FORT LAUDERDALE-HOLLYWOOD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLA. (WSVN) - There was travel trouble for passengers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and other airports across the country after an outage caused a delay in operations on what is considered the busiest travel season.
For passengers at FLL on Sunday, there was nothing to do but to wait.
“I think this was the busiest day of the year,” said traveler Ma’at Hetep, who flew back to South Florida from Baltimore.
Hetep said she dealt with delays, but her trip was manageable.
“I was supposed to be boarding at 3 something, and they I had me going to 5, and they went back to 4,” she said. “It was all over the place.”
Meanwhile, traveler Andrew Kene arrived at FLL with his goldendoodle.
“Hi, buddy. You’re home now,” Kene said to his dog.
Kene said he wasn’t bothered by his half-hour delay in Chicago.
“Nowadays I’ll take it,” he said.
As he should, given the stress of Thanksgiving weekend travel.
It was a different situation at FLL on Saturday, when passengers went through a smoother checking-in and boarding process.
“It was crazy when we got into Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday afternoon. The airport was really super busy, and coming back today on Saturday, it’s great. It’s like there’s nobody here,” said traveler Sean Foley.
But Saturday saw clear skies and warmer weather. By Sunday, more than 2,000 flights had been delayed across the country, with at least 59 flights canceled, according to FlightAware.
“When we left Florida, we had heard the same thing, that there was going to be 150,000 passengers. Actually, the airport was easy to get in and out of,” a traveler told CNN.
Bad weather across parts of the country didn’t make it easy elsewhere. A large storm swept across the Midwest to the Northeast, and other systems to the South threatened to make for a taxing end to the Thanksgiving weekend for flyers.
“I definitely saw more people when I was traveling last week here,” said traveler Zoe Martinelli.
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