Direct flight to tampa

[starbuck123]

Does anyone know of any other Airline apart from BA that fly direct to Tampa from any london airport or manchester? Also if i have to have a connecting flight is it that easy getting to next flight? I have never done it before so was just wondering.

Thanks

[tb10er]

Your options are via
VS to MCO (Orlando int) then drive down to Tampa (not that far)
The charters go to SFB (Sanford/Orlando) then onwards by road.
CO, DL, US (with transfers) can be done but my favourite is:
AA MAN-ORD (Chicago) and then connect through to your final destination.

[cjhants]

starbuck,
where are you staying in florida. if you are in the tampa bay area, its only 90 mins drive from MCO. if you are staying around naples, fly into MIA and its an easy 90 minute drive. or in between, look at a connecting flight via fort myers.

you could also tack on an extra day to your holiday, take a charter into SFB, get a hotel for a night in the sanford area and drive down the next day.

[Hartington]

It's not wholly clear to me whether you are asking about booking and ticketing a connection or whether you are asking about how they actually work when you are at the airport.

Firstly buying the flights. It can be cheaper to buy the flight from A to B and the connecting flight (B to C) separately. Even though they could be in a single booking paying for them separately means that you get two tickets and two contracts. In the past many airlines would look at those two tickets, recognise the through journey and treat you as a through passenger. However, increasingly, airlines are treating each ticket separately. Why is this important? Because if you buy one ticket covering the whole journey the delivering carrier at the connecting point is responsible for finding you a flight to the destination should you miss the connection. Buy two tickets and miss the connection and the delivering carrier washes their hand and the onward carrier is likely to say "buy a new ticket".

Once you have your ticket the process starts when you check in for the first flight. Even when you are travelling on two separate airlines you will find that when you check in a tag is put on your bag that says "this bag is going from A to B to C". You will usually (but not always) also get boarding passes for both flights.

If you are changing planes in the UK on the way to the US when you get to your connection point you follow the signs for connecting flights, through security (again) and then to your new gate. There is the possibility that you might need to change terminals but the signs will lead you to the bus that runs between the terminals.

If you are doing it in the US you pass through immigration and collect your bag and go through customs. As you exit customs you will find check in desks and you give them your bag. Ask the people there where you have to go next. It's not easy to generalise but the likelihood is that you will need to find the transport to another terminal (or another part of the same terminal - they can be vast). You will go through security again and then to your gate. The real issue here is the time it takes to get through immigration. But the distance to the connecting flight can also be an issue. The airlines will sell 90 minute connections in some places. Personally, even allowing for the "it's all on one ticket so they'll find me an alternative" I would allow 150-180 minutes minimum at a US gateway. My record for plane to street was 15 minutes at San Francisco and I did it in 30 last October at Baltimore however, I've also taken up to 90 minutes just to get aircraft to street.

Coming home much the same applies except that when you change at a US airport you don't go through Customs or immigration. That said the US do want you to confirm you've exited the country. Generally this means making sure the airline takes back your entry permit but in some airports (Denver was one I saw it in) there is also a machine you have to visit *as well*.

In the UK you go through immigration when your plane from teh US lands but customs happens at your final destination usually.

For what it's worth, I tend to avoid connecting flights. I'm lucky that I've always lived within striking distance of Heathrow and Gatwick but even then I've tried to avoid connecting flights wherever I'm going. I'll tell you a story from 1978 (so it may no longer be relevant). I was going London/Frankfurt/Delhi/Kathmandu using Lufthansa to Delhi then Royal Nepal Airlines. Lufthansa in London tagged the bag to Kathmandu and gave me boarding passes for both their flights. I arrived in Delhi and found I had to enter India to make the connection. Got through immigration (took a while in those days!) and went to the RNAC check in desk. "Your bag?". I showed them my receipt, "Come with me" was the reply. I was taken past passport control, through to the departures lounge. "Can you see your bag?" and sure enough, there, against a pillar, was my bag. We took it back to check in, I got a new tag and new boarding pass and flew to Kathmandu where my bag arrived safely. Like I said that was 1978 and it wasn't the UK or the USA but it shows that (1) most airlines, like Lufthansa, do succeed in through checking baggage because the bag got through Frankfurt to Delhi no problem. (2) things can go awry (if not actually wrong) at connecting points.

[Hartington]

As other have said, I don't believe there are any other non stop flights to Tampa other than BA. If you have any qualms about driving in the USA then get off the plane, do *not* pick up a car; get in a hotel shuttle bus, get a nights sleep, get the shuttle back to the airport and then pick up the car. Book the hotel before you leave the UK and book the car for the day you actually plan to pick it up.

NB you *will* need the address of the place you spend your *first* night for the immigration people see https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/

[Big Bad D]

When travelling to Florida from Europe, and having done so many times for business and holiday, the BA flight into Tampa is my preferred choice as it has very few international flights and normally has very little immigration queues. Last time (start of 2008) I was out of the airport within 30 minutes of aircraft arriving on stand, which is incredible compared to the normal US arrivals experience.

As an aside: In the good old days I recall that the BA flight to Tampa was not direct but went via Bermuda.

[Tony Flynn]

Whatever you do when you get there, don't, repeat don't rent from Hertz on the airport, it's a nasty and dishonest franchise.

[Tamazi]

I have only just noticed this thread and can confirm, having used the service many times, BA remains the sole direct operator from Uk to Tampa. I am in Tampa at present. Generally the service is fine but never outstanding. Ecomony can be cramped over nine and a half hours and at certain holiday times can be like being in a bouncy castle with masses of noisy kids. I have no doubt there are umpteen other similar services. I usually use WT+.
As stated above, transit through Tampa's terminal although a bit convoluted on the baggage side, is much better that many US airports.