FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A holiday travel rush is underway across the country, and at South Florida airports, it’s no different.
Local 10 News spoke with Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport passengers on Friday who were fully aware of the rush when traveling during a busy holiday weekend.
“Getting here was OK, but airport traffic into the terminal was really bad,” passenger Nicolette Turnquest said.
Turnquest and her children are just some of the roughly 17 million Americans who are expected to fly this weekend.
FLL Public Information Officer Arlene Satchell told Local 10 News that the airport is expecting around 568,000 people to travel over the weekend.
Karl Pilcher said he had no intentions of driving to FLL and paying for airport parking.
“Chose to use Uber and have somebody drive me instead of doing it myself, you know what I mean?” he said.
Stephanie Phayme said that she woke up hours before her flight to make sure that she was on time.
“I got up extra early in case there were any issues with TSA,” she said.
A Local 10 News crew was at Terminal 1 around 10:30 a.m. where passengers were seen waiting in long lines at the Allegiant Airlines check-in counter.
“We left early this morning and now we gotta wait,” said holiday traveler Hayden Jacobsmeier.
FLL airport officials said they expect an average of 95,000 daily passengers between Friday and Wednesday.
Miami International Airport officials told Local 10 News that they expect an average of 145,000 travelers per day through Wednesday.
Satchell is urging passengers to arrive early, especially if they are parking their car at the airport this weekend.
“If you plan to park, definitely come early and give yourself enough time, because if our garages do sell out, we go to an overflow lot that’s about a half hour from the airport,” she said.
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