Depart from TPA?

[Brian Noble]

I'm thinking of booking an open jaw arriving MCO, departing TPA. The departure flight is 12:30P on a Saturday. Anyone tried this? Will I regret doing it? I'm thinking a noonish flight is doable, and I'm saving $200 for a family of four...

 

[safetymom]

How are you going to get between the two airports and resorts? Also be aware that there is work going on I-4 so it may slow your trip to Tampa.

 

[Brian Noble]

We were already planning on getting a rental car, as we're staying in a pool home, and the rental car costs are the same whether I return to MCO or TPA.

 

[safetymom]

There isn't a drop off charge for renting at one and returning it to a different location?

 

[Brian Noble]

Often for airports that are "close" to one another, National (the company I rent from as I have a free EA membership through my employer) won't charge me. Examples include the Bay Area three (SFO, OAK, SJC) and the many LA-area airports (LAX/SNA).

 

[safetymom]

Never heard that TPA and MCO were close and considered as one location. I would check on that before making your reservations based on that info.

 

[Brian Noble]

I have the two quotes in hand, direct from National's site---same price, whether I return at MCO or TPA. I don't know how much more confirmation you'd expect one to get.

 

[Took]

Brian,

I think your solution to drop off the rental car at TPA is quite workable and not that unusual, at all. We did something similar except we picked up at TPA and dropped off at MCO. We've also flown in/out of TPA and had no problems. Though it is a good hour from Disney, TPA is easily accessible and not as crowded as MCO. The car rental return is pretty "user friendly" too. Again, we had no problems.

Good luck and glad to hear you're saving money.

Took

 

[Poorman]

I haven't done it yet but I was prepared to this for our January trip. I had TPA for the inbound flight and MCO out bound. This was SWA out of PVD. I also had Jet blue one way out of BOS and Song on the return. All to get the right flights at the right price.

I waited so long for SWA to open up the end of January and was dissapointed at their fares. I finally changed my dates to Sunday to Sunday and I got Song early out of Bos and late out of MCO for $129.20 PP RT. I'm happy , I don't like flying out of Boston,but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

All's well................

 

[gw_lit]

Brian -

We did exactly the same thing in May.... flew into Orlando and out of Tampa after spending a few days at the beach. You're right.... there was no one way or drop off charge with National. (My guess is that enough people do the Orlando-Tampa, or Tampa-Orlando thing that they don't charge for it, since they are able to keep both locations evenly stocked with vehicles.)

As Safetymom said, there is construction on I-4 between Orlando and Tampa so it may slow you down. We left the Poly at 6:00 p.m. on a Thursday and had no delays--other than the usual work zone speed reductions--all the way to Tampa. If you have a 12:30 flight on Saturday out of Tampa and you're leaving Orlando that morning, I'd leave plenty early in case you would get delayed.

 

[Gillian]

Just bumping this up because I think (remembered reading somewhere) that in Florida you can rent from and return to different airports without paying a fee. I don't think this is just for airports that are close together.

I have rented from Tampa & returned to MCO with no additional charge and recently got a tampa/miami quote that didn't have an extra fee.