Which carrier and airport to choose?

[Gtyler]

Hi all. I'll be staying at Hampton Lakes near Orlando/Kissimee
and wil be requiring a hire car from the airport to accomodation. So here's a quick poll please.
A BA flight to Orlando regardless of price OR fly with Virgin?
Or another option ...fly BA to Tampa and drive from there. What do you kind people suggest is best.

I know flying to Tampa on BA will save me £400. But is this the best option, or is paying the higher prices of either BA or Virgin to Orlando.
Your comments and experience on this subject will be very welcome as it'll be my first trip with my two toddlers and wife.
Much appreciated.

[christhear]

Personnally i would choose the BA flight to Tampa regardless of it being cheaper or not. Tampa is a great airport and easier to travel through than Orlando, the journey time is not greatly increased - possibly around an extra 30 minutes.
I would not fly Virgin unless they were much cheaper than BA. Have never had an Orlando flight depart on time in 5 years, and the crew are also much friendlier on the BA flights I have taken.
You will save $12.50 hiring a car from Tampa as well, use the links above for car hire.
Off course this is my personal opinion

[Gtyler]

Cheers Christine, that's fantastic advice, much appreciated. I've always associated Virgin with Orlando (good advertising on their behalf I suppose) but it seems like BA is poss a better option. The only thing is, the seating plan on BA is 3-3-3 and virgin has a 3-4-3 pattern. I'll be with my wife and a two and 6 yr old, and would prefer (practicality too0 to be in the same row of seating and not infront/behind or across the aisle. Would this matter too much do you think in a 3-3-3- layout.

[Steve Robbins]

My opinion is going to sound biased as i work for BA but we flew into Tampa for the first time this year with BA and found the whole experience very easy and straight forward. The trip from Tampa to Orlando and the return took just over an hour and was very uncomplicated especially with a sat nav which you can also hire from the above links, plus as you have a big saving on the fares its even more worth while. I wouldnt hesitate to fly into Tampa again and would even make a point looking at it as a prefered option in the future.

Steve

[caroline]

Tampa is a great airport, much smaller and friendlier than Orlando, if the price was the same then I might choose Orlando just because the drive is slightly shorter but for a £400 saving then I'd go to Tampa and spend the money I'd saved on getting a really top notch villa[msnwink] after all you're only on the plane for about 9 hours each way and the villa is your home for 2 weeks!

[Snapper]

Orlando airport *used* to have a daft system for baggage where once you had re-claimed it and cleared customs you then had to drop it back onto a conveyor and pick it up again at a second baggage reclaim.

When Orlando International had this system I would personally have recommended to fly in to Tampa every time, as you got through the airport so much quicker; which used to save more time than the slightly longer drive back to the villa. (The drive back from Tampa is quite fast now too now that the roadworks along I-4 are complete).

Now that Orlando International are sensible I don't think there is much to choose between them, in terms of the time it takes from the planes wheels touching the ground to opening the front door of the villa. If you wanted to play the averages I think Tampa would probably win as you don't tend to get the long queues for car hire ... usually ... most of the time ... usual disclaimers apply ... past performance is no guarantee of the future!!!

But all things being equal I think that Caroline has hit the nail on the head. The flight time from the UK to Orlando or Tampa is pretty much the same. It's a toss up in terms of the drive and you're talking 10 or 15 minutes either way. So it makes sense to take the saving and go for the best villa you can find.

(For what it's worth - when we fly BA I would personally choose Tampa every time all other things being equal)

[Katys Grandad]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Gtyler
The only thing is, the seating plan on BA is 3-3-3 and virgin has a 3-4-3 pattern. I'll be with my wife and a two and 6 yr old, and would prefer (practicality too0 to be in the same row of seating and not infront/behind or across the aisle. Would this matter too much do you think in a 3-3-3- layout.
Gazza
[/quote]

If where you are seated is important, bear in mind that BA want £30 per passenger to pre-reserve seats in each direction. If you aren't prepared to risk it, that's an outrageous extra £240 for a family of 4.[msnmad]

I think Virgin still allow free seat reservation (unless you want an exit row which wouldn't be available with small children) although there are lots of reports that you by no means always end up in the seat of your choice.

[ShirleyD]

I have driven from Southern Dunes on H27 to Tampa twice in the last couple of weeks and it was an hour dooor to door both times The roadworks on the 275 around Tampa are pretty much finished so it is an easy run. Arriving at Tampa is also more predictable as BA are the only international flight to arrive at that time, whereas at Orlando, you can get stuck behind almost 400 people who have arrived on a 747 just before you [msnscared]

[Jill]

If we get a choice then we prefer to fly to Tampa. It is not as big as Orlando and is very well run - much better with children than Orlando. Car hire is both on site and off site and it is an easy journey from Tampa up to the villas.

[zanderbuchan]

A couple of additional points;

tampa has a limited number of immigration desks, if you are seated at rear of aircraft and hence back of the queue, it can take 30/40 minutes to clear immigration.

You will need to claim your luggage, clear customs and then put it back into system for transfer to main teerminal. In the past we had taken our cases onto mono rail with us, but recently BA staff have been insisting we put it back onto belt. Wait for final luggage recovery can be 15/20 minutes.

Queues for car hire are normally shorter at Tampa, especially at Alamo which are off airport and seem to be able to process renters quite quickly.

Hampton Lakes is on the right side of town for transfer from Tampa. I doubt if there would be any difference in time compared to Orlando.

Tampa airport is generally much quieter, especially at departure time of BA flight, we have never taken more than 5 minutes to clear security at Tampa.