Originally Posted by
KBMIFlyer
I am usually an AA flyer, but I fly Delta on occasion and usually find them to be a fine airline. Usually well run with polite staff.
The exception to this is always Orlando. i know part of this is just dealing with families traveling to Disney, but the Delta setup seems to poor. The terminals are always so crowded. When I fly Southwest, American, or even Frontier out of Orlando, it is a much better experience.
Here is just a list from my recent flight yesterday, but my other experiences have been similar.
1. I always have bad luck with TSA pre-check here. I am not sure why, but the lines move at different speeds and I always have a slower employee. I think that is my bad luck.
2. The 70-99 gates only get one train, since international arrivals have the other train. So the trains are less frequent and more crowded. Couple that with the BA and Virgin London afternoon bank and you have a lot of passengers crammed in the trains.
3. The quick food choices are ..to be polite...bad. And a 5:00 on a Friday night, the line to Nathans' hot dogs is blocking the entrance to the 70-70 pier. You know the food choices are bad when Burger King has a long line. i will admit my pizza from MCO MKT was not all that bad.
4. I had to go to three restrooms to find one where the for the line for MEN was not out the door. Pity the poor women who are trying to use the restroom before or after their flights.
5. The worst part is the end of the 70-79 pier. Yesterday they were boarding an LGA 6:20 fight out of gate 78, ATL 6:30 flight out of 76, MSP 6:30 flight out of 72, LAX 6:40 out of 73, and a 6:50 SLC out of 75. It was chaotic, the poor gate agents trying to synchronize their boarding calls, people standing everywhere. I usually try and wait to board when I don't have carry on luggage, but I actually boarded quickly because being on the crowded a321 was actually more preferable to being in this chaos in the terminal.
So, not to be a rant thread, will this change long term? How will the gate's shuffle once the new south terminal is open? Any chance for better food options?
I should add, I did find the check in area and baggage drop very easy and convenient. I also think the Delta employees at Orlando are some of the best I have come across. I think Orlando would be one of the toughest stations to work.
I actually somewhat disagree with your assessment. I find the AA/UA/B6 side to be far far worse. Dingy old airsides, the horrible new APMs, and the worst part of course being the TSA checkpoint. Why the brilliant people at GOAA decided to condense AA, UA, B6, F9, and NK to one side at MCO is beyond me but 90% of the time I have far worse luck on the west side than I do on the east.
I'll be honest, I can't remember the last time I ate in the terminal at MCO though, so I have no idea what the offerings even are these days other than *$ with possibly some of the dumbest and slowest baristas in the world.
I will say, I think the DL SkyClub is considerably better than the Admirals Club at MCO, the SC is much larger and has far better offerings. The AC is tiny and has a really limited offering.
Now, with that said, I agree that the crammed gate area is a mess, though I don't know really what makes it worse than the other airsides. I guess DL just has more departures and fewer gates, though I find that hard to believe given that AA and UA are crammed in the same airside with NK. Boarding definitely needs to be streamlined like it has been in ATL with the queues for each specific boarding group. I think that would help a lot of the 'gypsy camp' syndrome that happens as soon as pre-boarding is called for any given flight. I think a lot of these issues will be solved once intercontinental flights move to their new terminal on the south side.