For some time now, British Airways has been flying to a total of 3 destinations in Florida: Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. The latter two of these are relatively uncommon among U.S. routes for the airline, as they are operated from Gatwick instead of Heathrow. As a result, these flights commonly used the Gatwick-based 777-200ERs, although Heathrow-based ones will occasionally operate from LGW if necessary. I’ve seen these several times while passing through Tampa, either landing or parked at the gate, so LGW-TPA has been on my radar for a bit now. Hope y’all enjoy it!
Server: Solo
Airline: British Airways
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200ER
Origin: Gatwick Airport, Crawley, United Kingdom (LGW)
Destination: Tampa International Airport, Tampa, Florida (TPA)
Flight Number: BA2167
Route: EGKK-KTPA
Seat: 3K (Club World)
Time En Route: 9 Hours 54 Minutes
Ready to boardy on a gray, rainy Fall day in Crawley. Our aircraft today is a locally-based 777-200ER that came in from Bangkok this morning.
Pushing back from Gate 35 for a single-engine taxi. Due to our Club World seat facing aft, we’ve got a prime view of the starboard engine.
Taxiing by the bridge connecting the North Terminal to Pier 6
Soaring out of Sussex. We’re getting a great view of the Trent 800 fan and the wingtip vortices as we climb over the English countryside.
Finishing lunch over the North Atlantic. We had what the Club World menu decribes as “slow-braised Herefordshire beef cheek and mature Cheddar cheese potato au gratin with baby shallots and gingered carrots”, a veritable feast at 38,000 feet.
Starting our final descent over the many lakes that dot Central Florida
“SPEEDBIRD 2167 HEAVY, welcome to Tampa!”
Touching down on TPA’s Runway 19L after less than 10 hours of flying.
Starting to taxi across the bridges over the access roads on our way to the F Gates
A final view of our aircraft from the parking garage after getting our bags. Glad to have finally gotten this flight off the bucket list!