A few days ago I wrote about American Airlines’ expansion in Tampa, which probably interests me more than it should simply because I lived in Tampa for much of my life (and still have family there). These new flights are now on sale, so we have a sense of the aircraft that will operate these…
Continue reading: American Airlines Expands In Tampa, Adds Three Routes
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
As a TPA based flyer (and EP) I'm always glad to see more route options. There is a growing business connection between Tampa and Raleigh, so being in that market makes sense. Southwest seems to do really well with their Nashville flight, so that also makes sense. The LAX would make more sense if AA wasn't routing so much Asia traffic through DFW, which obviously is easier from TPA, but it is a huge market so they can likely make it work.
LAX to TPA - I guess that helps out with all the people moving from CA to FL. Lack of water in CA will even accelerate the migration.
AA flew RDU/BNA-TPA back in the '90s when both cities were mini-hubs. I used to connect through both when traveliong to see family in Tampa in order to get in some extra segments (like flying ORD-BNA-TPA and BOS-RDU-TPA).
AA, like B6, is trying to slay so many dragons at the same time and others are doing the same to them that they are certain to end up more bruised than what they could possibly gain.
I think two issues come into alignment, resulting in American Airlines' starting direct routes to/from Tampa — the fact that Florida is a hot market now, and the Charlotte hub is overworked. If AA can get enough passengers to pay for beginning a direct route, and relieve their Charlotte hub by doing so, it's a win.
Looks like AA is really going after DL with expansions in BOS, AUS and now TPA
Yea, both BNA and RDU are restarts.
I think BNA was 3x daily and RDU was 3-5x daily depending on the season.
There were even RDU flights to St Petersburg for a short time.
Can't forget about TPA to San Juan (which continued on to Grenada) for several years and during one schedule, one of the DFW inbounds continued to Nassau. Also for one or two winter seasons, one of the DFW flights was a 767-200.
You mentioned UA flying CLE to TPA. Going way back to my young teen years (when I rode my bike to TPA every Saturday and spent the whole day there), I remember UA operating that route with a DC-10.
NW had a 747 to ORD of all places. My favorite was the Northeast L-1011 'yellowbird' to BOS.
I thought AA would have left the LAX route to AS and codeshared. When AS started last year it was supposed to be year round on Saturdays but became seasonal. Think it is restarting daily seasonal?
United tried LAX in 90/00s and Southwest had a go a couple of years ago. Only Delta has seemed to make it work consistently though.
BNA-TPA needs some additional flights. While Southwest presence at Nashville has grown tremendously in the past six months, the number of daily BNA-TPA flights has actually shrunk. And the Spirit flights evaporated. Perhaps the latter have already or will soon return, but this market is ready for additional players.
I can't be the first to want to point out that for many years AA had hubs at BOTH BNA and RDU and served both TPA routes with 3 flights/day.
Nobody's moving to Tampa lol from California. Maybe MIA
Part of the exodus myself. I lived in SF since 1978, but I'm planning to split my time between Philadelphia, Miami, and frequent visits to my city by the bay.
Why such crap times for lax-tap? Excited until I saw it was a red eye out and almost red eye back.
Didn't AA try LAX/TPA before and it got scrapped like 18 months ago? Not sure what would have changed within a year.