MCO (Orlando) immigration

Hello again everyone, just wondering has anybody been through MCO recently, and how were the queue's at immigration ?

Also, the last time I was there in April, if i am not mistaken there was a dedicated line for Upper Class, can anyone confirm this ?

Going back in November and would dearly love NOT to being standing for 90 minutes to clear immigration !

I think there's now a priority security channel for departing passengers, not sure there's one at immigration though.

The queue will depend entirely on what's arrived before you. On certain days VS flights from Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow and a BA flight from Gatwick are all due to land between 3 & 4pm. That's potentially 1500 passengers all arriving within an hour (not to mention any other international flights) so it really does depend who lands first.

[buns]

I think there's now a priority security channel for departing passengers, not sure there's one at immigration though.

The queue will depend entirely on what's arrived before you. On certain days VS flights from Gatwick, Manchester and Glasgow and a BA flight from Gatwick are all due to land between 3 & 4pm. That's potentially 1500 passengers all arriving within an hour (not to mention any other international flights) so it really does depend who lands first.

I am completely with Gumshoe here; the number of UK Aircraft arriving is a short space of time will cause those passengers on flights that get in later having to wait thier turn.

Spare a thought for those coming into the UK who invariably wait a considerable time if they are not EU Nationals

buns

Back in May we were on the VS27 from LGW. As we landed and turned off the runway we could see the A330 that had operated the VS75 from MAN just on stand with the hold doors being opened.

The 300 odd pax off the VS75 beat us to immigration - we were in UC so off pretty quick. Took us about 50mins to clear immigration.

I dread to think what the wait time would have been like for the people at the back of the Economy cabin on our flight - would guess close on 2 hours.

I went through MCO on Tuesday, I flew from Gatwick on VS015. I flew economy, but was upstairs in the bubbles which meant I was one of the first off the aircraft( after the UC passengers from downstairs).
As I was leaving the Aircraft, the Manchester flight was just arriving at the gate.
On entering the immigration hall, it was completely empty, my family and I went straight to an agent. During the the time it took us to clear immigration the waiting passenger line was stretching back up the ramp you come down into the hall. We commented to the pleasant gentleman that was checking our passports , he said that the hall had been empty for the past two hours and how crazy it was that virgin has two flights that often arrive together, He said people at the back of the que could expect a three hour wait.
I on the other hand was off the aircraft And in my car in 50 minutes so I guess it's luck of the draw.
Have fun though.
Steve

We are flying PE to MCO in October do they still let PE disembark after upper class and before economy ? We are seated downstairs I assume they are first before the bubble ?

No, economy and PE in the bubble are let off before PE downstairs.

It just depends entirely which flight you're on in my experience - VS27 and VS75 usually arrive very close to each other with the flight from MAN timetabled to arrive first but often arriving after the LGW flight as the 747 frequently overtakes the A330 on the way (this should hopefully stop happening with the route reverting to all-747 operation) so my preference is to take the VS75, or I guess I might consider the GLA flight on a Sunday since it arrives a lot earlier than everything else.

The worst 2 to arrive on are the VS16 and VS73 as the queue combines with various other international flights so you often have a much longer wait if you don't hit it right - they often hold pax on board VS73 due to the immigration hall being full!

Previously downstairs PE went first, and as we travelled in the old PE in the bubble we has to wait for downstairs to clear. Seems a bit unfair to the majority of PE customers downstairs having to wait for economy passengers in the bubble disembarking before they can get off. I know PE pax don't get priority but you'd have thought virgin would give some perks to pax paying a premium for their seat.

This is making disturbing reading, I will be arriving in MCO from MAN in November on 075 in UC. This will be the first time I have cleared immigration at MCO, never flown Virgin before usually fly Delta into their ATL hub for onward travel. ATL can be bad but never had to wait more than 40 mins.

Mother flew back to MCO on BA two weeks ago from LGW. 1hour and 50 minutes to clear immigration alone- they arrived sandwiched between the VS from MAN and the 27.

Brother flew back into MCO three days later on BA- through immigration within 25 minutes. Total time from touch down to driving out of the airport in the car (car was jsut parked in the short stay) was 45 minutes. Its all a bit of a lottery really and depends on loads on each of the flights. I was worried things would get worse with the TCX flights next year but they seem to depart the UK around 9am anyway.

As my TR from last year showed- going via ATL from MAN on DL, if the connections work, can actually end up putting you into MCO at the same time as the direct flight.

One to remember for the future is the BA service into TPA. The BA flight is the only long haul international flight- meaning you only have 200 odd people maximum in the immigration queue. Staff are much friendly. My father flew into TPA on BA last Saturday- touch down to being in the car was 30 minutes. Downside, if you are staying up in the resort areas/villa, is the drive up the I4 but then again I would prefer that over a long queue at MCO.

I flew PE 3 weeks ago. Almost had the whole lower deck cabin to ourselves and we were literally first off the plane. Took 5 minutes to get through immigration.