FORT LAUDERDALE-HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLA. (WSVN) - An intense winter storm brought hundreds of flights at South Florida airports to a halt over the weekend, leaving travelers stranded, and a piece of unattended luggage created further travel trouble at Miami International Airport.
7News cameras captured stranded flyers at MIA on Monday morning. With hotels booked up and out of their budget, travelers were forced to wait for updates on flights to their final destinations, following hundreds of delays and cancellations on Saturday and Sunday.
Traveler Eva Antoine, who is heading to Washington, D.C., summed up her ordeal in a few words.
“Annoying, inconvenient, hectic, teaches you patience, for sure.
Antoine and her brother flew into MIA from Costa Rica on Saturday and have been trying to get home ever since.
“[Our flight] got canceled because of the snowstorm, so then we got reshuffled; that got canceled, so we had to book a hotel room. We’re hopefully flying out today, if everything goes on par,” she said.
Antonie and her sibling are hardly alone. International traveler Daniel Herbert was in the U.S. on his honeymoon, and now he’s trying to get back home to Ireland.
“We had a brilliant, brilliant time; it came to a very bad ending,” said Herbert. “We couldn’t get in touch with our airline to then switch our flight, because they switched it to Tuesday, which makes no sense to us because we have young kids at home, and we need to go home and see them and look after them. We had to book a new flight. It costs over $1,000, which then, we had to pay over $500 for a hotel, and it’s just been a bit of a heartache.”
Other passengers were feeling disappointed.
“Chaos and crazy! I think I’m never traveling in January again,” said a passenger.
“It’s been delayed three times now. We’re sitting outside because there’s nowhere to sit inside,” said a passenger. “We left right as it was happening, as it got cold, and we’re going home to still cold weather.”
To make matters worse for other international flyers, a suspicious package prompted the evacuation of three MIA terminals on Sunday evening.
“We don’t know if we are leaving tonight or if we are going to stay overnight here,” said Alfredo Graci, who was traveling to Italy.
“Everyone was like stopping, and then ‘out, out, out,’ and it was like ‘why?’ But nobody said anything,” said Richard Ryszaid, who was traveling to London, England.
The commuter chaos unfolded around 5 o’clock, when Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies were forced to evacuate concourses G, H, and J after receiving reports of unattended luggage inside.
Cellphone video shows the moments when passengers were asked to leave their planes after boarding, joining the thousands of others standing curbside.
“A lot of people were just running out, not really understanding what was going on, and then the police were everywhere,” said Isabelle Alvarez, who was traveling to Rome, Italy.
The bomb squad arrived a short while later. A man was seen suiting up and heading in.
Deputies gave the all-clear shortly after and reopened the airport doors.
For some frustrated flyers, though, the scare was the least of their concerns, as a winter storm that pummeled most of the country caused significant flight delays and cancellations across South Florida.
Makhi Cauffman, who was heading to Philadelphia, found himself stranded.
“I’ve been here since like 6 o’clock yesterday. I’ve gotten, like, maybe an hour of sleep, because it’s so bright and noisy, and I’m expecting the same for the next 48 hours,” he said.
A total of 274 flights out of MIA and 315 flights at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport were canceled on Sunday.
“I’ll be stuck here for two more days,” said Cauffman.
A woman at FLL said her flight was canceled Monday morning, and her travel day is just getting started.
“Last night they tell us our flight is canceled due to, first technical [issues], then they think it was easier to … say it’s snow, weather, and they booked us tonight, leaving at 7 something to Montreal,” she said. “The layover is eight and a half hours in Montreal, then we’d be getting home at 10, so being at the airport now, and getting home tomorrow, 24 hours traveling time to get home.”
Joe Rozenbaum, another traveler at FLL, headed home to New York, said he’s had flight troubles due to the storm.
“The flight got canceled, so I had to rebook. I put the flight for tonight because I have work, and then it gets delayed two and a half hours,” he said. “It’s crazy! And then they closed Terminal E, and now everybody’s here. That’s why the TSA Pre-Check, which we pay dearly to the government, is full.”
The storm also impacted air travel for travelers like Jon and Raffy.
“It’s been quite the experience. ” I wouldn’t want to wish it on anybody,” said Raffy, who was traveling home to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Came here to visit and for vacation and got stuck here with the storm,” said Jon.
And passengers like Siena, who is headed home to Washington, D.C., said the travel hiccups have been a big headache.
“My flight got delayed until 11:40 tonight, and then about 6:30 p.m., it was switched back on time, so I left for the airport, got here, but obviously I’m not going to make it on time,” she said.
According to FlightAware, at FLL and MIA, there were nearly 300 cancellations and almost 700 delays. Airlines advise travelers to check their flight status before heading to the airport.
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