Advice on BA Gatwick to Tampa 22nd July 2025

[skb 123]

Tip for the monorail - hold on tight! It goes quite fast. There are no seats as such, although there are window benches at the end of each carriage which I would recommend for your 81 year old!

The drive up to Orlando can be unpredictable, for many reasons. We have reached our villa at Orange Tree in as little as 90 minutes, but have also experienced big traffic jams. Still would choose TPA over MCO every time.

[Floridarules]

Originally Posted by pwa1962

We flew into Tampa on British Airways on 25th July this year. Family of 6. Flight was as expected and arrived on time. Used the MPC app for passport control and straight through, second group in the queue. 25min delay on bags being unloaded due to thunderstorm. Straight to garage with Avis Preferred. Avis app gave me options of a vehicle but everytime I selected it was already gone. No vehicle allocated so went to the desk. Allocated a Ford Expedition that had just been turned around. Am also an Executive Club member but issue adding additional driver as they insisted I had to pay and claim back from BA. Held my ground until a manager arrived and sorted it all (wish they would educate all the desk staff).This did take almost 40mins to sort out but we still arrived at our villa at Sunset Lakes by 08:00pm having landed at 5:00pm and been shopping in Walmart on the way. Third time using Tampa and a much more relaxed experience that Orlando

If the bags had come straight off and there was no delay with Avis we would have been on the road within 40mins of landing

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Sorry for your poor experience, this is why I cancelled my Car hire with Avis and rebooked direct with Alamo for Skip The Counter.

You have my sympathy- it’s incredibly annoying when car hire takes so long 😞😡

[HORSE]

Originally Posted by Floridarules

Sorry for your poor experience, this is why I cancelled my Car hire with Avis and rebooked direct with Alamo for Skip The Counter.

You have my sympathy- it’s incredibly annoying when car hire takes so long 😞😡

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There’s no guarantees with car hire no matter who you book with, it’s just the luck of the draw.
We flew into Tampa last May on BA with a car from Avis, landed just before 5pm, through immigration really quickly ( before MPC ) and our cases were sitting on the carousel.
Went to the garage and my name was on the board with Avis preferred & we were off in minutes.
We were in our hotel room in St Pete’s Beach at 6.15

[Floridarules]

Originally Posted by HORSE

There’s no guarantees with car hire no matter who you book with, it’s just the luck of the draw.
We flew into Tampa last May on BA with a car from Avis, landed just before 5pm, through immigration really quickly ( before MPC ) and our cases were sitting on the carousel.
Went to the garage and my name was on the board with Avis preferred & we were off in minutes.
We were in our hotel room in St Pete’s Beach at 6.15

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Yes, BUT every time I have skipped counter with Alamo it’s been better than any other firm.
No guarantees but in my own experience, Alamo STC has been miles better.

[juliebissett72]

Usually fly BA, never had any issues with them & used Tampa a few times. We prefer it over MCO & would pick it if prices were equal. It’s an easy driving route to Orlando & we usually stop in Walmart on the way for essentials as it tends to be lots quieter than the tourist area Walmarts. We have hit traffic every time on the I4 but it’s never too bad. Traffic always fine on return journey.

[MrsTCP]

Originally Posted by DisneyCupcake

Don't forget that you may be able use the Mobile Passport Control app to get through immigration

https://DIBB.in/16090959

Also if it suits you travel plans you may also choose to do twilight check in at Gatwick the night before travel its open from 1800 to 2100.

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Thank you I didn't know about the mobile app, will look into that

[MrsTCP]

Originally Posted by skb 123

Tip for the monorail - hold on tight! It goes quite fast. There are no seats as such, although there are window benches at the end of each carriage which I would recommend for your 81 year old!

The drive up to Orlando can be unpredictable, for many reasons. We have reached our villa at Orange Tree in as little as 90 minutes, but have also experienced big traffic jams. Still would choose TPA over MCO every time.

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Good tip re monorail, thank you. Mum has a walker thing but as it's on wheels it can move, even with brakes on!

[Maindrain]

Hi, now here in Tampa after flying in on BA yesterday. A few observations.
MPC, really good, put in passports, and where we were entering the US etc while in the UK. Once we landed, and started to taxi to the terminal, I opened the app. Took a "selfie" of me and the old Dutch.
It was quite a walk to immigration, something to bear in mind if you have anyone who might need help.
Got to the immigration hall, stay to the left, signs for "Global Entry" and "Mobile Passport Control". It then goes to two lanes, the Global Entry people go to facial scanners on the left, you don't need to use these. The two border agents on the left of the hall were processing these lines. One was a bit grumpy, and told us to stay behind the line until all the Global Entry people had been processed. There were about fifteen people, but they were flying through.
Got beckon forward, asked if we were MPC, took our photo individually, "you're good to go". That was it, probably 15 minutes tops. Looked over to the right and there was a really big que. No idea how long it would have been in that.
The baggage carousel is immediately behind immigration, waited under ten minutes for our cases, we were off!
Walked through the airport following signs to Rental Cars, up and escalator to the train. First stop was the car park, next and last stop Rental Cars. Walked through the car hire hall as we were with Avis. I had hired from them before, and used the "app" brilliant. Chose the car I wanted, and it told us the parking space it was in. Walked to the car, started it up and drove to the exit. Lady asked to see my licence, "you're good to go" drive out of the airport.
We landed 16:56, drove out of the garage 17:42. Brilliant.
I hope your trip goes as well as mine

[ely3857]

We found it no better, no worse than MCO.

Our BA flight was delayed by 2hrs outbound (not moaning, it happens) but we did land ahead of a Virgin flight (no clue if that was delayed or not) so only our flight waiting on immigration. I found the double monorails something of a pain tbh but nothing that would put me off using TPA again. Drive up to Orlando was fine. Coming home we went to Busch in the morning and then headed to the airport afterwards. Turbulence on the way home (not BA’s fault!) so I was glad to be back at LGW!

[Reereef]

Hello!

We have flown into TPA lots of times and there are pros and cons.

Pros are definitely that the airport is easy to navigate; customs is a lot shorter than MCO and we’ve just always found it straight forward.

A negative is that it is a long drive to Orlando, often pushing 2 hours in heavy traffic and of course, the other drivers are all insane.

When you drive out of the airport you want to follow the signs for Tampa. This will lead you to the I4 and eventually the signs for Orlando. Then just follow the I4 to whatever exit you need. We often come off on the 27 as we stay in Davenport. It is straight forward, I just wish it wasn’t as busy.

Overall though, the price difference between Tampa and Orlando, makes Tampa a no brainer.

I do dread the drive back to the Airport though.