Orlando Sentinel Editorial
No more playing favorites
Our position: The airport was only playing fair in insisting that Disney relocate its greeters.
Orlando International Airport executives properly erred on the side of fairness, changing the terms of an ill-conceived agreement this week that gave Walt Disney World a leg up on providing transportation to visitors.
In May, Disney started offering free bus service to guests. Certainly, that’s its prerogative. But airport officials gave Disney an unfair competitive advantage over other transportation providers by allowing Disney workers to greet passengers on the main floor of the airport. Other transportation providers were relegated to the baggage-claim area or to rental-car and taxicab kiosks on the floors below.
Airport Executive Director Bill Jennings says that Disney was permitted on the third floor only to corral passengers who had pre-booked the free bus service. But it became readily apparent, he and other airport transportation providers said, that Disney greeters also were offering the service to other passengers, in violation of the airport’s no-solicitation policy.
Disney denies those charges. But for the time being — at least until the airport develops a new policy that will apply to all transportation providers — the Disney greeters will be consigned to baggage-claim areas, alongside other private-transportation providers.
From the standpoint of fairness, that’s the only equitable solution. Plus, it eliminates security concerns posed by Disney customers who gathered just outside security checkpoints, compromising surveillance activities.
Providing equal opportunities for all airport vendors is the right path for airport officials to pursue.