Ft. Lauderdale airport gridlock

[regnig]

The following is from the Travel Section of the Washington Post this AM. The web link at the bottom may provide the answer to the question oft times posted here "what can I do while waiting for my flight home?".

 

UPRIGHT AND LOCKED

Fort Lauderdale Gridlock

 

Why does a sunny spring day at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport look like O'Hare on a blizzard-blasted Christmas Eve? CoGo, no stranger to airport chaos, was stunned to see wall-to-wall mayhem at Fort Lauderdale on a fine March Saturday, with people asleep on the carpet, 30-minute lines for pizza and throngs of zombies staring at monitors listing late planes. "It's like this every weekend," one regular confided. "They can't handle the crowds."

One flight to Washington was delayed by three hours, while CoGo's own US Airways flight to Reagan National wasn't even listed on the monitor. The gate signboard was blank and the counter was unstaffed. Three minutes before boarding time, a gate rep appeared. The public address system was broken, so she called row numbers, sotto voce, to the baffled crowd.

 

Clearly, South Florida's second city is having a bad case of airport growing pains. The arrival of the discount carriers and its booming twin status as a cruise port and Latin American hub have more than doubled Lauderdale's air passenger traffic in the last nine years, to almost 21 million in 2004. The airport posted more than 5,700 capacity-related delays last winter, up from 1,500 the year before, said FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown. With Lauderdale cruise traffic growing by a half-million passengers a year, Saturdays and Sundays are particular crush times.

"We are now in the study process for an additional runway," says airport spokesman Jim Reynolds. In the meantime, passengers beware: Your connection in Fort Lauderdale may be no day at the beach.

To ease the crowding on cruise days, the Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau is offering a list of three-hour tours -- from boat rides to bus trips -- timed to fill that gap between getting off the ship and getting on the plane. Details: 800-22-SUNNY, http://www.sunny.org

[ghgeckos]

I lived the late plane senario in FLL we had a 3:30 flight to San jose and our plane was so late that the flight leaving at 6:30 beat us to the airport. If possible I'll stay an extra day to avoid the airport mess.

[Howlev34]

I know that they are not delaying flights on purpose but, somewhere in the back of my head, I can hear the Ft. Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce telling cruise ship passengers, "Stay an extra day (at least) and avoid the airport crowds." Hopefully they are not sending the message to fly out of Miami.

With cruise ship passengers increasing, they have to have seen this coming.

[TheParrotHeads]

How bad is this airport? We happen to have the ability to fly into Miami rather than FLL. Its actually cheaper for us to fly into Miami and we really love it there anyways. Lauren liked the idea of doing this rather than sitting on a floor in FLL and waiting for lengthy delays. I don't mind doing it, but I would feel better justified if I knew the situation at the airport was "that" bad. Anyone have any input or experiences using this airport?

[jandlsnorks]

We just got back from a cruise on NCL Sun yesterday. Our cruise was out of Miami, but we booked our flight from Fort Lauderdale on Airtran because it was a lot cheaper. Fort Lauderdale airport was a zoo yesterday (Saturday). We stood in line at least 45 minutes just to check in, and then we had to walk our checked luggage to a security scanner where we waited in line another 45 minutes. In the past, at the check-in counter, they just take your checked baggage and put it on the conveyor belt, but this time you had to walk them to a special xray machine yourself. In my opinion, this created an even larger security hazard, as there were large crowds of people in line and when you got to the xray machine you just left your baggage in a big pile for the transportation and security officials.

 

Fort Lauderdale saved us money, but yesterday I was wondering if we should have just flown into Miami!

[Phishinyem]

I was just through there this morning when I got off the coral and it was TERRIBLE. We literally almost missed our flight back by five minutes. we were on the last call. I blame part of it on princess.. we were docked in Ft. Lauderdale at 6:30 this monring. I had a 10:30 flight back to Boston, and wasn't able to get off the cruise ship until almost 9. The wait for tickets, baggage check, then to go through security took well over an hour. They started pulling people with earlier flights out of line and pulling them up front, and all the other people in line were getting mad. I'm usually a very patient person, and it was just crazy and completely unorganized!

[Pam in CA]

Sorry you almost missed your 10:30am flight to Boston but I'd never, ever book a flight that early. It's not at all unusual for ships to disembark after 9AM so you're really cutting it close on a good day. The time a ship disembarks is up to the U.S. Immigration, not the ship or cruiseline and frankly, they (Immigration) aren't concerned about what time people's flights are. Princess recommends flights no earlier than Noon, I believe. It could be 12:30pm. By following Princess' guidelines, you would have made your flight in plenty of time without the stress or anxiety.

[Phishinyem]

I was unaware of Princess's "guidelines". Our travel agent booked our flight and was told by Princess that it would not be a problem and people with flights before 11 would be off the ship by 8:30 at the latest. Oh well. It wasn't that big of a deal anyhow. If we missed the flight we would have just gotten on the next one we could!

[arlenemilt]

I probably shouldn't be responding to this but I will anyway. Flame me if you must, but you making a 10:30 flight reservation was totally irresponsible to begin with. As a very frequent cruiser, I know that getting off a ship prior to 9:00 AM is almost impossible. And when you have 2000 or more people from several cruise ships trying to get to the airport at the same time, well.........yes, bedlam! Consider yourself fortunate that you actually made your flight and next time try for noon or later.

 

Arlene

 

P.S. To the others who inquired about Miami........no, Miami won't be any different on any debarkation day.

[Phishinyem]

wow. I didn't post that to get so many negative replys. I was just telling you what my experience was like this morning. I am a new cruiser, not "experienced" like yourself apparently. You live and you learn. I did not think it was "totally irresponsible" to book a flight through my travel agent. Maybe it was naive of my to think that my travel agent might be more experienced than myself at booking flights. I do consider myself fortunate for making the flight. as i stated, it wouldn't have been a big deal if I didn't make it. I would have just gone with the flow and gotten on the next available flight to Boston. Not a huge deal. it's not my fault for being "inexperienced". you need a few times of being inexperienced to become experienced.

[garycarla]

I think your TA should get wacked up the side of the head with a TSA (those security folks) magic wand. It is not unusual for airports to have an hour wait - not common - but it happens and any travel agent with half a computer brain should know this. Booking that early is crazy.

 

 

By the way, the person that mentioned that having all these people standing around is a big security risk is 100% right. The whole screening thing is a sham on the America public,just to make them feel better. Most studies show that 9/11 security on the ground is the same today, except you and I are paying Billions$$$ for the changes.

[nho9504]

I was just through there this morning when I got off the coral and it was TERRIBLE. We literally almost missed our flight back by five minutes. we were on the last call. I blame part of it on princess.. we were docked in Ft. Lauderdale at 6:30 this monring. I had a 10:30 flight back to Boston, and wasn't able to get off the cruise ship until almost 9. The wait for tickets, baggage check, then to go through security took well over an hour. They started pulling people with earlier flights out of line and pulling them up front, and all the other people in line were getting mad. I'm usually a very patient person, and it was just crazy and completely unorganized!

 

As someone already posted, the disembarkation time is controlled by INS. Cruiselines really have no say at all. It is not your fault as you are inexperienced in disembarkation process. However, your TA is truly unbelievable to book such an early flight for you. Does not look to me she (or he) is familiar with cruise at all.

 

While I know how frustrating it can be in a crowded airport, I have to say FLL does a whole lot better job than MIA. Had it be completely unorganized, they would not call people with early flights out of line and get them to the front of the line - it shows they try to help people making their flights as much as possible - lots of times people got stuck at the line by no fault of their own (not arriving late or whatever, but blocked down by check-in process etc). I can fly out of FLL or MIA, FLL is my home airport and I will pick FLL over MIA anyday - MIA is truly a chaotic place due to the fact it usually is the Port of Entry for many South American / European flights, and the point of connecting flights into other cities in U.S.

 

My experience is : try to use check-in Kiosk as much as possible - even if you have luggages to check-in. Once you check-in via Kiosk, the agents around usually are very quick to come get your luggages - far quicker than you wait in a long line for counter check-in.

 

For those who think FLL should do a better job to handle the traffic - think again - All cruise debarkation points have the same crunch concentrating into one or two days, usually the Saturday/Sunday. Go ask those cruisers who go thru Vancouver during Alaska cruising season, you would hear the same stories except may be several times worse. Outside these crunch windows, FLL is a very easy airport to navigate, though it is getting busier each year (and the airport has expanded accordingly, and officials are talking about yet another expansion). However, one cannot expect an airport built a capacity to accommodate the busiest days in the week, and see may be 10-20% overcapacity the rest of the week ... That would be a waste of capital.

 

For those who think MIA would be better, forget it. During debarkation days, it will probably 10 times worse, given it is already worse than FLL on any given day.

[Phishinyem]

I actually did use a Kiosk today at FLL- the line was huge for that, and after we got our boarding passes they sent us to another line with our baggage to check in (in boston we used the Kiosk and they threw our baggage on the conveyor belt right there, no second line). People were being moved out when they spoke up about their flight being early. I think that's why our baggage actually made it on our plane- it was at the end of a huge line at the baggage check and security wanted us to just leave it there behind about a billion others (definitely a security risk!), but when we told him our flight was at 10:30 they moved it to the front. The airport staff was helpful today

[njmoms]

If your cruise ends on Saturday, a one day stayover to leave on Sunday will not save you the chaos at FLL. We disembarked this morning (Sunday) and made it to FLL by 10:00 AM for a 12:25 flight to Atlanta. For Delta, there was a 45 minute wait to get to the self serve kiosks, then a 15 minute wait to hand your checked luggage to the TSA X-ray people, then another at least 30 minute wait to get to the security screening. We were called out of line for our flight at about 5 till 12. The trouble is multiplied by the fact that it is such a small space to try to pack all those people into. I don't know that adding another runway would help the problem. That would just allow them to add more flights, which means squeezing more people into the already small terminal areas.

[Logie]

There is something definitely different in FLL the past year or so. I have many times cruised out of FLL and found the airports crowded but not unbearable., BUT

after my last cruise there for New Years the embarcation was a nighmare.

 

In my opinion there are too many big ships and too many on the same day with no improvements to getting people to the airport and through to the gates.

 

I booked my flight for next year at 3:30 was have heard even then it could be a mess!!

 

I sure do like going out of FLL and hope that the cruise lines get it together to stop overwhelming the airport.

[samtesla]

I know that they are not delaying flights on purpose but, somewhere in the back of my head, I can hear the Ft. Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce telling cruise ship passengers, "Stay an extra day (at least) and avoid the airport crowds." Hopefully they are not sending the message to fly out of Miami.

With cruise ship passengers increasing, they have to have seen this coming.

 

The thing is that flying into FLL was substantially cheaper for us than flying into MIA. Of course, the time-honored airline gougers get you on the way OUT of FLL, as the cheap flights leave Sunday at noon, and if you're coming back Sunday night, it's gouge-ola.

 

IND-FLL was $150 if returning at noon Sunday, $230 otherwise. IND-MIA was in the low #200's. Is this the case? I was amazed that fares could be so low.

[Phishinyem]

Njmoms- I was on Delta, I probably saw you in that line!

[captainron]

Hi Folks,

With regard to congestion at FLL:

 

a. Much of the chaos seems to be related directly to the airlines that people are flying on. I have flown Air Canada and Westjet to and from FLL with no problems whatsoever.

b. The only problem with checkin seems to be that when you arrive at the terminal you have to go up to the second level to check in and get your boarding passes and seat selection. Once done, you must then lug all your bags downstairs one flite to line up and go through security. Miami is worse as you can multiply the traffic (people and vehicle) by four at least.

c. In March, there was a compounded problem with the bankruptcy of a Canadian carrier (Jetsgo) with people backed up trying to get to and from Florida, so lineups were longer for other carriers trying to accommodate those waylaid by the loss of service.

d. As a former Air Traffic Controller, I have seen the backlog of A/C on departure at FLL, and yes, there is a problem as arriving sched flights are stacked up and must be able to land on the same runway as departing A/C. This I believe is the problem. A parallel runway might allow more A/C but that then becomes a problem of the airport authority not having enough gates to serve the airline's requireements Parallel runways do expedite the flow of traffic (both arrivals and departures) by allowing arrivals to land on one runway while departures use the parrallel. That way there are no airspace violations or separation problems.

 

Hope this clarifies the runway situation, so...

 

Ciao for now!!!

[randyat1001]

This site will tell you what ships are in port on a specific day.

http://www.cruisecal.com/dnn/default.aspx

[hoppelk]

How will the airport be on a Monday? Our next cruise (10 day on Coral) arrives in Ft. Lauderdale on Monday morning. Will it be less crowded? I hate conjestion.

[Coolmama_1]

Consider that March and April are Spring Break months across the country. Fort Lauderdale is a huge destination for the college crowd and teenagers. The airport is going to be chaos during this time.

 

I guess the safest thing to do is book a flight after 1:00pm. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your cruise and glad you are home safely.