(WSVN) - As some frustrated flyers found out last weekend, parking at Miami International Airport was literally MIA. 7’s Karen Hensel raised the concerns with airport officials, and this crush of cars is the focus of tonight’s 7 Investigates.
Cars left on or hanging off curbs. Others parked next to “no parking” signs. The owner of an SUV, presumably in such a rush, left it near a stairwell with a window wide open.
Our cameras captured an array of parking faux pas, as passengers created their own spots because the actual ones were all taken.
Dave Barry: “I’m surprised there aren’t people parking in the elevators. It’s gotten so crowded there.”
Famed newspaper columnist and author Dave Barry was one of many who tried and failed to park in an airport garage last Friday.
Dave Barry: “We finally get to the front of the line, and there’s a police officer, and he’s just saying, ‘It’s closed,’ and he’s just waving you through. Drove home, left my car home and took a taxi back to the airport and barely made my flight.”
Not everyone was so lucky.
In response to an MIA alert about the full garages, one person responded, “Very helpful to send this tweet right now minutes ago, thank you so much. I’ll send it to the version of myself from 3 hours in the past who hadn’t missed his flight yet. Well done.”
Karen Hensel: “What kind of feedback have you gotten from people in the last week?”
Greg Chin, spokesman, Miami-Dade Aviation Dept.: “It’s been challenging.”
Miami-Dade Aviation spokesman Greg Chin is well aware of flyers’ frustrations.
Greg Chin: “We certainly regret the inconvenience that happened to passengers this past weekend, but we had unprecedented rise in traffic.”
How unprecedented? Miami International had the busiest day in the airport’s history on Sunday with 167,529 total passengers.
Greg Chin: “We went from a low of 4,000 travelers at the low of the pandemic, to now we’re seeing 160,000, almost 170,000 travelers. So, two years ago, we had the Super Bowl. Now, every day is like a Super Bowl for us.”
But the parking problem in particular is about locals trying to take flight.
Greg Chin: “Inbound is fine. It’s the departing that’s a challenge. These are the lights that show you what spaces are open and which are not.”
We walked with Chin through the packed Flamingo Garage.
Greg Chin: “He’s parked here, and he was one of those people that we allowed to let him slide.”
Letting drivers create their own parking spaces like this obviously won’t fly forever, but there are solutions in the works. An online tool launching this summer will allow passengers to check garage capacity on their phones before ever leaving for the airport.
Greg Chin: “You can see, ‘Oh, it’s a really busy day. I better get there early or I better get dropped off.'”
Also coming soon, a repurposed employee parking lot will add an additional 300 to 400 new spaces.
Greg Chin: “By June, this will be a park-and-ride lot for passengers.”
A big fix is still a few years away.
Renderings of a new employee garage scheduled to open in 2025 show the structure will have more than 2,200 parking spaces. It will free up existing parking for passengers in the Dolphin and Flamingo garages. These garages are set for a $52 million renovation themselves.
Dave Barry: “The parking has not, I think, kept pace with the modernization of the rest of the airport.”
Easier parking on the ground will help passengers more smoothly take flight in the future.
Airport officials encourage travelers to consider other ways to get dropped off, including ride-sharing, Tri-Rail and Miami-Dade Transit. For more information, including a website to find off-site parking, check out the links below:
CONTACT 7INVESTIGATES:
305-627-CLUE
954-921-CLUE
7Investigates@wsvn.com
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