International arriving passengers landing in Orlando around 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 27 were told that their bags were “slightly delayed” because of weather. Since passengers coming off of international flights have to wait for their bags to bring them through customs (and re-check them if connecting to another flight), everyone was trapped. And they were threatened with arrest if they tried to exit customs instead of waiting for their luggage.
But by midnight, an estimate 800 passengers still lacked bags and international arrivals was overwhelmed with passengers. People were lying on the floor. One customer collapsed and emergency cre responded.
Virgin Atlantic emailed passengers that snacks would be reimbursed due to the delay, but there are no eateries in the customers area. The airport blamed weather. And passengers were told “they could not leave without their bags or risk being arrested.”
- If bags are delayed and not physically available for inspection, “leaving without baggage” is not the same as abandoning inspected bags or evading customs.
- People leave all the time without their bas when bags don’t make it to their destination on time!
Weather was certainly an issue but that doesn’t excuse five hours in a customs hall with no food, seating, and arrest threats.
Weather Alert ⛈️ Due to weather conditions in the area, airline operations may be affected – flight/baggage delivery delays may occur. Please check with your airline directly for any updates regarding their operations. For airport status, visit: https://t.co/vm0yMYHkcv.
— Orlando International Airport (@MCO) June 25, 2026
One passenger shares their story,
My family flew back home yesterday, my home airport is Orlando International Airport (MCO). Eight and a half hour flight, and we landed just in the nick of time to deplane before a storm came through. That dang storm stayed over top of us for about an hour and a half, which created a ground stoppage.
We got through passport control pretty quickly, and then had to wait for luggage. After the 1.5 hr storm and the 30 mins of no lightening strikes they said was required to resume operations, the luggage for two other flights started coming. We were the 3rd flight and should have been next, but still we waited.
Two other international flights landed, cleared border patrol and they all got their luggage…all while we waited. No answers from the Virgin Atlantic reps…the supervisor refused to come speak to all of us. People with AirTags in their luggage had pings from the other side of the airport.
Since we were in a controlled border patrol area, you aren’t allowed to leave without your luggage, you can’t come back in once you leave, and there was no food, no vending machines, no seating. In all, we ended up waiting over FIVE HOURS for our luggage.
The idea of being arrested for not collecting your bags flummoxes me. There are passengers who would naturally not have checked bags, and they would exit. Certainly border officials can check passengers against whether their records show checked bags, but it would be unusual to do this. Generally they just choose whom to pull over for additional screening, rather than stopping each passenger. So most would just leave the airport unaccosted, although they’d have to deal with customs clearance on their luggage later.
(HT: JonNYC)
Incompetence rising to it’s highest level……
Why do people come to Orlando for vacation in summer? Hot and muggy as can be. Constant thunderstorms which interrupts air travel and any outside plans. The airport from hell. (No airport out there has the number of passenger meltdowns like MCO). And increasingly, crime.
So I was arriving on British Airways that same evening, while my parents were on the Virgin Atlantic flight noted here. BA arrives into Terminal C while VA into Terminal B. So different Customs halls. It couldn’t have been more different in our experiences. The BA flight arrived about an hour after the VA flight (6:30ish vs. 7:30ish). BA communicated frequently with us and once the ground stop was lifted, we had our bags delivered fairly quickly, by about 9pm. We were never threatened about leaving and the passengers were all very civilized. My parents didn’t get their bags until midnight. VA had 2 staff to handle 3 flights (BA looked like they had 3-4 for our 1 flight). A worker for the airport who assists with wheelchairs actually stepped in to help the VA folks with communication and handle passenger complaints (even taking the verbal abuse from the passengers). Eventually they were given small bottles of water. Also to note, the customs halls don’t have much seating at all, so the only option was to camp out on the ground.
I have come to the conclusion that Orlando is one of the worst places on earth, with one of the worst airports in America. It’s not the very worst airport, but it’s somewhere among the top 10 for sure. Sprawling yet somehow significantly under-built at the same time. Then there’s Orlando itself, which if you’re over the age of about 18 has very few (if any) redeeming qualities. I am repulsed every time I’m forced to go there for work. Why anybody would want to visit, much less live in Orlando, will always remain a mystery. I’d rather live in Las Vegas, which is really saying something.
Thanks Obama. /s
Some people do forget that they have checked bags, sometimes luggage doesn’t make it onto a connecting flight, and sometimes airlines lose luggage.
Interestingly, many countries, including the USA, allow you to claim duty free entry for unaccompanied goods, it’s CBP Form 3299 – Declaration of Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles.
IANAL, but threatening arrest is ridiculous.
Who actually made the arrest threat? The “airport”? I suspect that it wasn’t Customs, but rather the airport management and perhaps the airlines who didn’t want to deal with the logistical problem of so many passengers leaving the airport and then coming back later to retrieve their luggage. They would rather force people to stay for hours. It easier for them. Has Customs commented on this fiasco? Also, avoid Orlando Airport if at all possible, Sanford is much easier to deal with.
Why do I think the airline would have incurred some cost if they hadn’t done that?
2 years ago, I experienced the other extreme. Flight was delayed one day due to a maintenance problem. My checked bags were put on a flight the next day but my flight left 20 hours late. In other words, i arrived 4 hours before my bags, as did about 90 other passengers. The airline said that my luggage would clear customs without me and would be delivered to my house, which it was.
Can’t leave with lack of a legit charge = false imprisonment by customs or the airport. class Action…
There is zero chance I’d be waiting for five hours. Arrest me or let me go, and if you arrest me, please enjoy the lawsuit…
I will pay minimal deference to the bureaucratic state as long as so doing does not significantly or meaningfully impede my freedom and actions. Being baselessly detained for five hours does not qualify. Same as the story the other day of the flight stuck on the tarmac for three hours or whatever. I will give fair warning to the crew–at hour three, I am opening this exit door and leaving the aircraft in 20 minutes unless you do so yourself–and then I will exit. We are not hostages. I don’t know why people assume they can be kept captive by “policy”
yeah, if I have to wait an HOUR for my bags, I’m going to file a claim and go home or be on my way. My time is more valuable to me than to spend more time than needed in an airport (as I showed up at an international airport 70 minutes before departure back to the US).
I’m not sure its a law or regulation broken if you have NOT taken posession of your bags. But I’ve done this twice (above) at MIA and I just have to come get my bags later.
The dim bulbs of government workers
This is strange. Two or three times I had my bags not make it on the plane as I arrived at my US port of entry. I got on my connecting flight. They arrived at my house a day later, presumably having passed whatever custom checks necessary. My bag was not on a flight MEL-CHC. Again, delivered a day later to my CHC hotel. In that case, I had to give them my lock combination, as they didn’t have TSA keys. In none of the cases was any searching apparent from content’s condition.
US citizens cannot be denied entry into the country, they cannot be detained indefinitely or arrested for refusing to wait for delayed luggage due to a logistical issue.
CBP Directive No. 3340-001 outlines detention procedures, emphasizing that detention must be for a legitimate law enforcement purpose (e.g., verifying admissibility, inspecting goods). Waiting for a delayed baggage carousel does not fit these criteria once the passenger has been cleared for entry.
@Ari – It’s always the current administration’s fault unless you like their politics – then it’s somehow the fault of some administration from years ago or something, anything really, except the current administration’s fault.
I’ve had it happen more than once where I’ve flown to a Latin American city and my luggage didn’t arrive. In some cases (like at SCL), it was delivered to me at my hotel then next day. In others (like at SJO), I had to go and pick it up at the airport – 2 days later in that case. This was on AA each time, btw. But still, the fact that these bags had to clear customs without me was clearly no big deal. I’m sure that they were searched and that the authorities would have found me had there been an issue.
Such inflexibility shows a lack of intellect.
@Ari gets it… thank you, #44, for being scandal-free, except the tan suit, and for never allowing such incompetence to occur during his administration (even though, arguably, it’s not literally any president’s fault that a specific airport has a meltdown like this…)