Orlando Sentinel Editorial
A matter of fairness
Our position: The airport shouldn’t give Disney a leg up in transportation offering.
Nearly 33 million travelers passed through Orlando International Airport last year. That’s plenty of warm bodies to keep airport vendors happy — provided, of course, that everyone is afforded the same opportunity to compete.
At the airport, though, that’s not always the case. Late last year airport operators inked a deal with Walt Disney World allowing theme park “greeters” to engage arriving travelers on the main floor of the terminal, as they pass through security checkpoints. But other transportation providers — operators of buses, vans and luxury cars — were relegated to the baggage claim area, one floor below.
That’s unfair. More important, it’s also unwise.
Disney says it negotiated the deal after deciding to offer hotel guests on Disney property free transportation to and from the airport. That’s the theme park’s business prerogative. But private operators say that the white-gloved greeters also are promoting the freebie to arriving passengers who might otherwise hire a livery service, violating airport solicitation rules. Disney says that’s bunk.
OK. Then there’s only one way to keep everyone on the level: Station all providers — “greeters” included — in the same spot.
And the obvious place to do that is near baggage-claim stations. That way, workers vying for a slice of the airport’s ground-transportation market won’t compromise surveillance and control activities by clogging security checkpoints.
Disney still could corral its visitors. Private transportation would be on equal footing. And for paramount safety considerations, it’s the right thing to do.