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Hurricane Milton poses ‘extremely serious threat to Florida’ – with thousands of travel plans disrupted

Simon Calder’s Travel

Hurricane Milton is forecast to bring potentially catastrophic storm surges, high winds and heavy rain to Florida’s Gulf Coast, including the densely populated tourist destinations of Tampa Bay.

“Extremely powerful Hurricane Milton just north of the Yucatan peninsula,” the National Hurricane Center warned.

“Milton poses an extremely serious threat to Florida and residents are urged to follow the orders of local officials.”

Governor Ron DeSantis has declared a State of Emergency for 35 counties in Florida.

The UK sends more visitors to the “Sunshine State” than any other nation – an average of over 3,100 per day last year, and probably more in 2024.

What are your options if you are one of the many British tourists in Florida, or booked to travel imminently? These are the key questions and answers.

What is happening at Tampa airport?

Tampa International Airport (TPA) suspended operations at 9am local time (2pm UK time) on Tuesday 8 October. Many flights to TPA were cancelled on Monday evening, with one Spirit Airlines flight from Chicago getting as far as the taxiway prior to take off before being cancelled.

All outbound flights from 9am local time were cancelled, though several flights that were due to take off in the following hour were pre-poned (brought forward) to allow them to depart. The last plane out was United UA1239 to Houston, which left half-an-hour early and took off at 9.02am.

Among the many flights that have been grounded include British Airways flight BA2167 from London Gatwick to Tampa on Tuesday and Wednesday, along with the corresponding return trips operated as BA2166.

Virgin Atlantic has also cancelled its Heathrow-Tampa-Heathrow flights, VS129/130, on the same days.

The airport says: “TPA plans to resume services as soon as it is safe to do so later this week, but passengers should check with their airlines regarding flight schedules.”

What is happening at Orlando’s airports?

Florida’s main holiday airport, Orlando International (MCO), “will cease commercial passenger operations at 8am [1pm UK time] Wednesday 9 October”.

Some flights to Orlando have been cancelled on Tuesday afternoon and evening, but all seven UK originating flights on Tuesday are shown as operating normally:

  • London Heathrow – two on Virgin Atlantic
  • London Gatwick – two on British Airways, one…

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