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Critics put TIA outside elite class

By Steve Huettel
Published June 13, 2007

Would you bristle if a guest groused that his steak at Bern's was too chewy? How about the cousin from Ohio who calls Fort De Soto State Park an "okay" beach?

It's natural to get defensive when someone takes a shot at a local icon. Last month, J.D. Power and Associates fired a cannon at one of the area's few world-class institutions: Tampa International Airport.

The company's 2007 customer satisfaction survey ranked Tampa International No. 14 among medium-sized airports with a score that was - gasp! - below average.

Remember, this place won so many accolades that officials handed out bumper stickers proclaiming "LUV TIA: World's Finest Airport!"

Most locals rallied to TIA's defense, scoffing that something's goofy when passengers prefer airports in congested New York (dirty and surly) Philadelphia and (overcrowded) Atlanta.

But the news also brought out a few critics spouting heresy: Tampa International isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Here are the stories of a couple travelers, both fans of the airport, whose recent experiences left them angry and disappointed.

John Harlowe and his wife returned home from a Pacific cruise near midnight May 17, collected six pieces of luggage and walked outside to catch a cab home.

They didn't know airport officials had banned taxis from the drive outside baggage claim to keep the curb open for drivers picking up passengers.

Harlowe, a 65-year-old retiree from Tampa with arthritis in his ankles and feet, couldn't find a skycap or luggage cart. He left the bags and walked to a cab stand at the end of the building.

The driver at first said he couldn't pull his cab to the curb without facing suspension from the airport. He finally relented, yelling to a traffic officer that his elderly customers couldn't lug the bags themselves.

Airport taxi drivers insist passengers routinely complain about hiking to the new cab stand locations.

Louis Miller, the airport's executive director, says he's heard few objections. Traffic would come to a standstill at peak times if taxis still picked up passengers at the curbs, he says.

On March 1, Justine Allen's flight from Boston - and several others from various locations - landed late as bad weather snarled traffic along the East Coast. But the real backup came when she reached her car in the long-term parking garage, drove to the ramp and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

The problem: Crews closed the outbound airport parkway to install bridge girders for a state construction project.

Police diverted traffic onto back streets of Tampa International but didn't expect heavy traffic after midnight. It took Allen three hours to get out of the airport.

"There were hundreds and hundreds of cars trying to get through the toll booths, " she says.

"Tampa airport is (usually) the easiest to get through. But this time, they could have done better."

And they're trying, says airport operations director Robert Burr, who calls that night "the disaster."

Airport officials now monitor inbound flights on evenings when construction crews plan to close the parkway. A half-dozen times, Burr says, they've called off construction when problems delayed arriving planes until after midnight.

As any good business knows, bad things happen. And customers generally don't hold a grudge for an occasional slip when you work hard to recover.

I like my chances at Tampa International better than New York, Philadelphia or Atlanta. Any day.

Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes or (813) 226-3384.

[Last modified June 12, 2007, 22:59:31]