Delays, cancelations persist at South Florida airports due to winter storm
MIAMI - A major winter storm has led to thousands of flight disruptions nationwide.
As of noon Monday, 158 flights were delayed and 35 were canceled at Miami International Airport. At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International there were 219 delayed flights and 71 cancelations.
South Florida's airports were spared the worst when it came to delays and cancelations.
Nationwide, more than 2,376 flights within, into or out of the US had already been canceled by noon Monday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware, while 4,179 flights had been delayed.
Monday and Tuesday are expected to be the busiest days to fly after the holiday.
Lines at Miami International formed before dawn. Throughout the terminal, there were people sleeping on the floor. Their flights had been delayed or canceled and they camped out overnight hoping to catch the next available flight.
Joseph Noel, who flew in from Brazil and was trying to get to Houston, told CBS4 said he's spent 36 hours traveling, 14 of those hours at Miami International.
"They had bad weather so unfortunately my flight was delayed for this afternoon. I was supposed to yesterday night but yeah, I'll be flying this afternoon. So pretty much of the Christmas day was here at Miami airport," said Noel.
Airport officials urge all flyers to check in to make sure their flight is still leaving before heading to the airport and those who have confirmed flights should leave early because there will be long lines for check-in and security screening.
The megablast of winter weather across the eastern two-thirds of the nation is forecast to slowly moderate this week.