MCO’s Terminal C opened to the public on Tuesday, September 20th. It was scheduled to be the home to 10 airlines within a week and a half. All were airlines from other countries, save for jetBlue, which was scheduled to make the switch from Terminal A to Terminal C on Tuesday, September 27th. This was the intended schedule:
- September 20 (Tue.) – Aer Lingus, GOL
- September 21 (Wed.) – British Airways, Emirates, Lufthansa, Norse
- September 22 (Thur.) – Azul, Icelandair
- September 27 (Tue) – jetBlue
- September 30 (Fri.) – Caribbean Airlines
Unfortunately, the plans for that schedule didn’t include Hurricane Ian making landfall at the end of September.
So on Friday, September 23rd, when Ian was still a Tropical Depression that was forecast to become a hurricane that could potentially wreak havoc in Orlando, MCO’s social media made the following announcement:
In anticipation of the possible incoming weather, it has been decided that the relocation dates for jetBlue & Caribbean Airlines to Terminal C will be rescheduled. Please contact your airline directly for any specific details in regards to their flight operations. Thank you.
— Orlando International Airport (@MCO) September 23, 2022
MCO was closed from 10:30am Wednesday, September 28th until noon Friday, September 30th.
They undoubtedly had a lot of stranded travelers to move in and out of the airport for several days after that, but once Ian was a week or so in our past, I sent a DM to MCO’s social media team to see how things were going. This was our conversation:
Me (10/5/22, 12:24pm): Hi friends! Hope you all had few, if any problems with the hurricane. Any updates as to when JetBlue will relocate to Terminal C, post-Ian? Thanks!
MCO (10/5/22, 12:27pm): Hi, Sharon! Thanks for reaching out and for the kind wishes – we hope all is well near you, too! Once we have additional information regarding jetBlue’s relocation, we will be sure to post about it on our channels. Hope this helps out!
Me: (10/5/22, 12:29pm): Read: “We’re not sure yet so watch this space.” ? ๐ It’s all good…I was just curious (cuz it’s the only way I have a chance of seeing the airside of the new terminal in the foreseeable future). Thank-you!
MCO: (10/5/22, 4:48pm): You’re welcome! We definitely hope to see you there soon, and will be sure to post as soon as possible once we have that info! ๐
In other words…they had no idea when jetBlue would make the switch ;-). Which I totally understood – by that point both the airport and the airline probably still had employees who were still dealing with home flooding issues (Orlando isn’t coastal, but we have a lot of lakes and rivers that, thanks to Ian, flooded like never before. Some homeowners in Central Florida found themselves with 3 to 4 feet of water in them), perhaps there were internal airport issues for the delay, etc. As I said to them, it’s all good.
And then on Monday, October 10th, Joe saw this on MCO’s Twitter:
Operational Update โน๏ธ – Starting Tuesday, Oct. 11th, @JetBlue will be relocating their ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ only, to Terminal C. Relocation dates for their International Departures & Domestic Arrivals/Departures will be announced at a future date. pic.twitter.com/YqarKipCOC
— Orlando International Airport (@MCO) October 10, 2022
So jetBlue is going to start its move to Terminal C, but in waves. And the first wave will be international arrivals, and ONLY international arrivals. And at first glance, you can just SEE the potential chaos with that…
- If you parked at, and flew your jetBlue international departure out of Terminal A and now land in Terminal C, you have to shlep all your stuff to where you parked. That’s not a close walk, y’all. That’s a long walk, a people mover, and another long walk to get to your car.
- Let’s say you’re returning from Dominican Republic, Cancun, Jamaica, or any other international location that jetBlue flies. You fly into Terminal C. But now you have a jetBlue connection to your final destination…so you have to shlep all your stuff to the main terminal (again, not a short walk), go through security again (I sure hope you have TSA PreCheck or CLEAR!), and THEN go to jetBlue’s domestic departures at Terminal A (another people mover and walk).
Good times.
But now, MCO has you covered, as they have a shuttle service between the two:
Connecting Between Terminals
If you are connecting between terminals (e.g. arriving at Terminal C and picking up a rental car at Terminal B) a shuttle bus service operates from 10:30am – 10:30pm, between Terminal C and Terminals A & B.
Pick-up and drop-off is at:
Terminal C: Level 2 (Departures) at Door C17
Terminal B: Level 1 (Ground Transportation) at Space B29
Not ideal, but certainly better than having to walk between the two.
Hopefully the rest of jetBlue’s operations will move to Terminal C quickly. Having different ops in different buildings just can’t be good for ANYONE.
Besides…if jetBlue’s domestic departures and arrivals are in Terminal C, Joe and I will finally be able to see the airside of the new terminal (since we’re on MCO’s press list but apparently not their “A-List” press list – they didn’t invite us when they had a sneak preview for the press. Sad trombone).
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