Mind-numbingly lengthy strains and crowded terminals coated with human effluvium are acquainted to anybody who’s made their means by means of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) or Miami International Airport (MIA). And on the correct day, you may come throughout a fowl smuggling operation, a passenger pouring up vodka photographs for airport employees, or perhaps a good-ole violent SoFlo skirmish.Â
As if vacationers wanted another excuse to be cautious of the South Florida hubs, journey website Family Destinations Guide lately compiled a listing of the ten worst airports within the nation for flight delays final 12 months, rating FLL and MIA third and fifth, respectively.
FLL had 26 p.c of its flights delayed in 2022, whereas MIA noticed 24 p.c. The report crunched information from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which discovered greater than 1,042,000 flights had been delayed throughout the nation final 12 months. Only Orlando International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport beat out FLL for flight delays.
As far as alarming passenger incidents, each MIA and FLL have had a fair proportion of untamed tales over the previous two years.
At the Fort Lauderdale hub a number of weeks earlier than Thanksgiving final 12 months, officers from the Transportation Security Administration claimed they discovered a gun hidden inside a uncooked hen. In one other headline-grabbing incident, a Canadian man allegedly made a bogus reference to a bomb in his baggage after arguing over baggage charge coverage.
Last month at Miami International Airport, a girl was arrested on battery costs after she picked up a pc monitor and chucked it at an airline employee whereas looking for her youngsters in a terminal. A 12 months earlier, a person was charged for allegedly biting an officer on the pinnacle in a dispute that ended with police pointing a gun at a riled-up crowd within the airport. Then there was that point that a stowaway was discovered within the touchdown gear in a airplane arriving at MIA through Guatemala City.
Anecdotes apart, MIA constantly beats out FLL on traveler satisfaction surveys. In 2021, Miami International Airport managed to lock up the highest spot amongst “mega airports” on the JD Power North America Airport Satisfaction survey.
The Miami airport dropped to ninth out of 20 mega airports on this 12 months’s JD Power survey. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was not far behind, coming it on the 12 spot.Â
Both airports have issue with protecting flights on time, repeatedly rating among the many worst within the nation for delays. Fort Lauderdale is a hub for Spirit, and the airline has borne the brunt of vacationers’ rage when mass flight cancellations and delays crop up.
In response to the latest Family Destinations report, Miami-Dade Aviation Department spokesperson Greg Chin tells New Times that MIA is not liable for the heavy delays.
“The elements that decide an airport’s on-time efficiency/delays are associated to inclement climate or airline or Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operations, that are out of the airport’s management,” Chin says in an electronic mail. “Regarding climate delays, it’s price noting that Florida has extra lightning per sq. mile than some other U.S. state.”
The two South Florida airports have additionally handled controversies over service employees working situations. As beforehand reported by New Times, the airports have confronted criticism relationship again a number of years for working with contractors who’ve allegedly mistreated airport employees. Though a neighborhood service employees union says situations have improved, a bunch of MIA airport employees lately gathered in protest to name on Congress to go the Good Jobs for Good Airports Act, which might guarantee them livable wages and cheap advantages.