MIA readies for expected record holiday travel season
MIAMI - Miami International Airport is gearing up for its busiest holiday travel season on record.
"We had nearly 51 million travelers last year for the whole year. Last Thanksgiving, December and Christmas were record times, we expect another record year this year as well," said MIA Spokesman Greg Chin.
Chin said they're expecting nearly 52 million passengers by year's end.
During the Thanksgiving holiday, 1.8 million travelers are expected to pass through MIA, that's about 150-thousand a day. At FLL, they're up from last year too, estimating 760,000 passengers will fly in and out around Thanksgiving, that's more than 108,000 people a day.
This comes as American Airlines is boosting its Miami hub, adding flights to the Caribbean and Latin America as well as the West Coast.
"This schedule, which is American Airlines largest schedule ever at Miami International, is 10% larger than 2022, and 2022 for us was already larger than 2019," said Juan Carlos Liscano. He's the American Airlines Miami Hub Vice President.
In a new release, American Airlines announced, "This winter, customers can take advantage of American's major expansion from MIA toMCLA, which includes expanded service to 11 destinations, like Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Governor's Harbour, Bahamas; Tortola, British Virgin Islands; and St. Maarten. The airline is increasing capacity to MCLA by 10% this winter.
Additionally, American announced earlier this year that it would expand service to several West Coast destinations this winter as well including Portland, Oregon (PDX); Sacramento, California (SMF), and Orange County, California SNA) which will be year-round. Starting in January, this will make American the only airline to fly non-stop to SNA offering convenient service to local theme parks and other attractions."
Clint Henderson is the managing editor at travel site, "the Points Guy." He says many Thanksgiving deals are already gone, "If you're waiting to book Thanksgiving, it's only gonna get more expensive from here. We expect anywhere between 30 and $40 a day to for ticket prices to increase every day until the holiday," he said. But Henderson said there's still some good fares for the December holidays. "So, if you haven't booked yet for Hanukkah and Christmas, now is the time to start doing that. I would absolutely set a Google alert today for your route that you want to take and track that flight. If you see a deal, jump on it, because prices are only gonna go up from here," he said.
Darwin Telemaque travels a lot. He suggests getting to the airport early during busy times — and planning ahead to get through the airport more quickly. "Especially when you come to Miami airport it's good to have TSA precheck. It helps and makes a big difference. I'm also signed up for mobile passport that really makes a difference."
Travel experts recommend putting your airline's app on your phone to keep up to date, as well as the app from the airport you're flying out to for updates on things like parking and TSA wait times.