If you look at the upper right corner of the main page of Orlando International Airport’s website nowadays, you’ll see something you don’t typically come across.
Yup…they advise passengers to arrive 3 hours before departure time. That’s not for international travelers…that’s for everyone. (here’s a guide that can help you decide how early YOU should arrive at MCO or any other airport)
I mentioned that fact online, and never expected to get so many responses about, essentially, how horrible people thought that airport was. I mean, we heard things like:
“Orlando airport is the worst!!! That line for screening is horrible. The longest line I had ever seen.”
“We went through MCO last Wednesday and it was insane, took almost an hour to get through TSA.”
“Sanford sounds better and better every day.” (Note: Sanford International Airport is a small airport in Sanford FL, about 45 minutes northeast of MCO)”
“In November we were over 2 hours!”
“I love Orlando but MCO is the worst airport. I’ll take either Chicago one over MCO.”
“MCO is a nightmare. Sanford takes 10 minutes.”
“It was already long, now I guess even longer!”
“Great! Leaving Disney last year was awful.”
“The place is in turmoil”
“I flew out of Orlando the other week and it took us around 2.5 hours from entering the airport to being on the plane with only a few minutes to spare to use the toilets before boarding. It was hectic and incredibly stressful”
“Being that it’s MCO however it’ll take forever to get through security now. That airport is always asses to elbows packed.”
“The people who work at TSA at Orlando Airport are awful. All they do is yell.”
MCO queue, Terminal A, not that long ago. Zig-zag queue 100% full and overflow reaching towards the food court that’s halfway between Terminal A and Terminal B // PC: Jamie K.
Granted, Joe and I have lived in Central Florida for about 20.5 years and yes, it’s gotten more and more crowded as time has gone on. But with having TSA PreCheck for the past 9ish years and CLEAR for a few less years than that, we haven’t paid as much attention to the regular line. Well, short of a “Wow, look how long it is!” in passing. But when you think about it, there are plenty of reasons why MCO can sometimes be more challenging, and take up more time, than other airports:
- It’s grown like wildfire. In 2008 Orlando International Airport was ranked the 22nd busiest airport in the United States. 10 years later, in 2018, it was ranked as the busiest airport in Florida and the 10th busiest in the country. By 2021 it was the 7th busiest! They just opened a huge multi-billion third terminal (Terminal C – here’s how it looked on opening day) as well as put the finishing touches on a massive multi-year renovation of terminals A & B, which included putting in as many X-ray machines and TSA officers as they could. Even the in-airport Disney store got relocated to make more room for TSA.
- It’s not a businessperson’s airport. When you think of other large airports like LAX, JFK, ORD, etc., they’re in big cities where lots of people come and go for business on a regular basis and who knows what’s expected of them when they fly. That’s not the case, at least not nearly to the same extent, for MCO.
- The bulk of its passengers are people who don’t fly often. Most of the people who fly in and out of MCO are tourists who fly a small handful of times a year. Maybe even less often. They don’t know the ins and outs of going through the TSA checkpoint, so they dig their driver’s license out of their wallet only when they get up to the TSA agent. And then they check each pocket for their boarding pass. But oh, their partner has it for safekeeping whoopsie, so sorry! They don’t take their jacket off until they get to the X-ray machine. They pack their bag o’liquids down in the bottom of their carry-on bag. They bring 2 ounces of shampoo in a 12-ounce bottle and argue with the TSA agent who tells them to throw it in the bin. They have tight double knots that they need to loosen in order to remove their shoes, etc. That all takes extra time. Add to that a bunch of grandparents who are going to Disney with their families; they’re older people who may not understand technology as well and who may move slower, and/or might not hear or understand the instructions the first time and that’s also going to cause the line to go at a snail’s pace.
- A lot of the people who go through MCO are children. Granted, kids 12 and under don’t have to take their shoes, jackets and hats off. But all their stuff (toys, blankets, strollers, car seats, backpacks, etc.) still has to be screened. So you have to take the teddy bear away from the 2-year-old for a minute and that might be the cause of a tantrum that’ll stop the line. Plus, the reality is that it’s going to take 1 or 2 adults having to get themselves, their stuff, their kids and their kids’ stuff through the X-ray process a whole lot longer than 2 adults with no kids. Multiply that by many, many families, and you’ve got yourself a slowdown.
- Traveling is stressful and when you’re stressed, you shut down. It doesn’t matter how much the TSA people yell, when people are stressed from traveling and overstimulated because of all the bodies in one place, and tired because their Mears Connect or Sunshine Flyer shuttle bus picked them up at 6am for their 10am flight, some people are just not going to hear the instructions. Well, their ears will hear them but their brain won’t process them. And if they can’t process the instruction, they can’t follow them. And again, that leads to waiting until the last second, until when the TSA officer has yelled in someone’s face to remove his/her bag o’liquid and laptop (after being told 5 previous times in the 40 minutes in the queue), that will cause more slowdowns at X-ray.
So yeah, MCO is a mess. That’s not really MCO’s fault; it’s more a lack of a whole lot of people (tourists who don’t fly much, families with kids, older people) being prepared. Maybe if my How To Get Through X-Ray or TSA Pre-Check As Quickly & Easily As Possible post can go viral so everyone reads it and takes it to heart, it’ll help. Hopefully, you can share it with someone who needs to read it.
Feature Photo: MCO/Twitter
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31 comments
Love the article and the justifications but the bottom line is, the airport is a mess. Sorry to say. I am frequently in an out of there and do see attempts to alleivate the long lines but you still need to give yourself the extra hour to clear TSA.
We live 15 minutes from MCO and you’re absolutely right – it’s a mess. But sometimes when people know why something is a mess (or think they know why), it help bring the blood pressure down a little. “Well, you got mom and dad and the 3 kids and the grandparents and they don’t fly much so they don’t know and….” Instead of, “Why is this line so flippin’ LONG?”
It ABSOLUTELY is MCO’s fault. They have not added any enhancements to their security screening procedures or queues. They have always been behind the power curve on providing an adequate amount of parking. The airport authority should be ashamed.
T sa sucks in this airport…….they should evaluate them because most don’t belong working here
that doesn’t really have anything to do with why the airport is a mess, to be honest.
MCO is a mess because its piece of crap outdated airport and terminal c is already outdated the day it opens. I will bet good hard cash that terminal c doesn’t change what makes MCO horrible.
A 2hr wait for your bag due to rain.
Born and raised in Orlando and will never visit MCO if my life depended on it. I will literally drive to the next city instead
MCO is garbage, I had a great trip that started and ended bad and all due to MCO.
It’s not kids or tourists who caused the mess we experienced, it was 100% MCO.
Garbage.
Hey everyone, be sure to arrive 2hrs early for your 4 hr delay.
You can open 10 dang terminals and MCO will always be hot garbage.
I suppose everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I stand by the reason I listed. Also, it’s not the rain…it’s the threat of lightning within an X-mile radius, according to radar. I’m willing to wait if it will keep the workers safe.
You’re not waiting 2 hours because of rain, you’re waiting because of lighting in the area – and the ramp closes. That happens in ALL airports with lighting in the area. So, you won’t escape it anywhere else.
Terminal C, which will be home to JetBlue, is NOT going to be outdated when it opens, in fact, it will be one of the most technologically advanced terminals in the country.
Get your facts straight and don’t say stuff that isn’t true. If you don’t want to go to MCO, don’t, but don’t spread MISTRUTHS.
You nailed it with the people who don’t understand how TSA works. Add in they ran up the credit cards and are now facing the reality of the debt they created going to Disney, so they are in a bad mood. Avoid MCO at all costs!
I just flew out of Orlando and since I am a Clear member I tried to use the Clear line. Waited for about 20 minutes in the Clear line and was funneled into regular security. So what’s up, Orlando Clear??
The Clear lane only gets you bypass the queue before the security screening (read: where the TSA agent would compare your ID to your boarding pass). Once you get past that, you get funneled into the regular queue for X-ray. However if you have TSA PreCheck, you would get funneled into the PreCheck lane, which tends to be shorter and faster.
I fly out of MCO as my main airport. To be honest, I don’t notice this airport to be any worse than other major airports. I find airports such as ATL or JFK, to be worse and more chaotic. To me, this airport is just typical of most of the major airports and how the process of going through security and TSA is by far the worst part of flying. It’s definitely the part I hate the most.
We’ve been to WDW 4x since October 2021. Having Clear & Precheck make such a difference. We almost always fly home Sunday afternoon when it’s a zoo. From stepping into the Clear lane to boarding the tram to the AA gates has been roughly 10m each time. All four times the regular lines were insane.
I agree the airport is out of date…but the AA Admirals club has made a big difference for regular AA flyers.
I think you’re right that the high proportion of infrequent fliers makes the difference between MCO and other high-volume airports. I think MCO could do a better job of getting the word out about the free Clear security reservations also. And finally–better signage/routing for the pre-security lines would help also. The last time I was there, I encountered a giant mob the security gates. The mob eventually resolved itself into lines, but if you’re way at the back, it’s very stressful because you can’t be sure you’re in any line much less the right line.
Because of this, I actually waited in the wrong place for about 15 minutes. It turns out that there are TWO Clear lines, one for paid customers and one for the free reservations. The paid line (rightly) turned me away and the free line was hard to find. The online signup said to look for a sign that said Clear, and the for-pay Clear employees said, “Look for the green sign” but there was more than one green sign and none of the green signs (not even the right one) said “clear” on it. Once I figured out where I was supposed to be, the lines moved pretty fast though.
The primary issue is that for there are currently only TWO terminals, which means all those passengers being funneled through just TWO screening lines. Many other airports have multiple terminals that are more spread out, with their own screening lines. Hopefully the new terminal will help with that, we’ll see.
There are many reasons that MCO is the way it is. You’re right – only having 2 terminals, on top of lots of growth, is one of the reasons. That’s why we mentioned that one first. 😉
I use MCO often and the workers are always rude and yelling at people. It’s ALWAYS slow but I know this going in and just go with the flow. However, this time I had 4 children with me and the TSA checkpoint was pulling from 3 different lines this weekend. The worker refused to let us come up together to check or ID and passes. Literally put 2 people between me and each of my 4 kids.. (I had already witnessed him let other groups come up together so I really didn’t get it). Who Separates a mother from her children? yes, they were older than 10 but I found this completely unacceptable. Then when I stepped aside to wait for them I got yelled at and forced to go thru security without them.
I completely agree with everything said here–especially the fact that MCO is the congregation point for amateur flyers. It is like the airport version of Southwest where nobody knows anything about what they are supposed to do other than get inside the plane (not ON the plane, as George Carlin has humorously pointed out).
I’ll just add two more reasons for my disdain of MCO:
-Anyone there for tourism or business are also pissed that they just got price gauged flying up their rental car within a 5 mile radius of the airport. I think I paid $5.50/gallon when the going rate was $3.30 or so in the rest of the area. Not my money though since I was there on business, so really don’t care too much.
-The terminal/gate designations are asinine. I hope more airports get with the modern way of denoting things (heck if DCA can figure it out with their new improved/intuitive labeling system, I have hopes for everyone!). The fact that there are two sets of trains that take you to two sets of gates within Terminal B, and they are NOT connected airside, is maddening. I am the type that likes to find a lounge whenever possible and I never know if the lounge I want to access is on the same side of security as my flight, even though they are both ostensibly in the same “terminal”.
Yeah MCO is definitely my least favorite airport of ones that I fly in and out of regularly, and this is considering IAD was my home airport for 10+ years.
I don’t think you mentioned that moving between gates can require going through security a second time! We missed a flight last night due to this weird and inconvenient arrangement. Partially Spirit was to blame (I know, you get what you pay for) since they changed our gate at the last minute. But we probably would have had time to make it if there wasn’t some kind of glitch the second time we had to go through TSA. For some reason our boarding passes wouldn’t read and they couldn’t let us through to our new gate. We both have pre-check, there was no line, and we had been IN THE AIRPORT for 5 hours on a layover already.
The reasons you mention for why the airport is arranged this way make sense…but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating!
I don’t know if it’s because of the construction of C, but the organization is totally haphazard. From ticket check in, you get signs pointing to “all gates” only to realize that if you chose the wrong all-gates, you have a long walk through the mall. Fine if your able-bodied, not carrying much and have extra time.
This post was originally written in 2019 – things were much, MUCH worse then. We just reposted it in Spring of 2022 because things were still bad but there had been some changes here and there.
That being said, MCO is still a mess in some ways, even with C open. But I think it’s mainly because of the masses of people who don’t travel very often, SO many babies and young children, etc.
But signage can always be improved.
Great article, but I disagree with pointing the finger at passengers, It’s an airport and people are paying for a service. Lets ask why the airport has not expanded the security lanes, employed more staff, train their staff to be helpful instead of allowing some to bark commands at passengers
Or maybe ask, why the airport has not invested in new technology which allows passengers to not take their liquids out, not take their electronics out …
MCO is my home airport. My suggestion: Book the first flight out in the morning on Delta. Don’t check a bag. Get dropped off A-Side, downstairs at ARRIVALS, Southwest’s pickup spot #11. Take the escalator up one flight to the CLEAR line. In two minutes you’ll be through the TSA checkpoint. Five minutes later you’ll be in the Sky Club. Fly into MCO on a Delta redeye. Don’t check a bag. Get picked up downstairs A-Side, at ARRIVALS, Southwest pickup spot #11. Or fly into MCO in the late evening. Get picked up A-Side upstairs at DEPARTURES in front of Southwest. Easy peasy.
Sounds like MCO needs a separate security area for families. People traveling with their “Baby Jesus” children are the absolute worst. The rules never apply to them and they hold everyone up.
I fly out of MCO occasionally (MLB is my home base, FLL is worth the drive). I have consistently been through security in under 10 minutes with Clear + Pre, without flying red-eyes or other unnecessary or inconvenient fiery hoops. I see the PreCheck line every single time and it’s almost always over 35 minutes, which that alone justifies keeping the Amex Green for the Clear credit IMO. Tourists are what they are, and I’ll happily accept that inconvenience over draconian state & local income taxes like in NYC/LA. Those inexperienced and bumbling travelers pay that check, folks. Don’t run into walls like a fly, go around them! It’s manageable with the right credit cards and a minimal amount of planning.
What I dislike about MCO is the same flaw at FLL; disjointed airside facilities. The interfaith chapel at MCO Terminal B is only accessible for those departing from Gates 30-59 without having to reclear security. The Amex Centurion Studio at FLL is only accessible through T3, so Delta/Air Canada fliers have to Clear (pun intended) twice. I still prefer FLL because the terminals are a breeze, even without Clear or Pre.
I have flown into an out of MCO many times and have some hacks that I use whenever possible.
Inbound, take your time getting off the plane, don’t rush down the concourse, stop for a snack. Your bags will usually be coming onto the carousel when you get there or shortly thereafter. Rent from Alamo, check in on line the day before and you can go directly from baggage claim to choose your car.
Outbound, if it’s open, drop your bags off at the bag drop in the parking garage – ground floor just to the right of the Alamo drop off lanes. If not open, go up to departures, go outside and use the Skycap counter for your airline. It’s worth the price. Get and use PreCheck. It’s worth the price. Rarely take more than 10 minutes going through TSA.
Your comments about inexperienced travelers is spot on. That does not excuse MCO from not easing the crowding. No airside transfer between terminals, woefully inadequate parking ( A&B parking is closed way too often), terrible traffic control for people picking up and dropping off (at least partially caused by lost tourists and very poor directional signage), scores of cars parked on both shoulders entering the airport because people refuse to use the cell lot (with good reason – see traffic comment above). These are all airport management issues, and they still exist after the new terminal C is open and functional.
What if MCO did what TPA does and security is at airside and not the terminal? Lots of space if they built new vs dumpster dive that exists now. Build a new checkpoint at each airside pronto!
I have been to many airports but MCI is the worst of the worst. Talking about third world bad! People are treated with no respect!just animals.
They guy barked at my 84 year old mom to get up and walk, dude she’s in a wheelchair for a reason. I don’t care he barked get up and walk. We had a bottle from duty free in a sealed bag and the guy kept it because they could not test it. So why buy in duty free???
Workers there don’t talk they bark
Old article, but I wanted to chime that Orlando is by far the worst airport in Florida. Parking, layout design, everything is terrible and this never ends. If it has unique passengers then it should figure out a design fix for that, rather than just raising their hands in incompetence. But even if it ran flawlessly, it would still be a dump with bad parking and a piss poor design.
I actually think MCO is one of the smoothest run airports in the country.