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#939645 by vic110
17 Nov 2017, 20:35
We are flying to Orlando tomorrow and have received a text fron Virgin to say Due to improvement works at the airport it may lead to a longer journey through arrivals. Does this mean it's going to be a nightmare getting through immigration ? (worse than normal ) It was bad enough last time but we did't get a text then.
#939646 by buns
17 Nov 2017, 20:42
vic110 wrote:We are flying to Orlando tomorrow and have received a text fron Virgin to say Due to improvement works at the airport it may lead to a longer journey through arrivals. Does this mean it's going to be a nightmare getting through immigration ? (worse than normal ) It was bad enough last time but we did't get a text then.


I got the same text before we flew out on October 29th. In our case (and we were on the later VS15) it was surprisingly quick, so my answer is "I Cannot really tell", but like other times we have been through, you just have to go with the flow

buns
#939654 by gumshoe
17 Nov 2017, 23:59
It really depends on whether any other international flights arrive around the same time as yours. If nothing else has arrived in the hour or so before you, you'll be fine. But if other flights have just beaten you to it, it's not unheard of for passengers to be kept on board until the immigration queues have eased. Luck of the draw basically.
#939664 by Kraken
18 Nov 2017, 15:14
Virgin are sending that text out to anyone flying to Orlando (irrespective of date of flight) - I had it back in September.

As above, it's complete luck of the draw with immigration. If a load if international flights arrive in quick succession, you're in for a long wait (some of it possibly with you being held on the aircraft). If you're in early / a good amount of time after the previous international flight, you can be driving your hire car within 30mins of landing (and that is landing, not arrival at gate).

I normally take the VS75 from MAN and it's normally the first international arrival in the afternoon at Airside 4 in Orlando - as above, I have often been driving the hire car within 30mins of landing & checked-in to the accommodation on South I-Drive (near Premium Outlets on Vineland Ave) within an hour of landing.

You can, however, arrive too early as I have found out! We landed at about 15:00, so were ate the gate & heading to immigration at about 15:10. There were 3 desks open - one for the kiosk users to be checked, one for Visitors & one for everyone else (Crew / Diplomats / US Citizens / Special needs). It was clear the new shift of staff came on at 15:30 - which they did, but they took their time logging on, checking their stamps etc - they were in no hurry to process the queue.

At the end of the day, it's luck of the draw. When I do get a long immigration wait I just think to myself "I hope we return the favour to US Citizens visiting the UK & make them wait" - which to an extent we do as they cannot use the E-Gates & have to be seen by a UK Border Agency employee.
#939666 by Traveller2
18 Nov 2017, 16:59
We flew out on November 1st on the later Gatwick flight, so landed around 6.30 pm local time (before their clocks went back). Even then the queues were long. My friend hadn't been to the US in the last 9 years so we couldn't use the machines....which turned out to be a good thing as the queues for them were massive. We only waited about half an hour in the ordinary queue, so not too bad at all. Mind you, we just got in before another transatlantic flight, and by the time we were through, the immigration hall was full. The work at the airport is having no impact on the wait times as far as I could tell and there was no work in evidence.
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