us but what will be will be. I'm definitely one of those "fore warned is fore armed" type if travellers!

 

[2Tiggies]

Personally I have no problem waiting in MCO, just cause I know whats ahead of me and I'm excited to be there. The first time when it was a 3 hour wait just threw me a little as I wasnt expecting it. The next time we go I'd love to be one of the lucky ones who experiences no delays just because we'll have our one year old with us but what will be will be. I'm definitely one of those "fore warned is fore armed" type if travellers!

Well your level of patience is off the charts compared to mine

I can see myself paying MORE to fly indirect if there is no confirmation of this mess being sorted out before I book flights, if it comes to that!

 

[edinburghlass]

We were three hours last year at MCO from landing to driving out of airport, pilot kept us on the plane for a while as the queues inside were so bad. They did take families forward and disregarded my suggestion that some oldies didn't like the queue much either

Flew on a Saturday last year, this year a Tuesday so I'm hopeful it won't be as busy?

Judy Murray, Andy Murray tennis player's mother, likened Miami airport queues to the opening of Krispy Kreme in Edinburgh last month. Krispy Kreme has a drive through and the queues of cars were 2/3 hours long jamming up the traffic on the nearby bypass. Its only now calming down but no donut is worth sitting in a car for two hours for

 

[tinkerbell 766]

I am worrying about the opposite problem. We are flying indirect (US Airways via Philly) at the end of May. We are due to land at MCO at about 18.00, and will, of course, have cleared immigration at Philly, our POE, and therefore arrive at MCO as a domestic flight. Great, but now I find myself worrying that we will be delayed overnight at Philly (for whatever reason) and not make it to MCO in time to board our cruise the next day. Both flights (MAN - Philly and Philly - MCO) are US Airways flights and so it would, I understand, be their responsibility to ensure we get to MCO, but I still worry that we may (literally) miss the boat!!!!
I guess if I am not worrying about one thing, I am worrying about another!!!

 

[Mrdudecool]

How long is your layover in Philly? If you have a good couple hours you'll be okay.

When we flew with US Airways from Birmingham, we arrived at Philly and as it was pretty much one of the first internationals in, the immigration hall was empty. And I mean, empty. Our flight was the only one in and we were through within 20 minutes.

The thing I find with Orlando is that flights all get in very very close together so there isn't time for one flight to clear before the next one has landed and are in the hall too. We have found that going to airports like Philly and EWR that they aren't as busy when we arrive or we have had a very minimal wait.

Saying that, a good few years ago we flew into Miami and that was the longest wait we ever had for immigration and that was 3 hours a few years ago.

Personally, I think with Philly you should be fine.

 

[2Tiggies]

One, or even a couple of hours in line at MCO is not a real issue. You're "home" and even if it's frustrating to stand still so close to the goal.

Going indirect is another ball game though.


So under the current circumstances, with longer delays to be expected, let's tell our fellow DISers that it *might* be wise to go for the longer connection.

But for those who go direct, being in the US will already be such an amazement that any line will seem to be shorter

We're going to agree to disagree on this.

Sorry but a couple of hours at immigration is NOT acceptable.

There are just as many things that can go wrong on a direct as there are on an indirect flight. The difference with indirect is that you know you are stopping somewhere before embarking on the second leg of your journey. We have had a couple of delays with indirect. We were stuck at EWR for a few hours due to engine problems with the plane in 2011. The difference was that we could go and get something to eat and grab a magazine to keep ourselves amused while we had regular updates on the situation. Standing in a queue with tired irritable travelers and screaming kids is not quite the same. Stuck in an airport if you don't want to sit beside the folk 'annoying' you, then get up and move. You cannot do this in a formal line or while being held on the plane.

My personal preference is indirect and this is not the only reason, nor is it the main reason. I accept that it is not the best option for everyone. But suggesting that indirect is likely to pose more problems in a bid to justify ridiculous wait times doesn't fly with me.

No hard feelings. We just have completely different outlooks on this.

 

[2Tiggies]

I am worrying about the opposite problem. We are flying indirect (US Airways via Philly) at the end of May. We are due to land at MCO at about 18.00, and will, of course cleared immigration at Philly, our POE, and therefore arrive at MCO as a domestic flight. Great, but now I find myself worrying that we will be delayed overnight at Philly (for whatever reason) and not make it to MCO in time to board our cruise the next day. Both flights (MAN - Philly and Philly - MCO) are US Airways flights and so it would, I understand, be their responsibility to ensure we get to MCO, but I still worry that we may (literally) miss the boat!!!!
I guess if I am not worrying about one thing, I am worrying about another!!!

Who are you flying with? Have you looked to see if there is another flight after your scheduled one from Philly to MCO? Subject to availability, in such circumstances, most airlines are pretty accommodating in trying to get you through the airport on the same day if possible

 

[chmurf]

Both flights (MAN - Philly and Philly - MCO) are US Airways flights and so it would, I understand, be their responsibility to ensure we get to MCO, but I still worry that we may (literally) miss the boat!!!!
I guess if I am not worrying about one thing, I am worrying about another!!!

If you're on the US735 flight, then your connection is quite tight already.

We were on the PHL-MCO leg last october, we were connecting from Paris and arrived within a few minutes of the MAN flight. And we probably would have missed our connection if we hadn't used the wheelchair line at immigration.
A few families were pulled.

But immigration was crazy busy that day.

The PHL-MCO flight was held at the gate in order to allow the MAN passengers to clear immigration and board the flight.

You are right to note that US Airways will try to put you on the next flight if you miss your connection, there are a couple of flights after flight 735. There is very little chance you'd be kept overnight in PHL, I wouldn't worry about that.

But I'd also look on the bright side. Your flight has the same flight number between MAN-PHL and PHL-MCO. So it's basically a "direct" going indirect (think of the PHL stop as a refueling stop, not a connection). So if you are registered as a passenger on the MAN-PHL flight, and you haven't checked in at the boarding gate for the PHL-MCO flight, US Airways will be looking for you, and once they assess how long it will take you to clear immigration, then they might hold the flight for you (and you won't be alone, there'll be dozens of Mancunians who will share your fate). That's what they did for us last october.

One piece of advice though, pack light, and be ready to move fast. Take any bathroom break onboard the plane before it starts its descent, because you probably won't have time in PHL. You won't be doing any shopping in Philly.

Don't worry it'll be okay

Alternately, if you worry too much and don't have amendment fees on your flight (which I doubt) you could ask for a longer connection.

 

[chmurf]

Sorry but a couple of hours at immigration is NOT acceptable.

I didn't say it was. It is also unacceptable for me. My point was to say that if you have to wait for 3 hours in line for immigration, let it be at the final destination, where the biggest hassle might be that there will no longer be your favorite color in the rental car parking, rather than having this kind of a wait at a connecting airport where you will most likely miss your flight.

I accept that it is not the best option for everyone. But suggesting that indirect is likely to pose more problems in a bid to justify ridiculous wait times doesn't fly with me.

I fully agree with you, including what I didn't quote above.
We do fly indirect ... actually we don't have a choice, as there is NO direct flight between Paris and Orlando.
But same as above. Even if it is absolutely unacceptable to keep people waiting for 3 hours, and even if there is absolutely no justification for such a delay, IF I have to wait that long, I'd rather do it at my destination point rather than en-route, because once it's done, it's done.

I used to sing in a boys choir when I was 7 or 8 and we were invited, each year, for a tour in the Eastern Block (East Germany, Poland, and so on). Remember that it was the Cold War. We were kept at the border (Iron Curtain) in our bus (1980, very uncomfortable bus, no restrooms, no nothing, Verboten to get off the bus to stretch our legs or go pee, cigarette smoke clouds inside as adults smoked, no opening the windows with subzero temperatures outside..) ... 30+ kids aged 8 to 12 years old ... and we were kept there for 14 hours straight, until the Vopo had estimated we had been kept there long enough ... crossing from Poland was a relief when it only took us 6 hours ...
So as you will understand, I know "unacceptable" wait times at borders

No hard feelings.

Same here
Maybe it has to do that it's already difficult to express one's opinion in writing, it's even more difficult to do so when you do it in a foreign language like I do. But we don't disagree that much in the end

 

[2Tiggies]

Same here
Maybe it has to do that it's already difficult to express one's opinion in writing, it's even more difficult to do so when you do it in a foreign language like I do. But we don't disagree that much in the end

Yep, we very rarely have disagreed so if and when we do, it's not a problem

FWIW, your English is excellent and your written skills are of a high standard, even when measured against many folk who speak English as their mother tongue.

 

[chmurf]

Good thing DW was not in the room, she'd have asked why I blushed

thank you

 

[tinkerbell 766]

If you're on the US735 flight, then your connection is quite tight already.

We were on the PHL-MCO leg last october, we were connecting from Paris and arrived within a few minutes of the MAN flight. And we probably would have missed our connection if we hadn't used the wheelchair line at immigration.
A few families were pulled.

But immigration was crazy busy that day.

The PHL-MCO flight was held at the gate in order to allow the MAN passengers to clear immigration and board the flight.

You are right to note that US Airways will try to put you on the next flight if you miss your connection, there are a couple of flights after flight 735. There is very little chance you'd be kept overnight in PHL, I wouldn't worry about that.

But I'd also look on the bright side. Your flight has the same flight number between MAN-PHL and PHL-MCO. So it's basically a "direct" going indirect (think of the PHL stop as a refueling stop, not a connection). So if you are registered as a passenger on the MAN-PHL flight, and you haven't checked in at the boarding gate for the PHL-MCO flight, US Airways will be looking for you, and once they assess how long it will take you to clear immigration, then they might hold the flight for you (and you won't be alone, there'll be dozens of Mancunians who will share your fate). That's what they did for us last october.

One piece of advice though, pack light, and be ready to move fast. Take any bathroom break onboard the plane before it starts its descent, because you probably won't have time in PHL. You won't be doing any shopping in Philly.

Don't worry it'll be okay

Alternately, if you worry too much and don't have amendment fees on your flight (which I doubt) you could ask for a longer connection.

Thank you. We are on flight 735 and I know that time is tight, which is kind of what was concerning me. Your comments have helped to put my mind at rest. It is good to know there are a couple of flights to MCO afterwards if the worst comes to the worst.
I guess you have to reclaim your baggage at PHL as you are clearing immigration and customs. Do you then check them in again before boarding your onward flight?
Thanks for your help.

 

[MrRomance]

It seems like we have two schools of thought on the issue of long waits in immigration at MCO. Long waits rarely affect us, because my DW is a US citizen and so we can skip through the citizen lines which go a lot quicker but my advice to anyone would be to consider the pros and cons of these two different views.

View 1 is the Suck it Up, At Least You're in Florida - I can see the points that PP's have made. Yes, it is really irritating after a LONG flight, we experienced this on our last trip because while we skipped through the citizen line, our family could not and we ended up waiting for them. It's all well and good looking on the bright side and cheerfully declaring "We're Here!" but a 3 hour wait is enough to break down even the most chipper of people (which I am not!)

View 2 is the Go Indirect and Dodge the Insanity that is MCO Immigration - It seems like a good plan on the surface but as PP's have said it can back fire in dramatic style. We travel to the US very regularly to see DW's family and often fly indirect. A lot of the time all goes to plan and there is no drama, but things do frequently go wrong and when they go wrong, it's a HUGE DRAMA!

To give you an idea of how wrong things can go (and this should also be read as a genuine warning to anyone travelling indirect through Chicago O'Hare) our last trip to Michigan to see family was a MESS (which is VERY COMMON at O'Hare). We flew London to O'Hare with a connection to Detroit Metro. The connection was 2 hours and 15 minutes, so plenty of time, right!? We were delayed getting through immigration and customs and made it to our next gate with about 2 minutes to spare, but doors were closed and a storm was brewing. We were shifted from the 7pm flight we were on to the later 9pm flight which was the last of the night. The storm came, delayed the incoming flight by 40 minutes and then they were concerned about the weather conditions. They were going back and forth about whether or not the flight would go out, at 11pm we're still sitting there at the gate and they are still trying to decide if they will run the connection. In the end they say they're not running it and give us vouchers for an overnight stay in Chicago and put us on the first flight out the next morning (6am).

We get to the hotel, and we're frantically trying to reschedule our car hire at Detroit and get a hold of our hotel in Detroit to take care of all that. By this time it's gone midnight and the hotel we use (Extended Stay) isn't manned that late so we couldn't contact them. We ended up paying for the days car hire we didn't use and almost lost our room at the hotel. We were changed a no show fee which we managed to resolve when we got there but all in all, it was exhausting and stressful!

So, my advice would be, don't go indirect just to avoid the lines at MCO because you could end up in a worse predicament. Most indirect flights go through busy hub airports anyway so you don't necessarily avoid long immigration lines by going indirect and you could end up with bigger problems. I'm not saying that flying indirect is a bad idea, it's not, it can work out well and if your connection times are good, you probably won't have any huge problems, but indirect can be a massive pain in the behind when things go wrong.

Another key issue with MCO is that a lot of big flights from Europe all land at MCO over the course of a couple of hours and they're always playing catch up! Just off the top of my head, there are 3 Virgin flights, a BA flight, a Luftansa from Germany, and an Air France from Paris that all land within an hour or so of each other.

The moral of the story is weigh it all up before you make a decision, indirect can save you time in immigration but are you really saving any time? If you fly into another hub, you're going to do the immigration thing anyway, but you also have another 2 hour flight to deal with and the connection time. Even if things go well, your overall travel time will be longer if you're flying indirect.

 

[juliebro]

If you're on the US735 flight, then your connection is quite tight already.

You are right to note that US Airways will try to put you on the next flight if you miss your connection, there are a couple of flights after flight 735. There is very little chance you'd be kept overnight in PHL, I wouldn't worry about that.

But I'd also look on the bright side. Your flight has the same flight number between MAN-PHL and PHL-MCO. So it's basically a "direct" going indirect (think of the PHL stop as a refueling stop, not a connection).

We have flown indirect with US Airways on almost a dozen trips - MAN-PHL-MCO and return.

US735 operates with 2 different aircraft. An Airbus from MAN-PHL and then a Boeing from PHL-MCO. It is a total change of flight - not a refuel stop at PHL.

On the positive side, we have always made our connection except once. That was not down to delays at Immigration. It was down to a delayed departure from MAN. When we arrived in PHL, the alternative flights to MCO were either cancelled or full. The airline put us up in a local hotel overnight, gave us an amenity kit (as we were not able to have our bags) and put on us the first flight out to MCO the following morning.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

Eek...... What time did you arrive in MCO the following day please?
We need to be on the ship at Port Canaveral by 13.15 at the latest. Do you think that, if this happened to us, we will make it?
I assume that there will be many other passengers on flight 735 from Manchester going onward to Orlando as well. From a selfish point of view, would they prioritise passengers who have imminent arrangements (such as catching a cruise ship)?
Do you have to reclaim your baggage at PHL or does it go straight through to Orlando from Manchester?
Thanks for your help.