I believe he's coming, but do you book your flights a day or two before you fly?
No, I do plan ahead. The fares are very reasonable and because of all the flights going there, it is also easy to use your AAdvantage miles.
If you have small children, it makes for a perfect family vacation. You don't have the bigger waves and wind like the Atlantic Coast.
Even if the ticket costs more by not planning earlier, I still wouldn't go around saying his family has a problem with it. We're talking the difference between going to TCU and USF which is worth many tens of thousands of dollars. I'm sure his mother or family has someone they know who could provide 25,000 Advantage miles for anytime travel if this is a semi-emergency. Like I said, American has Tampa covered.