cwl

My wife is due to fly TPA - ORD - LHR at 13.14hrs EST today 29th August..

AA has cancelled its entire schedule out of TPA for today as has BA with its LGW service.

The flight is part of a BA holiday (car hire).

Since flight cancelled no response from BAH duty office to email or text for 16 hours. I understand they are probably inundated due to the UK ATC problem yesterday.

iRebookings options seem to be late 30th August although TPA reopening time seems storm dependent so could push back further.

Sorting accommodation away from TPA isn't a problem. What happens with the car hire (Avis)? My wife is 150 niles away from TPA and not keen to drive towards an incoming storm.

In the absence of a response from the BAH duty desk in these circumstances do you just keep the hire car ? Do you contact Avis?

Is trying to get BAH to change car drop off to MCO or MIA and depart from eiither an option?

mikeyfly

Don't worry about the car, and don't drive to TPA or anywhere else for that matter, just keep is until it's safe to resolve. My brother is in Clearwater right now and they are ready for some dicey weather today.

Wait until the flights are sorted with BAH and then work out the car. T&Cs go out the window in emergency situations and safety comes first. I imagine they'll be no issue rerouting via MCO or MIA if it gets her home quicker once things are moving again.

cwl

By way of update - Eventually got to speak to a helpful BA holidays rep, initially stated nothing available out of TPA or MCO until later in the week and then Aer Lingus via Dublin.

I suggested a couple of options I had found with aa.com and now all rebooked departing lunchtime today from MCO to LHR via AUS arriving in London 2.5hrs behind original schedule. Car hire drop off changed to MCO with advice to submit any additional drop off charges to BAH for refund.

Other than difficulty getting through on the phone BAH couldn't have been more accommodating.

TPA is now closed with their website indicating not expecting to resume flight operations until Thursday morning at the earliest.

eddy67

And yet BA is still selling seats on tomorrows (Wednesday) direct flight LGW-TPA.

I have friend due to fly home on tomorrow's TPA-LGW in J and BA won't allow them to swap to the MIA-LHR service although TPA airport website is indicating they will be closed.

golfmad

I can confirm that TPA is currently closed and is unlikely to reopen until Thursday morning. I'm surprised BA are not up to speed with this one.

Telecasterman

keep a keen eye on the status of the flight every likelihood the lgw/tpa will get a WEAN cancellation soon and if it does get onto the engagement centre asap and ask for a MIA/LHR reroute - don’t be fobbed off about the 350miles gateway it’s well within
best T

flabound

we are 90 miles south of TPA. Forecast is worse the further north you go. we were hit bad last year by Ian, so far all we have had is some heavy rain and wind but not bad.

i think any flight out of TPA thursday may take a detour

my Son, DIL and grand daughter are flying here next weds. the ATC mess concerns me more

Nikko5

Showing as cancelled on BA Flight Status tomorrow? (But also simultaneously showing as re-routed to operate to/from MCO).
https://www.britishairways.com/trave...ghtNumber=2166

SpammersAreScum

I am W/SW of TPA, staring out into the Gulf as I type. Virtually no wind or rain so far. The predicted track has shifted a fair bit West since yesterday, reducing the expected impact to TPA somewhat. It will get worse very late tonight through tomorrow morning, but nothing major.

The biggest issue for TPA on Thu may be the flooding they get as the storm surge flows up the bay Wed AM; but the latest prediction is a 4-7 ft surge, so maybe not even that.

MCO should be just fine.

beachmouse

Metro Tampa is very close to sea level in many areas and as mentioned, storm surge concern was the reason TPA closed fairly early.

Glad you found the MCO-Austin solution that will get your wife home. BA’s approach to rebooking is a lot more leisurely than the Legacy 3 carriers here and when IRROPS get big, you usually have to be pretty aggressive and creative with rerouting pretty quickly because there can be 50,000 other people trying to do that same thing.

flabound

Hope you are ok, we got a full on from Ian last year- not nice. Idalia just made landfall east of Tallahassee. It is now a Cat 3 (ian was a 5) but thoughts for all those in the path. Forecast is for TPA to be closed until Thursday am (at present)

My 4th 'cane (including the one in the Uk in '87) never want to go through another Cat 5

Florida will be wet for a couple of days, safe travels anyone headsed here

SpammersAreScum

Yup; refugeed to Orlando last year but in the end they got more flooding than here!

All is well. Beach was still underwater mid-day, but the water has receded quite a bit since then.

TPA got just a bit of flooding, not affecting the runways. Apparently open for inbound already, and will start outbound very early tomorrow.