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anyone familiar with the Tampa, FL airport?


HappyLady
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I'm going to be picking my 15 year old niece from this airport when she meets us on our vacation and I'm wondering how easy it is to navigate. She's never flown before and I know airports can be overwhelming so I'm wondering if I should get there super early to get an escort pass and meet her at her gate or have her just make her way outside and I'll pick her up there. Normally I'd just meet her at her gate, but I'll be 1.5 hours away from the airport and the airport says I need to be there 45 minutes before the flight is scheduled to arrive.  She's coming in on the first flight so I'd prefer to not have to get up any earlier than I'll already have to if it'll be easy enough for her to make her way through the airport.  :)  She won't have any luggage so she'll just need to get off her plane and get out of the airport.

 

Anyone know how easy this airport is to navigate?

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Getting from the airside to the main terminal is pretty easy so you probably don't need a gate escort pass. She will need to take a train to the main terminal, but there is only one train per airside and it only goes back and forth to the main terminal. You can park in the short term parking garage (free for the first hour) and go inside to meet her right where she would get off the train. Just make sure you are at the right train--just look at the screen above for what airline she'll be coming on.

 

My younger sister flew in to TPA by herself when she was 16, and we picked her up as I described above and she had no problems.

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If you do not meet her at the gate, I strongly suggest that she has a cell phone, so you can call her (or v.v.) if you don't find her outside the terminal building.   If she'd flown before this would be simple. She deplanes and follows the signs to the Baggage Claim and walks out the door and that is where you should be.  However, since she has never flown before, this will be new to her.  You need to know which Terminal building and which baggage claim will be used for that flight when it arrives.   If there is a problem with you finding her and v.v., she should go back into the terminal building and ask an airline employee to page you.

 

My best suggestion is that she calls your cell phone number and speaks with you, to confirm that you are there, *before* walking outside from the Baggage Claim.

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Following up to what Lanny said, if you do decide to have her meet you outside please know that there are two sides for pick-up, Blue and Red, and there are two levels on each side, Departures (upstairs, where the ticket counters are) and Arrivals (downstairs, where baggage claim is). Different airlines are assigned to each color. Most domestic airlines, except Southwest, are on the Blue side. Southwest and international carriers are on the Red side (editing to add Alaska, Frontier, and Spirit are also on the Red side). There are signs everywhere to indicate what airlines go on which side.

 

On each side there is a sign for the major airlines at different doors. So if you have her meet you outside, to make it easier you need to coordinate three things: color, level, and airline. For example, agree to meet her at the Blue side, JetBlue arrivals door.

 

This is our home airport, so please let me know if you have any questions.

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I've been thinking about this more and I agree with Minniewannabe.  Get there early and be there when her flight arrives at the gate.   If she arrives and you are not there to "meet and greet" she may go into a problem state. Contemplating sending DD from Cali, Colombia to Lubbock, for a Tech Summer Camp, next year when she will be 15.   If she had a SIM card for a U.S. cell phone carrier, that would be better for her, when she arrives in the states.   I'll try to remember to get one for her...

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First hour is free to park in short term, so I would park and meet her at her planes baggage claim. Even if she didn't chrck bags. It's a specific spot to meet.

IMO, I would have her stay right by where she gets off the train, only because the escalators can be a bit confusing. If she accidentally gets on the wrong one she could end up on the wrong level or wrong side or the wrong level on the wrong side. Less movement = smaller chance of complications/getting in the wrong spot.

 

There are seats in the main terminal near the train exit points where she could sit if needed. They are very public and not near exit doors. That would make me a bit nervous to have a teen waiting fairly close to doors where lots of people are going in and out, like by the baggage claim. Any time my sister or nieces have visited, we met them inside. We live close by so weren't too worried about not being there before them, but always told them if they got off the train before we we're there to wait there (no walking around the airport).

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IMO, I would have her stay right by where she gets off the train, only because the escalators can be a bit confusing. If she accidentally gets on the wrong one she could end up on the wrong level or wrong side or the wrong level on the wrong side. Less movement = smaller chance of complications/getting in the wrong spot.

 

There are seats in the main terminal near the train exit points where she could sit if needed. They are very public and not near exit doors. That would make me a bit nervous to have a teen waiting fairly close to doors where lots of people are going in and out, like by the baggage claim. Any time my sister or nieces have visited, we met them inside. We live close by so weren't too worried about not being there before them, but always told them if they got off the train before we we're there to wait there (no walking around the airport).

 

There's a train?? I know the Orlando airport has one, but someone I know flew into the Tampa one recently and they swear there was no train.  A train definitely makes it more complicated, then.  Looks like I'll be meeting her somewhere inside.  :)

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There's a train?? I know the Orlando airport has one, but someone I know flew into the Tampa one recently and they swear there was no train. A train definitely makes it more complicated, then. Looks like I'll be meeting her somewhere inside. :)

Yes, there are "trains". Really, though, they are just shuttles that take passengers from the main terminal to the airside terminals and then back again. There is a separate train for each airside and it only goes back and forth between the main terminal and that particular airside. It's super easy.

 

Once the plane lands and passengers start deplaning, everybody heads to the train so your niece would just need to follow the crowd. If for some reason she misses what the crowd is doing, there are plenty of signs and it's very obvious where you exit security and the train is right there. The train *only* goes to the main terminal so she can't get lost or end up somewhere she shouldn't be.

 

It's not like the Dallas DFW airport or the Atlanta airport, where the train goes to a lot of places and she would have to worry about getting off the train at a certain spot. It's also not like the train in Orlando which takes you between different terminals and to baggage claim. In TPA there is no way to get to a different airside terminal than the one your niece comes in to. So if she, for example, deplanes at Airside Terminal F, she can only be in Airside F, on the train, or in the main terminal. She can't be in any other Airside because you have to show a boarding pass to get to them. Hope that makes sense.

 

I've flown into a lot of airports, and TPA is one of the easiest larger airports to navigate. I think as long as your niece has an idea of the process (email her the step-by-step of what to do/where to meet so she can print it out and reference if she gets nervous or forgets) she will do just fine.

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This is a video of someone taking the train from one of the airside terminals to the main ("landside") terminal. There are two trains, while one is going to the main terminal the other is going back to the airside so even if you miss the train there's another coming back and you don't have to wait long.

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This is a video of someone taking the train from one of the airside terminals to the main ("landside") terminal. There are two trains, while one is going to the main terminal the other is going back to the airside so even if you miss the train there's another coming back and you don't have to wait long.

 

 

Oh my goodness, this is perfect!  Thank you!  I'll be sure to show my niece this so she is familiar with it all.  :)

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