sarah.moran

MCO must be one of the worst airports to arrive at in terms of the queues at immigration. Are you able to purchase fast track/priority tickets? Or are there any tips on how to get through quicker? We are a party of 4 adults and 2 children. 2 adults are travelling upper class and the remainder of the party in economy on a Virgin flight

QueenOfCoach

Do you have Global Entry?

Are you US Citizens?

sarah.moran

No we are UK citiziens

dantheflyingman

Short of having either
a) Global Entry (which you can get as a UK citizen - https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-t...united-kingdom)
or
b) using the Mobile Passport application (https://mobilepassport.us),

There is no way to speed up the immigration queue, even as a US citizen.

As a side note, having Global Entry also qualifies you for TSA Pre, which is the only reason I haven't told my wife we can never fly out of Orlando ever again (her parents live near there).

Microwave

As you’re flying Virgin Atlantic and not AA, I will shift this to the appropriate forum. Good luck.

~Microwave
AAdvantage forum co-moderator

UKtravelbear

mobile passport isn't available to the OP as they are on UK passports.

GE may be a tad expensive. OP would need to pay £ 252 just for the UK Home Office Clearance an then the $ 600 GE fees for all 6 in the party and although GE lasts 5 years unless you travel to the US on a reasonably regular basis that's a lot of money.

Often1

The US does not have Fast Track. Be first of the aircraft, knock others down and that sort of thing.

Presuming that you are UK nationals, you are GE-eligible, although that is expensive and time-consuming unless you are a regular travel.

Beyond that, you will stand with the masses on entry.

LegalTender

Largely depends on when your plane arrives (JFK and ATL, not so much). And I believe you can use the machines if you have visited the USA before on an ESTA in the last five or so years.

MCO is a particular challenge. Rarely under two hours to get through Immigration, collect luggage, clear Customs and collect a car from the rental lot.

ESTA Visa Processing

sarah.moran

Thanks everyone for your valued responses! I guess we will just have to hope we can disembark quickly and don't land at the same time as another busy flight!

Whodunit68

I'm forced to fly out of MCO fairly often. I strongly dislike going there but for my international travels, it's usually my best option, in spite of it being 2 1/2 hours from my home (closest field is GNV).
There's little to like about MCO. I'm flying out of it tomorrow and like a dumbass I let my Global Entry Expire. Along with that went my TSA Pre+ so I'm SOL. My non-citizen wife has Pre+/GE and we're going international. The only thing that saved MCO from being one of my least favourite airports is that AA finally opened a lounge. The lounge is about the size of our 2 closets combined but it exists.

Entry is no fun there, unless GE as others have stated. Even then, it's a bit of a game. I've had various degrees of success with my GE. Sometimes I get stopped anyhow. So, I've tried to avoid flying into MCO from an international destination. I don't love MIA but it's generally easier than MCO. CLT is fantastic almost every time.
So, bottom line is, what everyone else said ....have a great trip.

sarah.moran

Thanks so much and poor you for having to go there so often . You would have thought they would have improved it by now!

Redwood839

I stopped flying through MCO for this very same reason. Got tired of having to spend more than 2 hours to get through immigration. I now fly through EWR or IAH onward to wherever I need to get. If I really need to get to the FL area I think I kinda prefer FLL and then drive.

Getting stuck at MCO after 2 A330's arriving from South America is NOT a happy thing.

Collierkr

MCO is a great airport, but not for international arrivals.

The US and UK should get their act together and agree to bi-lateral fast track for their citizens. It isn't pretty when going to the UK from the US.

bambinomartino

If pricing/routing allows, next time try connecting through Canada. US immigration is usually done at connecting Canadian airport, and then you basically have a domestic arrival in the US.

Funny someone mentioned IAH. A few months ago a party of 6 of us, two with Asian non-visa waver passports, flew into IAH from Mexico. There was no line whatsoever, in fact the officers were "fighting" among themselves as each wanted to process us. Lots of laughs and jokes all around, I had never had such a pleasant experience at US immigration.

CBP has historical data of wait times at major airports. Take a look at the day of the week and time you land to perhaps get an idea what type of wait time you can expect: https://awt.cbp.gov/

dougzz

Two UC and four economy tickets are not cheap, and say used just once a year, it's £30 each per journey. I actively avoid MCO, it's a horror show, TPA is much more pleasant, and if it must be VS direct I'd sooner do MIA and drive up, although some may think that extreme. The last time I left from Orlando the queues were among the worst I've ever seen, and at that point I was so happy to have TSA-Pre as a result of GE. If you're flying in to MCO from the UK, which I believe the OP is, then what's £150 for 5 years against the total holiday costs over that period. Obviously only the OP can answer this, I visit the USA two to three times a year and feel GE was money well spent, but easier to say when you're paying for just one.