caseminole

Warning: If you use "The Club at MCO" (near gate 91), and you have a flight out of the other "half" of Terminal A (e.g., gate 112), you can get "stuck" in that portion of the terminal.

This happened to me yesterday.

My VX flight started boarding at 5. At 4:40, I left the CLub, and when i got off the monorail, the access to the other half of Terminal A was completely gone.

TSA officers told me that an international flight had arrived from that area, and as such, no one could go to the other half of the terminal

I had to go thru security a 2nd time

Any idea of where or who I can complain to about this?

THankfully, I had TSA PreCheck. Another passenger on my flight was in similar situation, and almost missed our VX flight because of the long security lines.

I've never heard of this at any airport.

If this is a possibility, why wouldnt there be any signs posted warning passengers you "might" have to go thru screening a second time if you happen to go from one half to the other

writerguyfl

Here is a link to the "Contact Us" page of the official MCO website. You can use the Feedback Form or click on the Contacts tab to get a phone number or mailing address:

http://orlandoairports.net/contact/contacts.htm

In all honesty, I doubt you'll get far. The area of the website that shows The Club says that it is "Accessible only by passengers departing from Gates 70-129".

Also, under "Getting Around" section of the Frequently Asked Questions page, it does explain how to do what you wanted. However, it also includes this sentence: "Please note that this may not be possible during certain times of the day for security reasons while international passengers are arriving in the terminal."

FAQs page: http://www.orlandoairports.net/faq.htm

Obviously, most people aren't going to visit the official airport website. I think a sign is probably a decent suggestion. That said, maybe there is one and you just missed it.

You also may want to contact The Club at MCO. I'm guessing that they might be more responsive than the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (the government agency that runs the airport). Perhaps The Club could inform guests about this issue when they arrive.

caseminole

Follow up

first, thanks a million for your response!

I will tell you that I sent an email to the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, and I kid you not, I received a personal phone call within about 10 minutes (!!!!!! - who does this in 2016??? !!!) to discuss the issue.

The woman (Karin) agreed 100% and said I was not the first person to complain about this. She has discussed this with TSA and her higher ups, and is forwarding my concerns to the right folks.

You are right, there is a disclaimer of sorts on the website.

There are NO SIGNS whatsoever in the terminal itself.

So that was the one thing I said at least would be helpful/useful , and she agreed

She did say there's already too much signage in the terminal area, but at least letting folks know this was a possibility is their responsibility and they will look into adding more signage.

Thanks again for your response as well !

writerguyfl

Wow, that's impressive. I guess I should watch my assumptions that government agencies are unresponsive. Good for you for taking the time to (hopefully) help fix a problem for future travelers.

manda99

I had the same thing happen at MCO. We got through security and I asked the TSA person if there was a Starbucks. She directed me to the Monorail that led to the gates with the Starbucks. When I came back on the Monorail, they'd strung up a temporary barricade and wouldn't let me get back on the other Monorail to get to my gate. AND they acted like I was the idiot for expecting to do so, she yelled "Not during International override!!!" Like I should know that or even know what that meant. So then I had to go through security all over again. So very frustrating!

caseminole

The TSA will defer this as an "airport issue"; However the folks at Greater Orlando Airport Authority disagree.

They are aware its an issue.

I would suggest if you want, send them an email

http://www.orlandoairports.net/hr/org.htm

the more that complain the better. The folks at GOAA were pretty nice to deal with, and like I said, they agree this is not a good thing with no signage.

flyingill

I got stuck because I took the wrong monorail to my gate. I came back and had to go through security again. I don't have pre-check and almost missed my flight b/c the lines are long. I think MCO TSA is awful and makes me want to get pre-check

chrisny2

It's definitely frustrating, but because international arriving passengers are able to bring their checked luggage on the train, there doesn't seem to be any other option than to force travelers landside. So yes, signs might help, but a lot of people likely won't notice them.

Swiss Tony

It's not the fact they can bring luggage on the tram. It's the fact they're on the tram at all, which means you have non-sterile passengers from ex-US mixing with pax who have already been screened by the TSA.

It certainly used to be the case that the international arrivals on the opposite side of the airport *had* to recheck bags and all pax had to go through a TSA screening before being able to get on the tram to the terminal. Now that's a pretty poor arrivals experience all round and hits 100% of passengers involved. Having the minority who want to go to a Starbucks or the Club in a different part of the airport potentially reclear security seems like a far better solution, allowing the TSA resource to be refocused on departing passengers...

caseminole

1. Additional signage would be helpful. The woman i spoke with from Orlando Airport was responsive, apologetic, and promised she would elevate the issue (I would actually believe her, she was adamant about the issue and i wasnt the first to complain!)

2. Just traveled again, with the same outcome. Along the way, I asked various folks if there was a way to circumvent this (I actually started thinking perhaps there was a tunnel that connected the two spokes, but then i guess technically this wouldnt accomplish anything.)

3. Each TSA rep said I would have to go thru screening again.

4. the folks at The Club MCO were misinformed; they said i simply needed to take the train to the "right" hand side, and someone made me think this would drop me at a different point.

I still dont understand the issue.

International arriving passengers had to be screened SOMEWHERE before boarding their flights to Orlando.

Since everyone has had some level of security checks, why are we all being forced out into the open area of the airport.

These folks have now cleared customs, and immigration.

What other kind of threat would anyone pose to boarding a domestic flight

In addition, a better question might be:

What would potentially stop an "internationally arriving passenger" from boarding a domestic flight (e.g., doesnt SWA fly out of that side of Terminal A), for example, in the terminal that contains The Club at MCO????

maybe i am missing something as I dont know what happens to passengers in that area after going thru customs and immigration, but we do seem to all be dumped out to same trains and/or main non-sterile area of the airport

wouldnt the reasoning for NOT allowing me to cross over to the other spoke of side A apply to anyone that would want to take a domestic flight from The Club at MCO side ???

chrisny2

I don't know the arrival logistics, so I can't speak to your latter question (I suspect they funnel all international arriving passengers onto the train and not into the terminal) but one reason for rescreening is that passengers carry their checked luggage through Customs. So they could remove any weapons from their checked luggage and put them into their carry-ons.

Swiss Tony

As I understand it there are two international arrivals terminals at MCO.

At the one BA/VS/LH use, you go through immigration, collect bags go through customs, have the option of turning big bags back in to collect on the carousel then get on a tram. This dumps you at the main building & the tensa barrier maze to stop you mixing with other pax who have been TSA screened. The tram then gets swept by security.

At the other side (Jet Blue) I believe the process is similar to the above but after turning checked bags back in, all inbound passengers go through a TSA check and then get decanted into the satellite as if they had just got off a domestic flight. They then take the tram with all the other pax to the main building.

(please correct me if I'm wrong)

KRSW

What a Charlie Foxtrot! I've never done international flights in/out of MCO, but have done plenty of domestic.

Who ever heard of an "international" airport being designed in a way that requires international travelers to go through the public side of the airport before hitting Customs/Security?

Then again, is there even a single airport in the USA which is set up for "in transit" travelers like the European/Asian airports have?

chrisny2

That's not how it's designed. You go through customs and then take a train directly landside. You have to reclear security if you need to go back airside for a connecting flight.

The complication is that when this is going on during certain hours, domestic travelers are also funneled directly landside from the train. This could affect a very small number of passengers who are either connecting in MCO (rare) or are going to the other concourse for Starbucks or lounge access.

(But to answer your second question, the U.S. intentionally doesn't have the "in transit" set up that EU and Asian airport do.)

Swiss Tony

Are you 100% sure? It certainly used to be the case that the side Aer Lingus & Jet Blue used for their international arrivals required a security check after customs, but that wasn't the case on the side BA & Virgin use, because of the tensa-barrier arrangement they deployed by the tram exit.

I'm hoping it has changed as we're flying in on B6 this summer, but can find nothing to the contrary, aside from some vague suggestion that contruction work has now been completed. IIRC the last time I used MCO the place was a building site around security to I live in hope....