UC passenger with a guest in PE

Am doing a trip to Orlando in November - I will be in Upper & friend in PE.

Now I know we can check-in together at the UC desk & my lounge invite will have a +1 added onto it without a problem both ways. What happens with regards to Fastrack security at MAN & the Priority Line for security at MCO (the latter quite specifically normally only being for people with Business / First Class boarding passes).

Will the check-in staff at MAN sticker an extra boarding pass with a Fastrack sticker? In Orlando, the problem will be the TSA boarding pass checker - what they say goes, end of. That said, last time I came home from Orlando, every boarding pass the checker in the priority line scanned beeped, but the screen said something like "Invalid Pass - Refer to Supervisor". (I know as I was stood behind the BP checker for a minute or two after I had passed through). TSA security theatre!

...Priority Line for security at MCO...

I can't help with your question but where is this magical line you speak of?

Stand by the fountain in the main concourse, looking towards the arrivals / departures monitors & lifts up to the Hyatt. The priority lane is (or was) the first one on the right hand side of the lifts.

It's very hit & miss, as you enter the zig-zag queue after the boarding pass+ID check behind about 6-8 other lines of passengers from the "normal" lanes. Only advantage is the queue to get your BP+ID checked in this line is normally a bit shorter.

[buns]

Stand by the fountain in the main concourse, looking towards the arrivals / departures monitors & lifts up to the Hyatt. The priority lane is (or was) the first one on the right hand side of the lifts.

It's very hit & miss, as you enter the zig-zag queue after the boarding pass+ID check behind about 6-8 other lines of passengers from the "normal" lanes. Only advantage is the queue to get your BP+ID checked in this line is normally a bit shorter.

When i went through last week, I chose that line and it is no longer the "priority" - maybe I should have looked more closely at the A Side.

What is amazing is that if you travel First Class on Delta, you are allowed to use the "Pre Clear" lane, but as you say, you merely join the rest of the chaotic queue. MCO could learn a few things from Gatwick who have worked hard to eradicate the lines at security

buns

Not exactly the same scenario, but when I travel from LGW they always stamp my boarding pass at check in with GOLD and stamp my husband's with PRIORITY and we use the fastrack security lane every time. Presume MAN would be the same.

At MCO they again stamp both BPs. I travelled back last Saturday and had to look hard to find the priority lane as it had moved. It's now immediately to the left of the CLEAR section and the escalators on the A side. As said, it's hit and miss but fortunately at that day it probably saved at least 30 minutes.

Jilly

Not exactly the same scenario, but when I travel from LGW they always stamp my boarding pass at check in with GOLD and stamp my husband's with PRIORITY and we use the fastrack security lane every time. Presume MAN would be the same.

At MCO they again stamp both BPs. I travelled back last Saturday and had to look hard to find the priority lane as it had moved. It's now immediately to the left of the CLEAR section and the escalators on the A side. As said, it's hit and miss but fortunately at that day it probably saved at least 30 minutes.

Jilly

Thanks for the info Jilly - sounds like we should be OK in MCO if they will stamp both BP's for priority access. We'll probably drop bags at Disney Springs in the morning (who probably won't have the stamps), so will drop by at the UC check-in desk at MCO to ask them to stamp the passes.

At Manchester, they just stick a Fastrack sticker onto your BP. They look very home-made i.e. Avery Labels and a colour printer, but it's enough for the Fastrack lane guard to let you through even if the barcode on your BP makes the computer say no.

Over at Gatwick - about 4 years ago - we got very posh looking "Premium Gatwick" metallic silver stickers on our BP's to allow us access to the Premium security lane. As Buns has said, many an airport could learn a lot from Gatwick on improving the security experience, even in the normal queue. I seem to recall Adebayo Ogunlesi (CEO of Global Infrastructure Partners - Gatwicks' owner) saying exactly the same when he visited & was filmed viewing the new security area for the "Inside Gatwick" TV programme. He went on to quip something along the lines of "can you come and sort things out in New York".

Come to think of it we've had the silver stickers at Gatwick in the past too, maybe they run out sometimes. However, it's always red ink stamps at MCO.

On the subject of Disney Springs check in, I now avoid it all costs after using it for years. So many times when my bags had UC labels on them they did not come out early at LGW. It may be a coincidence but since we started checking in at the airport they've always been off the carousel quickly.

Jilly

On the subject of Disney Springs check in, I now avoid it all costs after using it for years. So many times when my bags had UC labels on them they did not come out early at LGW. It may be a coincidence but since we started checking in at the airport they've always been off the carousel quickly.

Jilly

Interesting, as the only thing that should matter is the barcode on the bag-tag, not any other label on the bag. (So as to stop people using old UC tags when in PE/Y / buying them off eBay etc).

We've never had problems when using Disney Springs check-in. Bags have always been tagged & had UC tags added if they were missing from the outbound. Have always had very fast baggage return in Manchester - normally almost as soon as we got to the baggage hall. Can only guess that the containers had been loaded in the wrong order in Orlando for Jilly.

Jilly - did you have any off-loads from your return flights? If they have to offload luggage, all the containers are out until they get to the one(s) they need. The priority will then just be to get them back on, fast to minimise the delay, so the UC bin could have got mis-positioned (it should be the last one in, so the first one out when the door is opened).

[buns]

On the subject of Disney Springs check in, I now avoid it all costs after using it for years. So many times when my bags had UC labels on them they did not come out early at LGW. It may be a coincidence but since we started checking in at the airport they've always been off the carousel quickly.

Jilly

Likewise - Must be a Gatwick thing as once I had a bag checked in at Disney and one at MCO and the MCO one came out a considerable time before the Disney one

buns

Likewise - Must be a Gatwick thing as once I had a bag checked in at Disney and one at MCO and the MCO one came out a considerable time before the Disney one

buns

How strange. Given that all Disney Springs bags get fed into the same TSA screening / baggage handling system / Swissport ground staff at MCO. The only difference in checking in at MCO is that a different Swissport staff member will tag your bags - after that it's still TSA + MCO baggage handling + Swissport ramp staff.

The only possible difference is the arrival times of the bags at MCO. Disney Springs check-in closes at about 1pm I think, so the bags will be at the airport long before most people start to drop bags there. Maybe they have separate "early bags" and "late bags" UC containers if the cargo load is low? The former obviously gets loaded sooner, so is off later. No idea what the cargo loads are like on the MCO runs, but I would guess they are pretty good, especially as Virgin is the biggest UK operator to Orlando & is not solely London-centric.

Maybe we have just been lucky at Manchester?! As above though, an offload can screw things up - the priority then is just to get the containers back onboard asap and the flight away.

No offloads at all.

It just happened so many times (at one point I was doing 5/6 trips a year), that I decided to use the airport instead and since then haven't had an issue. It would have been helpful last week to use it but didn't want to take the risk as, like everyone, always want to get home as quickly as possible.

Jilly

Over at Gatwick - about 4 years ago - we got very posh looking "Premium Gatwick" metallic silver stickers on our BP's to allow us access to the Premium security lane.

And they still use them.