MCO immigration - insane wait times

We waited just a whisker shy of 3 hours to get through immigration yesterday. “Luckily” when we entered the immigration hall, it was only one third full. By the time we left, there were people queuing to actually get into the hall. No idea what their wait time would have been like, but I’d say a minimum of 4 hours or more?

I’ve been flying into the US since I was a kid, larger and smaller airports, and I’ve never ever seen anything like it. They know it’s a family heavy route, lots of young kids especially. I can’t believe how long we had to wait.

What didn’t help, was after 10 mins or so in the queue, the idiots who do the stanchions and control the flow of the queue, decided to let a whole flight from Jamaica jump ahead of us all. So what was already a long wait became an even longer wait for no apparent reason? In addition to the Southwest Jamaican flight they let ahead, there was also a South American flight (didn’t catch it on the board, but saw a lot of Mexican passports) for which they also let the people jump ahead.

For much of our wait, only five of the 20 something booths were actually manned.

We had to carry multiple items of hand baggage and two incredibly tired kids (4 and 1 years old). At one point I considered walking back to the plane and going home.

I don’t really do exaggerations but I would describe it as inhumane the way we were treated. If we’d been told on the plane we could have brought a bottle of water or got a bottle of milk on the go for our youngest. The crew also told us our pram would be brought up to the plane, which it wasn’t. If this had been the case, I wouldn’t have minded quite as much.

No provisions or concessions for very young or disabled passengers. Everyone in the same queue.

Against my better judgement, I made a comment about the long waiting time to the border agent who processed us. Incredibly, he actually apologised and didn’t bundle me onto the next flight home. He said it was due to a huge amount of sicknesses amongst his colleagues (which he reckons are due to the Memorial Day weekend holiday here in the states). A member of airline staff (based at MCO) just told me to “thank Trump”. Any excuse to bash the orange one, right?

So, a head’s up for anyone flying into MCO in the next few days - expect a long wait, and bring a bottle of water to keep you going. And maybe a book or iPad for the kids!

Oh my. I usually bank on around an hour at the very least getting through immigration at MCO but 3 hours is horrendous. I hope you are now having a lovely holiday!

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=298455&p=950096#p950096
See This post and my reply there!!

Hi.
We flew LGW-MCO on 19/12/18 on the 16. Great flight and landed on time.
We were seated in ED so fairly quickly off the plane. (9 of us)
On entering the hall there must have been about 30 pax in-front of us however, there were only two agents working in the entire hall and with other flights arriving the queues soon built up right to the back of the hall.
I dread to think how long those pax at the back ended up waiting.
We were through in about 50-60 minutes.
Oh and very strict about the no phones policy.
Good luck.

It is so bad, animals are not treated like this. They should have more officers working and supply water or juice for the poor kids. Not everybody feels great after a 9-10+ hour flight and landing in an unfamiliar place can also make you feel anxious/unwell.

[buns]

I really do sympathise with your plight. It is not much fun to have to wait so long after flying across the Pond, but the sad fact is we are helpless victims of the current US political situation.

It was not much different when we arrived at MCO on May 11. Fortunately, we had previously invested in Global Entry (and a tip here is not to try for “Approval on arrival” at MCO as it just won’t happen because they are so busy, so opt to fly Delta into ATL) and this removed the wait time.

The TSA lines leaving earlier this week were not much better I am sorry to report.

buns

We’ve had long waits each time we’ve been to Orlando over last 5 years.

We’re back to Orlando in October with a 13 strong family but this time we are flying in Miami and commuting up...

Fortunately I have never had to endure this as have never got down to that corner of USA. Are there improvements on the way? I imagine with “family planning” we are less than 5 years away from a Florida trip.

Found an interesting site which gives you average and max waiting times - pick your airport and date(s)

https://awt.cbp.gov/

David

The wait times have increased noticeably this year I think.

Interesting you say about the Southwest Jamaica plus south America flights being ushered to the fornt of the queue - I found exactly the same, I just assumed they had landed several hoursbefore us and they were keen to get the final pasenegers through!!

It's a painful wait though, particularly with the lack of facilities. I agree that often you are not feeling 100% after that long flight and to have to stand in a crowded area for minimum of one hour is a struggle (I say this as a youngish, fit and healthy adult). The fact you cannot even send off a quick text to say got here, flight was fine etc etc is annoying too.

They used to put you all in a "white room" a couple of years ago. I believe this had restrooms and you could use you phone in there whilst waiting to be let into the main hall. I guess this was deemed not successful!

We travelled to MCO in UC last Oct 31st. I am disabled, I have a muscle disease, and although I can walk a bit with a stick after about 50 yards I am struggling, so we use assistance, because I really don't have a choice (don't get me started on the woman I shared a ride to the gate at Gatwick with a couple of weeks ago for an Easyjet flight, while my other half walked to meet me on the plane, because she had 'worn the wrong shoes'!).

Because you have always in the past been rushed through immigration if in a wheelchair using assistance (I won't get involved in whether you think that is right) we just sat in UC until everyone had gone and found a very different experience. There were two guys and 16 people asking for assistance. There were different levels of need from a couple worse than me to some I thought were trying it on a bit, but there was no way these two chaps could cope. After sitting in a wheelchair waiting for something to happen for 10 mins She Who Must Be Obeyed asked one of them if she could wheel me herself and if we should wait somewhere to get through the quick channel. Turns out there is no quick way through for disabled people any more. You queue with everyone else. This is because of a combination of building works, staff shortages and the fact that it was basically an unofficial holiday in the States (people had not turned up because of Halloween).

But it seems the queues have been getting longer recently to the point where there were never enough booths open to take assistance people through so it's now policy to just queue up. This means the assistance people are queueing for a couple of hours sometimes with everyone else in the giant snake leading to the booths. They were complaining more than us! After all, I just sit there, moving occasionally. Their impression was nothing will improve until the new terminal opens in three years time.

Obviously this is all from one trip and the opinions of a couple of miffed employees, but we've decided that Miami is a better bet for our Palm Beach holidays for the foreseeable future (we returned from there on that trip because of mile upgrade availability and were pleasantly surprised how much it had improved in the last decade).

I can confirm in the queue ahead of us was at least one airport assistance employee wheeling a passenger. They were quite a way ahead of us but it still took them at least 90 mins to get through.

FWIW most people I’ve encountered have absolutely no issue with people in wheel chairs getting priority.

Had to laugh on Friday because some woman off a Gatwick flight told one of the guys shepherding us punters in the queue, that she’d stubbed her toe really bad. Couldn’t see any blood, looked fine to me. She was asked if she needed a wheel chair and she said yes. Gave her son and partner a smirk while he went to fetch one. Then he broke the news she wouldn’t be jumping the queue even if she was in a wheel chair.

Had to laugh on Friday because some woman off a Gatwick flight told one of the guys shepherding us punters in the queue, that she’d stubbed her toe really bad. Couldn’t see any blood, looked fine to me. She was asked if she needed a wheel chair and she said yes. Gave her son and partner a smirk while he went to fetch one. Then he broke the news she wouldn’t be jumping the queue even if she was in a wheel chair.

I would like to have seen that! I used to work at the theme park in the UK and you should have seen the "disabilities" we were presented with at the ride exits from people who did not want to queue. Thankfully the said park has now cracked down big-time and doctors letters stating the hidden disability that prevents you from queuing are now needed before any special access bands are given out.

Back to Immigration at MCO - it's always been hit & miss. If you land at the wrong time behind several other long-haul "heavies" you're easily going to have 1000+ passengers ahead of you in the queue. On one of my last trips, we were held on the aircraft for about 45mins on arrival at the gate due to congestion in the immigration hall. When we were let off, I was through in under 5mins thanks to Global Entry - dread to think what the queue was like for other passengers though. I do know the friend I was meeting had come in from LGW and it took him about 1h45m to get through - I kept quiet how long it had taken me once I got off the plane!

From what the OP says, it sounds like there was an element of a "sick-out" amongst the immigration officers due to Memorial Day weekend. I do have some sympathy for the Immigration staff at MCO. Their numbers have been reduced (the austerity started under the previous US administration, not Trump). They have seen lower / if any pay rises and were not paid for a while earlier this year due to Trump's tussles with Congress over the budget. The workload at MCO for Immigration staff is not going to decrease in a hurry either.

Global Entry is a godsend. Two years ago in Boston I was through in two minutes, my pals had a three hour wait.

Global Entry is a godsend. Two years ago in Boston I was through in two minutes, my pals had a three hour wait.

Yep we had a nightmare in Boston too once. 30 minute wait in the corridor to go into the immigration hall then easily would have been 2 hours in the hall. We managed to Q skip about 30 mins in after my wife (to be at the time) begged an attendant that her arm was about to fall off as she was holding her wedding dress up!

He took pity and sent us to the deserted US citizens booths (which was half the hall). By the time we got through it looked like they'd seen sense and started sending everyone else there too

I always try and get to MCO "Via" somewhere first, possibly the worst I know for queues

i have a bfs-mco coming up soon and it annoys me to think i have a three hour wait to clear immigration as unfortunately my arrival coincides with three other flights from lgw and man, in the dozens of times i have arrived there no matter how insanely crowded the hall is i only ever see around half of the booth's manned, ridiculous !!