Metro Orlando Airport News

[Dale]

Don't begrudge improvements, but OIA is far and away the most convenient airport I've flown to and from.

 

[prahaboheme]

8 hours ago, Dale said:

Don't begrudge improvements, but OIA is far and away the most convenient airport I've flown to and from.

 

Are we flying in and out of the same airport?

[AndyPok1]

Agreed.  The one major convenience OIA has is that rental cars are on site.  Beyond that?  It's a giant lesson how to not build a good airport.  

1) No public transit.  
2) No expressway to downtown.  
3) The loop circling the airport is so excessive that I often just park on A because its multiple minutes shorter even though my flights depart from B.
4) Two entirely separate terminals that are unreachable without going through TSA again.  
5) Concourses within each terminal that are not walkable.  
6) Almost no bars/restaurants/food of note once you pass security.

[Dale]

12 hours ago, Dale said:

Don't begrudge improvements, but OIA is far and away the most convenient airport I've flown to and from.

 

I don't know. The OIA I've always used has me parking and being at the gate in minutes time. For example: I recently picked up a friend at CLT. I had to park in a distant garage and take a bus to the terminal. But I couldn't actually go into the terminal. Instead, I had to wait for them to find me at baggage pickup.

Edited July 15, 2016 by Dale

[John Hargrove]

I have flown out of MCO a bajillion times, but only ever out of the Delta side (I'm a loyalist). I have never had issues there until the last few months. The parking the last few months has alternated between manageable to absolutely overflowing at all lots, to the point that you end up being force to park off property and ride a bus in. That used to be a rare thing but lately it has been nuts. Perhaps just unlucky timing on my part.

[shardoon]

9 hours ago, Dale said:

I don't know. The OIA I've always used has me parking and being at the gate in minutes time. For example: I recently picked up a friend at CLT. I had to park in a distant garage and take a bus to the terminal. But I couldn't actually go into the terminal. Instead, I had to wait for them to find me at baggage pickup.

Picking up friends from the airport must be the most convenient in the country. Try the E Pass express. It's I think a dollar per half hour, but you are in and out in less time than that. All they do is a quick search in the trunk and check under the car with a mirror. You then park under the terminal curbside, steps from the elevator into the terminal. I've done it before and friends think I'm a VIP or something. Its GREAT. 

[AndyPok1]

2 hours ago, shardoon said:

Picking up friends from the airport must be the most convenient in the country. Try the E Pass express. It's I think a dollar per half hour, but you are in and out in less time than that. All they do is a quick search in the trunk and check under the car with a mirror. You then park under the terminal curbside, steps from the elevator into the terminal. I've done it before and friends think I'm a VIP or something. Its GREAT. 

This is the first I've heard of this.  I've read up on it now and can't wait to have an excuse to try it.

[jrs2]

On 7/14/2016 at 8:40 PM, AndyPok1 said:

Agreed.  The one major convenience OIA has is that rental cars are on site.  Beyond that?  It's a giant lesson how to not build a good airport.  

1) No public transit.  
2) No expressway to downtown.  
3) The loop circling the airport is so excessive that I often just park on A because its multiple minutes shorter even though my flights depart from B.
4) Two entirely separate terminals that are unreachable without going through TSA again.  
5) Concourses within each terminal that are not walkable.  
6) Almost no bars/restaurants/food of note once you pass security.

Show me a "good" airport, because that mythical creature shouldn't have any of the 6 concerns you mentioned above about MCO:

1) hopefully in 2020 with Sunrail

2) 528, TNPK, and I-4 are all expressways that connect to each other, and this combo is the most direct route to downtown.  Some cities have it better but many have it worse.

3)  loop size isn't an issue for me, but I have mixed feelings of the MCO approach vs O'Hare vs DFW vs Hartsfield/DEN styles.

4) Compare to LAX; JFK; etc.  Each terminal is a separate building/separate TSA.  MCO technically has only two terminals, A & B, with two TSA areas.  Hartsfield may just have one TSA area as they have the one landside terminal and several airsides.  But can you imagine how long of a wait if the entire departing airport traffic went through only one security check?

5)  I don't understand this.  Each MCO airside has roughly 20-25 gates each, and those gates are spilt among three spokes or concourses per airside so that one's walking distance does not exceed 7 or so gates from their plane to the center of the terminal, where the AGT station is.  Is there another major airport that does it better?  Not Hartsfield; Not LAX; Not O'Hare; Not DFW.  etc.

6) Ruby Tuesday; Outback; each in its own airside.  the other two airsides don't have a major restaurant.

[prahaboheme]

^Schiphol Amsterdam 

For what it's worth, The last point about lack of quality restaurants and bars airside is my biggest grief. If I have to deal with an all around clusterf*ck than at least place a decent bar in walking distance of any gate. Hardly a novel concept.

Ive seen the plans for the South terminal. It corrects all the mistakes of the original terminal, including those unnecessary people movers and general corralling security lines.

Edited August 16, 2016 by prahaboheme

[AndyPok1]

I don't really see the need to go point by point, but highlights are.... 

When I'm ~10 miles as the crow flies from downtown, it shouldn't take me 26-35 minutes to get there, and that's making a choice between taking a surface road with lights that are almost never in sync, going double the distance on toll roads, or taking a chance that there's no backup on the combination of 528,FL92,4

I meant that when you're at gates 1-30, you can't get to gates 31-60 without taking the train back, and you can't get to 61-120 without regoing through TSA.

Ruby Tuesdays and Outback don't qualify as useful bars to me.

With the exception of their physical locations, I think DFW and ORD are both amazing airports.  I can walk from the farthest gate on one side to the farthest gate on the next without going through security again.  There's fun local foods and bars.

[jgardnerucf]

Y'all Winter Park yuppies will have your Cask & Larder at OIA soon.

Since being local, why the heck would you ever fathom eating at OIA anyway lol.

And also, imo, most people aren't connecting, they are getting there and gone, or getting here and hauling to their destination. Not looking at mosaic tile work while drinking craft beers. lol

That walk at DFW sucks BTW... beep, beep, beep, beep, beep...

Downtown to MCO is nothing, duck and weave over to Conway and light it up down Judge to Augusta and done. Or just Link 18 it and get there early and go upstairs to Chili's. lol

:::rant reply over:::

[John Hargrove]

Downtown to MCO sucks and I do it a lot. I don't care as much about some of the other points, but MCO's connections to downtown are not great.

The amount of time you have to spend on 436 is ... bad.

[jrs2]

^^

15 hours ago, AndyPok1 said:

I don't really see the need to go point by point, but highlights are.... 

When I'm ~10 miles as the crow flies from downtown, it shouldn't take me 26-35 minutes to get there, and that's making a choice between taking a surface road with lights that are almost never in sync, going double the distance on toll roads, or taking a chance that there's no backup on the combination of 528,FL92,4

I meant that when you're at gates 1-30, you can't get to gates 31-60 without taking the train back, and you can't get to 61-120 without regoing through TSA.

Ruby Tuesdays and Outback don't qualify as useful bars to me.

With the exception of their physical locations, I think DFW and ORD are both amazing airports.  I can walk from the farthest gate on one side to the farthest gate on the next without going through security again.  There's fun local foods and bars.

DFW and O'Hare are huge. What's amazing is how connecting out of those two airports can suck so bad.  Especially DFW, when they make you leave an entire terminal and cross the highway with the skywalk (A to B, C to D).  That makes no sense logistics-wise.  I'll throw Hartsfield into the mix as well.  Try connecting by flying into Concourse A and connecting on an international flight on F.

Highways: By comparison, LAX doesn't directly connect to downtown LA either.  you need to switch expressways to get there.  Same with LaGuardia & JFK.  Denver too.  Only places like Phoenix, Boston, San Diego, and DC have major airports literally right near their downtowns, and  places like Dallas, Houston, St. Louis, Chicago, and Atlanta have highways that get you there more directly. it just is what it is because of geography.  I'm not happy about OIA's highway situation either, but it isn't that bad comparatively.

O'Hare: Regarding walking from the farthest gates on one side to the farthest gate on the "next" (to the "next" what? concourse? terminal? airside?), If you are at the American Airlines terminal at O'Hare (Terminal 2, 3), you cannot just walk to the United Terminal (Terminal 1) and go straight to their airsides without going through a security checkpoint again.  You can do Terminal 2 to Terminal 3, but that's it.  And O'Hare's Intl terminal (Terminal 5) is a remote building altogether with its own security, connected by tram.  What you're talking about you can only do 100% at, say, Hartsfield, or Denver, because of their orientation.

DFW: Without the tram, you cannot get from A,B,C,D to E.  the rest do connect physically.  But with the tram, yes, all airsides connect. But that's not how that airport was designed originally; it was designed with separate independent crescent shaped terminals each accessed by roadway only.  They began interconnecting then later when they realized the flaw in the design; a big flaw.   But the tram is on the airside, a pro, unlike O'Hare, where the tram is on the landside, a con.

Which brings me to OIA.  They  followed the TPA model to shorten the walking distance between the ticket counter and the gate.  Only after OIA began to grow and expand did places like DFW and O'Hare and JFK pump money into incorporating a tram system into their terminals.  O'Hare's tram is out past the roadway loop.  Not convenient.  DFW's tram is literally on top of the airsides where the gates are located.  Not aesthetically good design-wise by any stretch.

You're right about the bars.

OIA's new south terminal complex will be akin to the DFW model I think.

[smileguy]

What @jrs2 said.

PHX is the worst. From Terminal 2 to 3 or 4, you have to walk outside. In the desert, which means its either 120 degrees or a monsoon.

[AndyPok1]

I try my best not to use trams because I like the leisurely walk during a layover.  E does not connect physically at DFW because there are no AA flights there.  You're never going to be connecting through DFW from a UA to an AA flight, so that impacts virtually no one.  I'm perfectly content walking from A to C to D for a connection and stopping for fun food on the way.  And at ORD, yes you can walk from T3 all the way to T1 airside.  I walk to the sushi bar at T2 and the Billy Goat in T1.

I'd also argue that while the 528/TPK/4 connections exist, it isn't marketed or brought up as a preferred alternative to Semoran on either the control signs OR gps systems like Google, so it can't be compared to any other city.

[prahaboheme]

Concourse D at MIA is a perfectly designed terminal, IMO:

- Long boulevard-like design allowing one to walk from one side to the other

- Tram overhead that connects the gates in clusters

- great restaurants/bars, shopping

- International feel

[AndyPok1]

The beer selection leaves something to be desired, especially with so many great south florida breweries, but otherwise yes agreed.

[Boomer136]

I'm rather partial to MSP Linbergh for layovers. Meanwhile new roadway from the terminals to the south exit open and things growing out of the ground at MCO:

 

[jrs2]

On 8/18/2016 at 10:34 AM, AndyPok1 said:

I try my best not to use trams because I like the leisurely walk during a layover.  E does not connect physically at DFW because there are no AA flights there.  You're never going to be connecting through DFW from a UA to an AA flight, so that impacts virtually no one.  I'm perfectly content walking from A to C to D for a connection and stopping for fun food on the way.  And at ORD, yes you can walk from T3 all the way to T1 airside.  I walk to the sushi bar at T2 and the Billy Goat in T1.

I'd also argue that while the 528/TPK/4 connections exist, it isn't marketed or brought up as a preferred alternative to Semoran on either the control signs OR gps systems like Google, so it can't be compared to any other city.

that is a very good point, it is not marketed that way.  personally, I would like to see those double trumpet interchanges at I-4 and 528/441 go away for the TNPK, but I don't think that will happen any time soon UNLESS the I-4 makeover includes a new interchange for the TNPK.

[AndyPok1]

I'm not following.  You want 528 to not connect to 4?

[Mars717]

some photos of the intermodal train facility 

[jrs2]

12 minutes ago, AndyPok1 said:

I'm not following.  You want 528 to not connect to 4?

I mean better interchanges to replace the outdated ones we currently have there.

[Dale]

528 is under construction as we speak. It's going to take longer than I-4.

[bulldogger]

Great pics Mars!  And welcome to the board.

[sunshine]

Some of the great airports I had been

1. Hong Kong airport

2. Seoul Airport

3. Barcelona Airport

4. Kuala Lumpur Airport

United States airports

1. None

 

For me I hate wasting my time at the airport, the best airport would allow me to get to the airport 1 hour before my flight and just get on my plane and leave. Unfortunately, that only happended in very small airport and in city that nobody wants to go.  ie. Wichita