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.

You've got 1 TSA issue, 3 Airport issues, and 1 Delta issue (the close scheduling). Maybe Delta will throw a ton of money at the Airport Authority (spendy long term leases, if not up-front construction $) the way they've done/do in BOS/JFK/LGA/LAX - but I wouldn't hold my breath.

It's a leisure airport with extremely price sensitive customers. DL isn't investing a cent, and I don't blame them.

It's airports like this that make me glad that DL axed free guests at the SC.

I agree, I was not trying to put the blame on Delta, just commenting on the costumer experience. This seems mostly like an MCO issue.

Thanks for the information.

The train situation surprised me, I did not remember that before. It makes sense that it is only during the international arrival bank.
The Men's room by Nathan's is the one I used, unfortunately it had 1 or the 3 urinals closed. I guess as guys we can't complain about a 2 or 3 minute wait.
The picture is great, but it felt even more crowded than that last night.

Delta's airside at MCO is definitely one of the weakest. I do find though that the security (Pre Check) on Terminal B to be better than Terminal A. If you do have time beforehand, go over to WN's Airside 4. Much better food options.

I fly in and out of MCO often. The OP is correct. However, I've never had much of a wait for TSA Pre. And the train situation is not that bad, even if one is unavailable due to International arrivals.

What's this about a new terminal? Had not heard that before. Anyone have any details?

What is the rationale of segregating one of the trains for international arrivals?

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.

Exactly! Because it's too extremely overcrowded! It is very extremely busy during afternoon rush. The lines is very long. Avoided MCO at all the costs. TPA is not too bad at all. So don;t go to MCO anymore.

Yes, soon JetBlue will moved to new terminal C in 2021.

Maybe it's because I'm used to dealing with thousands of cruise ship passengers here in Fort Lauderdale, but that photo doesn't look particularly bad. It's certainly no worse than what I've personally experienced at PHX, LAS, MSP, or LAX over the past 2 or 3 years.

Lots of US airports were designed for far fewer passengers than they current serve. At least MCO is working to fix their problem. And unlike some locations, they actually have room to expand without having to replace existing facilities.

But, to each her or his own. I'm not trying to discount anyone's feelings or opinions. But, I'm pretty simple. Aside from not enough bathroom capacity, none of the complaints listed in this thread would bother me.

Here's the information page for the South Terminal Complex from the official airport website:
https://www.orlandoairports.net/gett...minal-complex/

It's been a few years since I was in MCO last (perhaps 2015?). I recall the burger king with long lines. And maybe an Outback next door? Did that close? Or become a Bahama Breeze?

Agreed MCO is a leisure heavy airport. It tends to remind me of LAS.