Holiday travel rush: South Florida airports busy as travelers depart, arrive for Christmas break
MIAMI - While it's not exactly "over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house we go," thousands are catching flights into and out of South Florida's airports for the holidays.
Miami International Airport is expecting more than 2.7 million passengers to pass through its terminals from December 21, 2023, to January 6, 2024, with a daily average of 162,000 travelers. That would be a 6.1 percent increase over last year's record-breaking travel season.
Peak travel days at Miami International are expected on December 22-23, December 26-30, and January 2-6, when daily traffic will most likely exceed 165,000 travelers.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is anticipating that a little more than 2 million passengers will pass through its terminals during the same 17-day period. The airport expects to serve approximately 118,000 passengers daily, with its busiest days slated for December 22, 23, 26, 30, and January 2. This year's holiday passenger forecast is about 14% busier than the 2022-23 year-end travel period.
"We are all very happy to go home to our families and have a great Christmas," said Friez Arnault who was catching a flight at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International to Belgium. "Customs was a little bit hard, a little bit tough. It took us for our first flight about two hours. But yesterday morning it went fluently, we went through it in about a quarter of an hour."
Jordan Trucker said he made plans knowing it would be busy.
"I try to get there two hours early, just to make sure I'm not rushing in last minute, but it's been pretty smooth lately," said Jordan Brucker.
As for his presents, he thought ahead.
"I shipped them to my sister's house," he said.
In addition to getting to the airport early, travelers should be prepared for the TSA screenings.
Have an appropriate ID and your boarding pass out and ready to go. Wear easily removable shoes. Standard screening requires that you take your laptop out of your bag
Follow the 3-1-1 rule for liquids or gels in your carry-on, and avoid anything that looks like a weapon.
When it comes to guns, don't bring them through the TSA line. Firearms must be in a checked bag, unloaded, and in a locked hard case. They also must be declared to the airline.
The most common thing that slows down a traveler at a TSA checkpoint is having a prohibited item in a carry-on bag, which is why it is important for travelers to "Know Before You Go" by knowing the contents of their carry-on bags and ensuring that everything that they pack inside is permitted to be carried onto a flight.
The holiday travel season is not just busy in the skies. Roads are expected to also be congested, with AAA predicting nearly 104 million people traveling by car.
