Smoother sailing at Miami, Fort Lauderdale airports after days of chaos

Operations began to return to normal on Wednesday at the two largest airports in South Florida after several days of cancellations, delays and long security lines.

By late morning, Miami International Airport had just 4 cancellations — one arrival and three departures — due to inclement weather on the east coast, Greg Chin, communications director for Miami-Dade Aviation Department, told the Miami Herald.

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Broward also made progress, cancelling just 17 flights on Wednesday, as of 1 p.m., according to data analytics firm FlightAware.

There were still delays on Wednesday: MIA had 167 total delays as of about 1 p.m.; FLL had 124, according to FlightAware.

But those numbers were a big improvement from Monday when Miami International Airport had at least 270 delays and 267 cancellations and Fort Lauderdale’s airport had at least 370 delays and 198 cancellations. The travel hassles were related to the influx of travelers due to Spring Break, storms hitting the east coast and TSA workers once again confronting working without pay.

Since March 13, TSA workers have not been receiving pay due to the partial government shutdown.

On Wednesday morning the road leading to the North Terminal at MIA was clear with cars flowing briskly. TSA checkpoints 1 through 3 were moving steadily with minimal delays and lines of about 15 to 75 people.

The TSA checkpoint that’s used for international arriving passengers who have connections was available to all travelers on Wednesday. It’s accessible via an entrance near Door 7.

TSA checkpoint 4 has been shut since Monday due to TSA staffing issues, said Chin. That’s “so that TSA staffing can be more evenly distributed to the other busier checkpoints,” he noted.

Arlene Satchell, a Fort Lauderdale airport spokesperson, told the Herald that they weren’t experiencing TSA staffing issues and that any longer than normal lines at TSA stemmed from busy spring travel or peak departure times. But on Wednesday “there are no unusual issues with TSA lines at FLL,” she said.