Today is expected to be the busiest travel day of the year.
AAA reported that more than 55 million Americans were expected to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday, and many of them were packing South Florida airports to get back home or were arriving back home on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
Despite the busy travel day, nothing would bring down Carolynn Smith’s mood as she danced and smiled in the long TSA line at Miami International Airport.
Rocking her Pittsburgh Steelers shirt, she was in town from Cincinnati to celebrate her husband’s birthday.
“I’m in a calm space, and I’m still on vacation mentally anyway, and my team won,” said Smith.
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Smith was one of millions of travelers who would make their way through the Miami International Airport security checkpoints Sunday as the Thanksgiving holiday was winding down.
Getting to the airport was no easy task.
“The traffic was a little disturbing to say the least and that’s with us arriving three hours ahead of schedule,” said Smith.
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There were a total of 166 delayed flights and three cancellations at MIA on Sunday. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport also saw 298 delays, in part caused by snowy weather conditions up north.
By Monday morning, things had improved at the airports, with 7 delays reported at MIA and just 2 at FLL.
It hasn’t just been busy at the airports. Martin Ramirez said he got held back for hours at Port Miami after arriving from his holiday cruise.
“We waited for our bags, and they came and told us that the shuttle had been sitting on the bridge for an hour and a half, wasn’t moving,” said Ramirez.
As the holiday travel season continues into December, the good news is, Sunday’s delays and disruptions seemed minimal compared to the massive disruptions we’ve seen during past seasons.
