Advice on BA Gatwick to Tampa 22nd July 2025

[MrsTCP]

Hi

Hoping regular travellers maybe able to offer some advice on flying to Tampa. We normally fly Gatwick to Orlando but for next year we have gone for Tampa as the flight price was better.

We are a family group of 3 adults (one 81 year old!) and 3 children (11 and 13yr old twins). Is Tampa easier/quicker to get through passport/immigration than Orlando?

We have booked a car via BA so will drive to Davenport (Sandy Ridge) as we are staying in a villa, anyone done that trip and could recommend the best route?

Plus if anyone has an positive reviews for BA that would be great as there seems to be a lot of negative comments about at the moment

Many thanks

[Maindrain]

Morning, I am flying BA into Tampa in eight days time, our car is also with BA (Avis) as you get an additional driver if you are a BA Executive club member. I'll try and make a few notes for you.

Been through Tampa before, I found it much better than MCO. The new terminal C at MCO is supposed to help entry, but it didn't help me much when I last went.

With regard to the drive, getting out of the airport onto the I4 is easy, it's just if you get on the road at rush hour you might get heavy traffic. We were held up with lots of traffic up into Lakeland (about half way) and the trip took us an hour and three quarters. This was to a villa off the "192". The route is the I4 and I'm not sure there is much of an option on this. We have booked a villa in Tampa for a few days this time, I didn't fancy the drive after the flight.

[nick.66]

We always fly into TPA now, so much easier. Car hire centre is well laid out with a monorail connecting it to the terminal.

[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.

[Wizz]

We’re flying into Tampa 6th July and have read lots of positive reports about the airport and the drive up the I4.
Have booked a car separately as worked out a lot cheaper for us.
I think in the grand a scheme of things there’s not that many BA flights cancelled considering how many they operate.

[Procrastinator]

We prefer TPA to MCO for the reasons mentioned.

One small tip when driving out. After you have come out from the undercover of the garage, close to where you are about to join the road, there is an area that it is easy to pull in to, park for a couple of mins while your sat nav, GPS, phone signal, etc all sort themselves out. Worth doing as almost as soon as you pull on to the road you need to be moving in to the right lanes. Do a bit of Google map street view before you go as well.

[MrsTCP]

Originally Posted by Maindrain

Morning, I am flying BA into Tampa in eight days time, our car is also with BA (Avis) as you get an additional driver if you are a BA Executive club member. I'll try and make a few notes for you.

Been through Tampa before, I found it much better than MCO. The new terminal C at MCO is supposed to help entry, but it didn't help me much when I last went.

With regard to the drive, getting out of the airport onto the I4 is easy, it's just if you get on the road at rush hour you might get heavy traffic. We were held up with lots of traffic up into Lakeland (about half way) and the trip took us an hour and three quarters. This was to a villa off the "192". The route is the I4 and I'm not sure there is much of an option on this. We have booked a villa in Tampa for a few days this time, I didn't fancy the drive after the flight.

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Hi
That's great, thank you for all the information it's really helpful. I'll make sue I take notes of all the things we should do. Enjoy your holiday

[MrsTCP]

Originally Posted by Procrastinator

We prefer TPA to MCO for the reasons mentioned.

One small tip when driving out. After you have come out from the undercover of the garage, close to where you are about to join the road, there is an area that it is easy to pull in to, park for a couple of mins while your sat nav, GPS, phone signal, etc all sort themselves out. Worth doing as almost as soon as you pull on to the road you need to be moving in to the right lanes. Do a bit of Google map street view before you go as well.

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Thank you that's great, we'll make sure that we find that spot so we can get google maps sorted before we set off. Thanks again

[lizzie145]

I don't think there is a huge difference these days now that Virgin and BA are at different terminals. Plus with MPC it's even easier.

[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