Exiting a 747 at Orlando

Hi

Does anyone know which door/s are used to exit a 747-400 at Orlando airport? Trying to figure out where to sit in order to get a speedy exit so we can be ahead of the crowds for customs. We will be in Economy Delight if that makes a difference,

Thanks

Martin

Landed there at Christmas time (19th December) on VS16.
We were in ED too - 9 of us. Upper and PE off first and then those Y & PE in the Bubble.
So if the flight is fullish then maybe 100 or so pax before delight.
Think the door they use is L2 - the one by the bar.
When we arrived in the Hall, it had just about cleared from previous flights but there were stupidly only 2 agents working at that time so it took about 50 minutes to get through. The queue's behind us really built up and I can only imagine that there was up to a 2 hour wait for those pax.
Don't drop the bags on the 2nd carousel, try to take them with you on the monorail. It saved us a lot of time taking the bags ourselves.
Good luck!!

They usually use door 2L. If you can book seats at the 2L exit row then you might be able to sneak off first, but you will have everyone passing by when boarding.

All the advice so far is correct except L2 is not by the bar, it's behind PE downstairs.

I'm thinking that you are talking about the queue for immigration as there is no customs any more at MCO...or at least there wasn't last May?

We were asked by the immigration officer if we had any food with us, collected our luggage and that was it. No customs area whatsoever.

At some airports there is now no longer a separate customs area / staffer collecting the slips after baggage claim and it is all done by the immigration part of the procrss.

However they can still stop you to inspect your bags until you have actually left the baggage area if they so wish

Hi

Does anyone know which door/s are used to exit a 747-400 at Orlando airport? Trying to figure out where to sit in order to get a speedy exit so we can be ahead of the crowds for customs. We will be in Economy Delight if that makes a difference,

Thanks

Martin

As others have said, door L2 is used at MCO. If you're travelling Economy Delight, I recommend you choose a seat in the cabin upstairs in the bubble (maybe towards the back) as they're all sold as Delight seats. It's also my favourite part of Economy on the 747 as it's more intimate and quieter than downstairs.

Order of disembarkation is UC/downstairs PE first, then the bubble, then the whole of the downstairs Economy cabin. If the crew are doing their jobs right, they will hold back the whole of downstairs Economy first until the cabins in front and upstairs have all disembarked.

Hope this helps and enjoy the 747 experience whilst you still can.

Hi

Does anyone know which door/s are used to exit a 747-400 at Orlando airport? Trying to figure out where to sit in order to get a speedy exit so we can be ahead of the crowds for customs. We will be in Economy Delight if that makes a difference,

Thanks

Martin

As others have said, door L2 is used at MCO. If you're travelling Economy Delight, I recommend you choose a seat in the cabin upstairs in the bubble (maybe towards the back) as they're all sold as Delight seats. It's also my favourite part of Economy on the 747 as it's more intimate and quieter than downstairs.

Order of disembarkation is UC/downstairs PE first, then the bubble, then the whole of the downstairs Economy cabin. If the crew are doing their jobs right, they will hold back the whole of downstairs Economy first until the cabins in front and upstairs have all disembarked.

Hope this helps and enjoy the 747 experience whilst you still can.

Hmm, according to the seat map on my Virgin app for this flight, all the ED seats are downstairs and non of the bubble seats are ED but just normal economy ones??

Hmm, according to the seat map on my Virgin app for this flight, all the ED seats are downstairs and non of the bubble seats are ED but just normal economy ones??

The Economy seats in the bubble are definitely Delight as they have a bit more legroom and VS charge a premium which is consistent for anybody choosing Delight. It might be worth calling them to be sure as I don't always trust apps in general to be correct. Last year when my flight was cancelled and re-booked the next day I managed to wangle us Economy seats in the bubble with the fee waived as a goodwill gesture (I had booked my flights before VS changed Economy to Light/Classic/Delight but paid to assign our own seats and I wasn't happy with the new assigned seats after the flight was cancelled).

[mitchja]

Whilst there is a £35 charge now to sit on the upper deck on the 744’s in Economy, I believe those seats are not Economy Delight seats with any extra leg room.

The upstairs seats fall under the Economy Classic product - there is an additional charge to select them but that's just by virtue of them being upstairs and in a quieter cabin. They're the standard 31" pitch.

Thanks for the clarification, I stand corrected!

I'm not sure about the legroom assessment though as I personally felt they had a couple of inches more room than downstairs (I'm 6ft tall so will notice the extra room more than shorter folk), though at the same time it could well be perception or where the seats are. The seat I was in downstairs was 26A and upstairs was 78A.

It does seem a missed opportunity from Virgin though as it seems the ideal location to put the ED seats.

We’re on VS15 today so will let you know what our experience is. The last time we flew to MCO was 2 years ago and we had to wait on the plain for 30 minutes as the immigration hall was full. It took us nearly 2 hours to get out. Hopefully today will be better.

We are on the VS 27 today so I will let you know how things go. We enrolled in the Global Entry scheme on our last visit so hoping we can get through without too many problems.

Best wishes,

John

I promised to report how things went when we arrived at MCO.

VS27 delayed by about an hour; and there were at least two other flights arriving about the same time. Consequently, the immigration area was very busy, queuing back to the main corridor. We enquired about the Global Entry desk (our first time using GE since enrolling) and we were directed to a lane over to the left where there were about five people ahead of us. There were four immigration officers manning half a dozen desks dedicated to GE (no machines) and we were called forward after about a minute. IO semed faintly bored and only required the eye check - no fingerprints! Two questions - how long were we staying, and where? No longer any customs declaration forms. Whole process took just 98 seconds (I purposely timed it) and we were at the carousel. Cases arrived ten minutes later. Lots of groups of customs and TSA officers standing around talking and laughing, but didn't see any passengers stopped or checked. We were totally ignored and walked straight through.

Looks like the recent construction work has been virtually completed. No indication of a designated customs area that I could see, although there are rooms/offices over to the left of the exit doors. Passageway from baggage claim to lift/escalator was packed and took around five minutes before we were able to get on the escalator. Shuttle was packed but I didn't think it was that busy in the main terminal.

Cases arrived quite quickly at the secondary (8A) carousel; and it was very busy in the rental car garage. I spoke with an Alamo manager who told me it was one of their busiest days. They had 3,000 cars booked through Alamo, 1,000 through Thrifty and another 1,000 through Enterprise. Astonishingly we were given a free upgrade without even asking.

We cleared the exit barrier 64 minutes after the aircraft reached the gate, which was about the best time we have ever made.

Currently winding down in the sunshine. I will post our experience of the TSA precheck (included with GE) when we leave in a couple of weeks.

Kind regards,

John

Thanks John for the update. As this is our first time to the US, and as we probably won’t be travelling all that often, the $300 for all three of us to enroll in the global entry program is prob a bit much so we will resign ourselves to the long queue at passport.

I promised to recount our experience with the TSA Precheck line when we left Orlando, and I have to say it was very good.

We flew back to UK (VS 16) last Wednesday. Good flight which, although late leaving by an hour or so still had us arriving only ten minutes late at the gate at Gatwick. Excellent cabin crew service from FSM Richard and his staff.

Arrived at MCO just before 1800 hrs and would have been earlier had I not taken a wrong turn and ended up north of the airport and slightly lost! Never happened before; but thanks to the GPS in the hire car, one U turn and we were in the rental car garage without any further problems.

Due entirely to Mrs Southroma's shopping we had five bags (went out with three) which we dropped off quite speedily courtesy of VA ground staff member 'Bonnie'. Had checked in the previous evening on line and first time ever we had SEQ 1 and 2!!!

Made our way to security/passport control and took the far right TSA Precheck lane. Boarding passes had TSA Precheck and Priority printed on them. Only about a dozen or so other passengers ahead of us when we joined the line beyond the barrier. Regular lines were very busy and one of the TSA officers told us the wait there was about 45 minutes to an hour. We were through in just under ten minutes. Actually, Mrs Southroma cleared in just over five minutes, while I was caught up behind a couple of passengers who were setting off all the alarms. Just had to place the usual items in a tray, and put coats and bags on the belt. No removal of shoes; and no need to open bags/cases with laptops, ipads, etc. The regular and Priority (not TSA Precheck) lines go every which way and it is a bit of a mess getting through; and rather hit and miss whether you are in a short direct lane or snaking backwards and forwards as they change the barriers. The TSA officer told us Orlando is probably one of the worst US airports for delays at departure passport control.

All in all a good experience for us and, coupled with the Global Entry on arrival, we were very pleased with our first time. Whether it is worth the cost, well, probably not, unless you are flying fairly regularly into USA. However, with both of us being both closer to eighty than eighteen, Mrs Southroma and I found it made for a rather more comfortable arrival/departure than we had endured previously.

Kind regards,

John