Tampa International Arrivals
People who fly into Tampa will be delighted with new changes in arrivals. Signs of decorating going on as we walked to the immigration hall until finally we walked under an arch of red, white and blue balloons into the immigration hall. We were sitting near the rear of the plane and groaned as we saw the familiar line. This time they had separate lines for about 6 people in front of each immigration officer. Once you get to the head of the snaking line you then choose which short line to filter into. We chose a line with 6 retirement age people who looked as if they would get through quicker than others which contained members of a student group. We guessed correctly. We were through immigration less than 15 minutes after entering the hall.
Onto the baggage retrieval which is all now brightly lit and fresh looking with large advertisements of Florida. Luck was with us again as our bags were amongst the first off. Noticing rows of new luggage trolleys I asked an official if they could be used on the train. Apparently these could as they have brakes. So quickly loaded and through temporary custom desks then left (through another arch of red, white and blue balloons) round to where the escalator goes up to the train level' There is also a lift that can be used to take the trolley up to that level.
Once off the train take the trolley in the lift straight down to the baggage retrieval area (red or blue depending on you airline) then straight across the road to the car hire desks before taking the trolley to choose your car. It was not very clear what to do with the trolley but several had been left and we imagined they were regularly collected.
From plane landing we were off the airport and on our way in under an hour.
