South Florida air passengers face delays, cancellations as winter weather snarls holiday travel
MIAMI -- As airports in South Florida welcomed a throng of travelers headed to areas facing crippling winter weather, many of the passengers arrived to long lines, delays and -- in some instances -- canceled flights.
Tim Carroll was one of those whose travel plans were in jeopardy.
"We've got a flight delay going from Fort Lauderdale to Seattle by 2 hours and then we've been told Seattle to Portland has been canceled," he said, adding that he has no idea when he might finally arrive home in Oregon.
Flight status boards at local South Florida airports on Thursday were plentiful with hundreds of delays displayed on the monitors.
"We saw there's going to be this huge storm in the Northeast," said Venold Johnson, who was trying to get home to New Jersey. "So right now we're worried about our flight being delayed."
The period from Wednesday through Friday is expected to be the busiest days before Christmas at Miami International Airport, officials say.
At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Thursday and Friday are expected to be the busiest days.
Clint Henderson, of website ThePointsGuy.com, said the winter weather represents unfortunate timing for travelers.
"The storms right now are perfectly timed by Mother Nature to mess up the holiday travel period," he said.
Henderson said travelers need to stay a step ahead and be ready to take action when bad weather threatens to complicate their travel plans.
"Track your flight," he said. "Then if you see it's going to get canceled, get on the airline app and try to rebook yourself. At the same time you're calling on the phone to customer service and you're walking to the service line at the airport to try to get rebooked."
Friday is expected to be the busiest travel day before the Christmas holiday on area highways.
According to officials, 5.8 million people are expected to take to the state's roadways for holiday travel.
The Brisenos said they are joining the crowd with travel plans that will put them on the Florida Turnpike.
"A lot of traffic," Dorothy Briseno said. "I get nervous with all the traffic."
The family is heading to Cutler Bay from Central Florida.
"We don't travel during traffic hours," Danny Bresino said. "We tried to leave earlier today, unfortunately that didn't happen (and) we left late. If it is close to traffic hours we wait until it's over with (and) then we hit the roads."
That's just what officials at AAA suggest: drive early in the morning or later in the evening.
And travelers who are on the road or on the water should be aware that law enforcement officers are planning to be on high alert for impaired or aggressive drivers.
"Let it be known we will be out in force," Broward County Sheriff's Deputy Mike Powell said. "To prevent tragedies we've seen over several years."
