Orlando airport travelers threatened with arrest as theyre met with hours long delay waiting for luggage
Nearly 1,000 travel-weary passengers were forced to wait for their checked luggage for over five hours at a Florida airport due to severe storms and were threatened with arrest if they left the building empty-handed.International travelers arriving at Orlando International Airport on three separate Virgin Atlantic flights were met with a rude welcome to the Sunshine State when “adverse weather” delayed operations over the weekend, according to the Orlando Sentinel.Passenger Carol Wick had just returned home to Orlando from a two-week trip to Croatia with her husband.She detailed the troubles she ran into during her 48-hour journey home that included multiple delays and a canceled flight.“Three delayed flights, one canceled flight and now trapped at the Orlando airport.
It’s officially over 48 hrs trying to get home,” Wick wrote on Facebook.Wick, who owns an international consulting firm, says she got trapped in customs because “No one is allowed to leave the area without checked bags.”US Customs and Border Protection requires all international passengers to pass through customs with all their luggage as part of a “bags first” policy, according to Orlando International Airport.The strict policy forced nearly 800 passengers to wait from 7 p.m.to beyond midnight waiting for their luggage to pass through to the terminal in order for them to leave.Wick claimed that airport and airline officials threatened passengers with arrest if they left the terminal without their belongings.“I travel all the time for work and I have never seen anything like this,” Wick told the outlet.
“It was just the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced in my whole life and there’s no explanation.”Airport officials and Orlando police denied the claims that passengers were threatened with arrest, according to Fox35 Orlando.Another passenger documented their experience inside the “controlled border patrol area” saying they had to wait out the 90-minute storm follo...