I'm hoping it will be a really close connecting gate and that if we do arrive a little late that the next pilot may hang around for a few minutes before taking off.
Our layovers are usually an hour to an hour and a half long and this is the shortest one we've ever had to deal with.
I'm also a little concerned about landing in an airport I've never landed at before. How confusing is the Tampa International Airport? How easy is it to find the rental car counters? I'm renting through Enterprise Rent-A-Car and I have completed all the steps necessary to reduce my weight at the counter but I will still have to go to the counter so do they have kiosks? How much time on average will it take to get from the arriving gate to the rental car and drive out of the parking lot? These are all things I know very well with Orlando International Airport because that's the airport we've always flown into.
Then I think you should take my previous advice:
You can look at the airports website and see what gates the inbound flight and outbound flight currently park at, to get a sense of the distance, but it might change down the road.
Also, you can take a look at landing times on the inbound flight and see if it routinely lands very early from the scheduled flight arrival. The airline might be heavily padding it so that you have more time than you think.
I am amazed that they are offering such a tight connection at a hub....
Here's a tip/thought. Do they offer direct flights on AA to Orlando from your city but you picked the connection flight due to cost? (I have done that when the directs are too high)
This far out, there is a high likely hood that AA will change your flight times or move you to a different flight.
If they do, you can try calling up and seeing if they will put you on the direct flight for no charge. Tell them the new times/flight don't work with your travel plans.
AA's policy is:
If your departure time changes by 60 minutes or more, or if your itinerary changes from a direct flight to a connecting flight, or if there’s an equipment change, you can change your ticket for no charge.
If the change is 90 minutes or less, you can only switch to a flight in the same fare bucket as your original ticket on the same day, but you can change your connection if you want. For changes that are more than 90 minutes — or if you had a nonstop and American added a stop — you can change to any flight regardless of whether there’s space in the original fare bucket. You can even switch to a partner flight.
No matter what the amount of time change is, I would still call and see if they will change your tickets for no charge..... Unless the flight you want to change to is almost sold out, I would bet they would change you to it for no charge....
Tampa's airport terminal isn't too bad. It will remind you of MCO. Like sisters.
It a compact square shape. You take a shuttle train like at MCO to the main terminal. The overhead signs are good. Go down to baggage claim on the lowest level.
The shuttle trains dump you on level 3, which is like a giant lobby with shops and food.
The airline counters are on level 2.
Baggage claim is on level 1.
Go here to see terminal maps:
https://www.tampaairport.com/maps
The rental cars use to be across the roadway in the parking garage like Orlando, but they have since built a dedicated rental car garage offsite.
After you get your luggage, you have to go to the end of baggage claim, not as long as MCO's, and take an escalator/elevator up to the shuttle train.
They have a shuttle train that takes you to the offsite car rental garage/counters along with the long term parking garage.
I haven't flown in yet now that its in operation though. I would figure 10-15 minutes of extra time to get out to the garage.
A big question is what time do you land? You don't want to be going through downtown Tampa on I-275 and I-4 during rush hour. The airport is right next to the downtown area, not like MCO out in the boonies.
That's why we're flying first class. Because of the first class ticket cost I'm looking to save in other areas.
