International to domestic transfer at MCO

Hi all,

I am off to NYC via MCO this coming Wednesday with a transfer time of 2hr 35mins. What's the protocol for this? It's on one ticket, so will I still need to collect my luggage and check in for my Delta flight? My route is VS15 arriving at MCO at 17:15 and then catching the 19:40 Delta flight to JFK.

Thanks in advance!

In the US you always have to collect your luggage and clear customs at the port of entry so yes, you will do that at MCO.

DL and VS both use Concourse 4 so in theory you should be able to connect pretty easily airside without re-clearing security. Just make sure you don’t get on the transit once you head up the escalators after customs, as you will already be in the Gates 70-99 departure lounge for your DL flight.

What I can’t recall, however, is whether there is a facility to re-check your luggage immediately after customs, as there is at the likes of ATL & JFK. They will try to take your luggage off you in order to keep large cases off the escalators and the transit, but it just gets delivered to the carousels landside in the main terminal and you don’t want that unless there’s no other option.

So in summary if you CAN re-check your bags immediately after customs, do so and do NOT board the transit to the main terminal. Once you head up the escalator you’re in the right place.

But if you CAN’T recheck your bags, you’ll need to take them on to the transit, go landside, re-check them at the DL bag drop, go back through security and get the transit back to where you started from.

I came through MCO today (still today for me!) or yesterday (Sat 9th for those of you in the UK).

I'd never noticed it before, but there is a tiny area to the right of the escalator up to the transit train station to the main terminal which is an onward baggage re-check / acceptance point. Bear in mind the area at the bottom of the escalator is normally a complete zoo (was today) with first-timers to Orlando not knowing what to do etc. The baggage re-check / acceptance point was staffed though.

That said, I don't believe there is any facility for transfer passengers to stay in Airside 4, even if their international arrival and onward departure are both from there. At times of the day when international arrivals are coming into Airside 4, the TSA run the transfer train in manual mode to ensure that all arriving international passengers make it to the main terminal, so they can be re-screened by trusted TSA staff for their next flight. I daresay there is doubtless a US law that states that passengers departing on a flight from US soil have to be screened by federal employees, i.e. the TSA.

So it's 99.99% certain that the OP will be able to re-check his bag for it's onward DL flight in Airside 4 at the bottom-right of the escalator (bag will then go through TSA screening). He'll have to take the transfer train to the main terminal and re-clear security so he & his hand luggage can be screened by the TSA.