'Interesting' Arrival at Orlando International

This is rather a long post, but it includes quite a lot of information that might be useful for anyone travelling to Orlando International shortly and/or hoping to get a Global Entry interview on arrival there.

We are here in Florida at the moment following a really great flight on the VS 27 (LGW-MCO), last Friday 2 November. Unfortunately, once we arrived at the gate at MCO (bang on schedule at 1805), things rather fell apart.

We had been issued the usual warning to stay in our seats ‘until the seat belt lights are switched off’ but, as usual, there was much movement and clicking of belt clips as soon as we came to a halt. Immediately, there was another announcement, reminding us to stay in our seats and advising us that the police were coming aboard!!!

Mrs Southroma and I were in seats 18 A and C and could see the jet bridge being manoeuvred into position. It soon became apparent that there was a serious problem with the steering controls and for the next 35 minutes we were treated to the sight of a continuous procession of engineers joining the VA ‘driver’ and a growing ‘boarding party’ of police and TSA officers. One passenger quipped: ‘If they had only let me bring my Swiss army knife on board, I could have fixed this!’

More announcements to remain in our seats were issued and we were ‘advised’ that the police were very insistent that we comply. The pilot came on the pa system, apologised for the delay and kept us up to date with progress. Indeed, the crew’s action s were exemplary throughout the whole situation and I could not compliment them too highly.

Eventually the problem was sorted. The bridge connected with the aircraft, the door was opened and a small party of police officers came aboard. They ‘escorted’ a passenger from seat 14E off the aircraft, leaving his female companion on board. Shortly after it seems that the police officers returned and had gone into the economy section. There was much speculation in PE and someone said that a further four passengers had been escorted off. I don’t know if this was correct because before we could discuss the matter any further, the seat belts light was
switched off and the usual pandemonium ensued.

We eventually made our farewells to the cabin crew at 1845, and were among the first off the aircraft. The immigration area was very busy with passengers from the other VA flights from Gatwick (VS 15 arrived 1835) and Glasgow (VS 71 arrived 1810), and probably another international flight or two.

We connected with a very helpful ‘greeter’, Roberto, and explained that we had completed our provisional Global Entry applications and would like to have our interviews ‘on arrival’. Roberto took us through the ‘crew’ line with only a couple of passengers ahead of us and we were processed within an incredible couple of minutes. Yes, literally two minutes and we were through. Just the eye scan (no fingerprints!) and two questions: How long were we staying and did we have any food? Our passports were stamped and we were then handed over to another immigration officer who took us to the ‘tower’ in the centre of the Baggage claim area where a senior IO apologised that there was no one available to conduct our interviews. We were very disappointed but we had taken the precaution of making a couple of appointments for 14 November, just against such an eventuality. I will post how things go in due course.

I think we were probably the first from our flight to reach the baggage claim area (even ahead of the crew), where it was obvious that all our luggage had been unloaded while we were having the problems with the jet bridge and the police. Furthermore, the carousel which had received all the cases had subsequently been manually unloaded by airport staff and everything neatly stacked alongside. It took me a minute or two to locate our three cases, load them on a cart and head for the customs area. Customs area??? What customs area? There was none! No barriers, no signs and only a single customs officer who virtually ignored us.

Through the glass doors - adjacent to what I imagine will be the new customs area when what looks like potentially extensive construction work is completed - and out to the secondary belts where our cases were placed for forwarding to carousel 8A in the main terminal. The three cases were just too much for us to manhandle onto the shuttle.

Those of you who know the area may well be surprised to know that the usual escalator has been ‘fenced’ off and is currently out of use. I think the lift is still operating, but we were directed to the left and along to what appears to be a new escalator which accesses the shuttle platform. Clearly there is still a lot of building work going on.

We reached the main terminal and picked up a ‘floating’ cart ($5 saved!) and headed to carousel 8A for the usual interminable wait for our cases, confidently expecting it to be further extended because it was raining. Astonishingly our cases (and only our three bags, no others) arrived within a few minutes of us arriving there.

In the Alamo parking lot we selected a fully-loaded Nissan Rogue Sport with only 1600 m on the clock. Absolutely perfect for the two of us and our three cases (we shall have four when we fly back!!!).

An hour and 16 minutes from the aircraft arriving at the gate the barrier lifted at the Alamo exit and we were out in the rain, but delighted to finally be starting our holiday.
We still know nothing further about the police activity, but if anyone hears anything perhaps they would be good enough to post the information.

Apologies for such a long post, but there was a lot to tell you.

Kind regards,

John

hi John

thanks for the report - what a frustrating experience to round off your flight.

With your experience and that of Buns, I am holding out no hope of an interview on arrival later this month. We arrive on Thanksgiving so doubt very much we will be lucky enough to have an office available.

Like you, I have booked appointments later in our stay so, although we will of course try on arrival, I am resigning myself to having to return to the airport to have the interviews then.

I look forwards to hearing how your interviews go on the 14th, I hope they go smoothly.

Enjoy your holiday in the meantime

Thanks for the interesting post - sort of reminds me about our arrival at MCO back in June. We were just unlucky then and arrived behind a few other international arrivals and were held on the aircraft for about 40mins before the immigration hall was ready for us. The only saving grace was that we were at gate 90 (the A380 gate with 3 airbridges) that, at the time, fed into the smaller side of the immigration hall that was divided by building work. We both had Global Entry so were through in a couple of minutes - friends who had arrived earlier and been directed to the larger "normal" side of the immigration hall waited close on 90mins to get through (without GE).

I am very surprised by the lack of US Customs that you describe. Given how seriously the USA take their security, I would have thought they would have found a way to put up a temporary customs area. If it causes delays, then so what - the travellers, especially the Visitors [i.e. non-US Citizens] can just wait!

We arrived on VS15 last Thursday and although the plane emptied quite quickly we found immigration quite a wait. We didn’t expect this because I have assistance as simply can’t walk or even stand for a long period. With 20 or so people wanting assistance the guy suggested the boss push me as there was no longer any getting through immigration quickly for those in wheelchairs and they only had four men handling them all. She was a trooper and pushed me along and after an hour or so we were through. We do wonder if this was because it was both late and Haloween as well as a time of construction, but there was at least one person who was looking very distressed so it’s not great.

Customs was also also non-existent for us. Walked/wheeled right through.

We were directed to the new (to us) escalator but there was an elevator on the left just before you got to that which we used.

After that all was well. Shuttle to main area. We stayed as usual in the Hyatt overnight and walked to our Full-size Alamo car at about 11am the next day nice and refreshed and drove right off.

Coming home from Miami so won’t be able to comment on how it works the other way through.

I promised to report on our Global Entry interviews, following our recent ‘very interesting’ arrival at Orlando International earlier in the month.

We used Parking Garage C (accessed from the South Exit Road – just follow the signs and stay over to the left for a left-hand turn) which had been recommended as much easier than the other terminal parking facilities. Very quiet there. We tried to park on level 3, but it was full. Level 4 had plenty of spaces and we took the lift down to level 3, just walked through to the APM station and took the shuttle to the terminal.

For anyone who hasn’t used parking garage C yet, it is most impressive. Absolutely ideal if you are meeting someone from a flight. Shuttles are every four minutes and deposit you in the terminal, just alongside where the shuttle from the immigration/customs area arrives.

The Global Entry office is just opposite the ‘Lost and Found’, which is down the aisle at the side of the Ron Jon Surf Shop.

There is a table with a sheet on a clipboard requiring you to ‘sign in’ with your name, time of arrival, time of appointment and reason for visit (tick boxes for GE application, GE renewal or a question).

Our appointments were for 2.15 and we arrived at 1.45, having been strongly advised not to be late. There was only one appointment before ours, at 1.45 and the lady was invited in shortly after our arrival.

There is one bench just outside the door to the office and next to a planter which is just large enough to perch on if the bench is full.

Mrs Southroma and I were invited in just after 2.00 by a very friendly immigration officer who did our interviews together. The office is very tiny with just enough room for a desk and three chairs. The IO explained the GE benefits and only really asked us a couple of questions, which were no more than part of the general conversation we had with him. How often did we visit and why were we seeking GE?

Photographs and fingerprints were taken. Although we had been told to take our UK driving licences they were not needed, just our passports. We had also taken copies of the various emails with the application references but these were not required either. The IO showed us how to place our passports in the GE machines; and there were two examples of the sort of machines that are used.

We were both informed that our applications had been approved and we should expect emails confirming this within 48 hours. We said our thankyous and goodbyes and that was it. The whole thing was very relaxed and took no more than ten minutes for the two of us.

Hope this is of interest to those of you who are planning GE.

John

Thanks, John, for the update. I am glad it went smoothly for you both.

This information is really helpful. I am very much doubting we will get an interview on arrival next week from previous posts, so we have booked interviews for the following week. Thank you for the advice on the car park and location of the interview. I will definitely print this info ahead of our trip.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday

Lindsay