Tampa Airport

Well maintained and clean airport. Going thru security check and baggage claim is fast and easy. Signage is clear and easy to use. They have many in terminal rental cars companies. Restaurants are decent.

Tampa Airport is a well designed airport. The circular design made it easy to pass through the TSA checks, and for an easy trip to the departure gates. After a month traveling through Reagan, Dulles, O'Hare, and MSP, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Well maintained, and signage was in abundance. The rental car areas were close, and well marked. A less stressfull airport environment.

I have flown in and out of TPA for the last 10 yrs. No questions it is a superb airport to travel through. I will continue to use it as my airport of choice with no problem. With respect to the gentleman in Feb 2015 who was looking for an easy way to pick up his wife use the car park they don't charge for the first hour!

The picking up of arriving passengers has severely degraded over the years. You'd think after years of inefficiency that they could come up with a solution. I didn't use to have to park or drive around in circles for five or ten minutes to pick up my wife. Lighting for driving in circles sucks for me also because of poor lighting for a senior and confusing outdated signs. Don't even get me started on airport security. I gave up flying years ago. Last time I went quite a while back I wore a t-shirt shorts (no belt) and sandals with no luggage or carry on and still had to endure the long lines and wait. Why does someone like that have to wait behind a women with a huge loaded purse and a carry on. Where's the express lane? I'd rather drive a car.

Not a large airport which is a good thing. Staff seem friendly and efficient. They were getting people through immigration pretty quickly although I was held for about 30-45 mins because of some problem with my fingerprints but I guess this doesn't always happen. Catch the shuttle to the terminal and the car rental offices are just a short walk away - we were soon heading south on I-275. Two things to note - not many shops airside and Club Lounge is not very big. Would thoroughly recommend as gateway airport.

After coming to the US some 30 or 40 times we decided to use Tampa as our start off point having tried Boston JFK Washington Philly and Atlanta. What a pleasant surprise the immigration staff were pleasant and even used my first name when asking how long we were staying. Being new to the airport we asked directions from the Customs staff and they were very helpful. The airport is not as overcrowded as most and works quickly and efficiently with limited waiting times. We will use Tampa as a gateway again.

Arriving at Tampa. Found the immigration polite but business like as I was one of the first of the plane no major lines waiting. Hertz rental at airport walked and picked car at car park. Out of airport in half hour at most. Departing hertz rental drop of at airport needed a trolley had to pay $5 or get a porter for same price. Previous reviewer said it was free at lounge. That is not accurate as they charge $5 through out the airport. Very disappointing. Departure very close to car park. Going to the gate have to pass through another set of security who insist you are not allowed more then two carry on bags. I always thought it was at the discretion of the airline as to how much carry on you could take. As well as paying $5 for trolley this is another first for me and I have been to many airports. At gate you have to go through another security for screening body scanner indicated I had something in my pocket. This was true as I had some $ notes. Security official response was 'when we say remove everything from your pocket we mean everything'. Initially I thought he was joking but as it turns out he was very serious. At gate there were 3-4 food outlets that were ludicrously expensive. $4 for bottle water. There were water fountains available and free internet. Both welcomed. Lounges for BA not fantastic. Overall airport easy to get into and out of clean throughout and not overcrowded. Have to say disappointed with the $5 charge for trolley as I landed at Heathrow and paid nothing. And the over zealous screening security.

Great airport. Friendly staff. Easy to navigate. Speedy immigration security and baggage reclaim. Very pleasant experience.

Travel would be enhanced if all airports were designed and operated like TPA. Excellent location bar all major highways great signage easy to navigate indoors where distances are short friendly staff frequent rail shuttles to gates. Furthermore good selection of amenities: eateries shops info. In short a model travel processing facility.

TPA is nearly the ideal design for an airport. Access is by freeway and freeways take you to all regional cities (Tampa St. Petersburg and Clearwater). The main building ("landside") is in the center with four "airside" buildings where the gates are located connected to the center building by automated people mover. Check-in et al is convenient. Parking is free. Luggage wait times are minimal. Car rental access is a short walk from luggage facilities.