FlightAware<\/a> listed 255 delays as of 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n\u201cMIA had 15 domestic departures canceled on Saturday, 16 on Sunday, and 10 today because of the emergency order,\u201d spokesman Greg Chin said by email. FlightAware listed 258 delays Monday.<\/p>\n
Palm Beach International had 97 delays and 16 cancellations, according to FlightAware. The West Palm Beach airport was not among those targeted for cutbacks, but is experiencing residual problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cTravelers are encouraged to remain in contact with their airline to confirm their flight status and receive the latest updates,\u201d Chin said. \u201cWe appreciate the patience and understanding of our passengers while airlines nationwide comply with this federal directive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nationally, the service reported more than 7,000 delays and more than 2,500 cancellations. Many disruptions, however, were attributable to bad weather in the northern parts of the U.S.<\/p>\n
At the Fort Lauderdale airport\u2019s Terminal 2 \u2014 where Delta Air Lines shares space with Canadian carriers Air Canada and WestJet \u2014 a massive line ran from the latter carrier\u2019s ticket counter to an exit in the terminal\u2019s southwest corner.<\/p>\n
John Kotur, a Toronto resident who was returning with 15 companions including his girlfriend from a cruise that ended at Port Everglades, said they were actually aboard a WestJet plane Sunday evening when the flight was canceled. Kotur said two explanations circulated for the lost flight: first, the crew couldn\u2019t leave because they had become \u201ctimed out\u201d under federal regulations, and second, the weather was prohibitive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to book a hotel right away, but it was very expensive,\u201d Kotur said.<\/p>\n
The overnight delay meant he had to cancel a Monday appointment with his chiropractor.\u00a0And since the airline was sticking to the weather-related reason for the canceled flight, Kotur had to foot the bill for the $250 hotel tab.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not taking responsibility for it at this point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But his top priority was to head north as soon as possible. \u201cI hope to get there today,\u201d he said on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Tight quarters at Southwest terminal<\/p>\n
About 5:30 p.m. Sunday, upon entering the \u201cB\u201d area of Terminal 1 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, it became readily apparent that most of the travelers who occupied every seat in the waiting areas had been waiting to leave for most of the day.<\/p>\n
Whether they were once happy cruisers who had taken the short ride to the airport from Port Everglades, or business travelers headed out of town, few could be found whose flights with Southwest Airlines had not been delayed \u2014 or canceled. Some wandered about with drinks in their hands. Others anxiously checked phones and departure boards, or awaited their turns for facetime with a customer service agent.<\/p>\n
One man from Oklahoma said he had been at the airport with his family since 10 a.m. after disembarking from a weeklong cruise at the seaport. He said he was trying to get home via Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas, but had missed out on every connecting flight available.<\/p>\n
Pledges to help<\/p>\n
Most air carriers including Spirit and Southwest \u2014 both among the largest tenants at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International \u2014 said they expected to operate most of their scheduled flights. They did, but with many behind schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will work to minimize any impacts to our Guests,\u201d Spirit said in a website message.<\/p>\n
Industrywide, airlines for the most part reached out to their customers via text or email to communicate changes. They rebooked passengers whose flights were canceled, and offered full refunds if travelers decided to abandon their plans and not fly.<\/p>\n
Not everyone who flew over the weekend faced disruptions.<\/p>\n
A water polo team from Trinidad & Tobago that won three gold medals and two silvers at a Caribbean-wide tournament in Coral Springs was poised to fly to Port of Spain with Caribbean Airlines from Terminal 1. Their flight was listed as leaving on time \u2014 likely a function of most international flights not being affected by the FAA\u2019s order.<\/p>\n
Back at the Delta terminal, Dennis Maier of Davie and his wife, Ginny, said they flew from Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta\u2019s cavernous Hartsfield International Airport and back after experiencing only a minor glitch. They took JetBlue Airways north after a Delta flight was delayed \u2014 rebooking their northbound trip via an app.<\/p>\n
They returned on time Monday aboard Delta.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody was great,\u201d Dennis Maier said. \u201cAttitudes were good. No problem.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seated on a sidewalk with his back propped against a concrete pillar, Spirit Airlines passenger Rick Johnson of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,558,28,29,249,251,250,686,114,266,123,373,5741,115,557,99,109,1798,4556],"class_list":["post-41555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-broward-county","tag-business","tag-florida","tag-florida-news","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-hollywood","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-miami","tag-miami-dade-county","tag-national-news","tag-news","tag-palm-beach-county","tag-politics","tag-social","tag-transportation","tag-west-palm-beach"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}