FORT LAUDERDALE-HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLA. (WSVN) - Severe weather led to canceled and delayed flights at South Florida airports for a second day in a row.
On Saturday, nearly 50 flights were grounded at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded for days.
“It’s been beyond stressful, because I had a one-day flight, in and out,” said traveler Gregory James. “Call the number, I stand in line, so I said, ‘Cut through the chase. Are we flying out tonight?'”
The customer service line leading up to the Delta desk snaked around the corner at FLL.
Suzanne Kilnger was among the Delta passengers whose flight was canceled.
“We can’t get out until Monday afternoon,” she said.
Traveler Nancy Boswick said she is also stuck through the weekend.
“We won’t get a flight here until Monday, and we don’t have money to stay in a hotel,” she said.
The airline app FlightAware reported airlines canceled nearly 300 domestic flights on Saturday.
“Flights are grounded, and the weather in the East was bad,” said Klinger.
A spokesperson for FLL issued a statement regarding the cancellations. It reads in part, “Please note that these flight impacts are due to a combination of factors including airline operational issues and bad weather nationally.”
“I don’t know if we rent a car and drive home. We have a dog at the kennels we have to pick up,” said a traveler. “It’s my birthday tomorrow.”
The cancellations and delays come as a line of inclement weather makes its way east across the state this weekend.
On Thursday, a tornado ripped through the Florida Panhandle, killing at least two people. The twister destroyed homes and knocked out power for tens of thousands of people in the South and Midwest.
But Capt. Dennis Tajer, a spokesperson for Allied Pilots Association, said the weather isn’t only to blame.
“This is exactly what we’ve been talking about. It’s weather hits, flights get canceled, but while it’s happening, if you don’t have enough staffing — in particular, pilots — and you don’t have the skills to connect them to the airplane, you have cancellations,” he said.
Allied Pilots Association is an advocacy group that represents thousands of U.S. pilots.
“What I’m seeing right now are 100 of those 272 flights are canceled because they can’t connect the pilots to the airplanes,” said Tajer. “They’re crediting those as, ‘We don’t have the pilots to fly.'”
Tajer said the weather creates a perfect storm of overbooked flights, jam-packed departure schedules and understaffed airlines.
The situation this weekend was nearly as bad at Miami International Airport. Friday night, a 7News viewer shot cellphone video showing hundreds of passengers waiting to rebook their tickets, after 17 flights were canceled.
An MIA spokesperson confirmed Saturday afternoon that nine arriving flights and three departing flights were grounded, with more cancellations to come.
Back at FLL, travelers huddled up in terminals, as some of them tried to find that silver lining in their unplanned extended stay.
“We’re just going to sleep in the airport and go to the beach in the day,” said Boswick.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.