Ft Lauderdale Airport

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Bobjason

Guest
Just returned on Saturday (2/28) from a cruise on the Golden in the Eastern Caribbean. Great cruise, great ship, plenty of activities, great food, and excellent cabin. Had cabin #C223 on the Caribe deck. Had a large balcony half covered, half open. Cabin had more closet and drawer space than we needed. Only negative was that we couldn’t tender into the Princess Cays due water being too choppy. Had to live with sailing another day.
However the airline flight out of Ft Lauderdale on Saturday was another story - absolutely horrible. We got off the ship at 0930 and got to the airport around 1000. The line to ticket counter at Spirit Airlines went out the door and down past the next terminal. Then after we finally got finished at the ticket counter we had to take our luggage ourselves to the X-ray machines to get it checked. The personnel at the Spirit ticket were no help at all and it was quite confusing as to which X-ray machine to take the luggage to. After finally getting through all that we got in a security line that was twice as long as the line to the ticket counter. The only difference was the line moved faster and we didn’t have to deal with the luggage. The only reason we made our 1230 flight was that they finally pulled us out of the line to rush through security and get on the plane.
The situation was the worst I’ve ever encountered in an airport. My question is has anyone else experienced this at Ft Lauderdale with airlines other than Spirit or are they just that bad? Both they and the airport know how many passengers there are going to be on any given day. So there is no excuse for both of them not having additional personnel on the job and additional facilities open to take care of situations like this. I don’t buy the answer I received from the Spirit flight attendant that it’s all caused by the cruise lines dropping off so many passengers on Saturday and there is nothing that Spirit and the airport can do about it.
 
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cannonball

Guest
While this doesn't really answer your question it may at least partially explain the lines at the airport, but I did see on the news that FLL has some of the best security in the airport. So it's possible that it took longer because of this.

But I do think that the size of the airport is not appropriate for the amount of traffic in it. I mean besides just cruisers they are also lots of land tourists as well.
 
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CruiseAholic

Guest
Lets see...

..probably at least 5 ships in port....roughly 10,000 passengers many flying home.

...Yes lines are long but my experience in Fort Lauderdale (flown in/out of FLL for cruises 3 times since November 19, 2003) is that the airlines (flown Jet Blue and Delta) come down the lines and as you put it, rush you thru.

...Try Vancouver in July when ships are in port....my experience this past July (5 Alaska cruise) was absolutely horrible....lines and the security personnel were not to be swayed, many missed flights. We were in line 4 hours before our flight and were taken out by United as they said we were too early. We were not the only ones, and some missed their flights because of this.
 
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gram

Guest
In 2002 we were flying home from Ft. Lauderdale and the airport was a nightmare. We were flying US airways and the line was out the door. We had a 12:30 flight. If it wouldn't have been for a porter walking by and my husband said something to him he then pulled us out of the line and took us aside and booked us in. Other wise we would have not made our flight. Then in 2003 again US Airways and the lines out the door again. We were told to get out of line because out flight wasn't until 1:00. We refuse to do it. By the time we got up to the check in it was 12:30. What would have happened if we had gotten out of line like they wanted us to. Now I know do not book a return flight before 2:0'clock from FLL.
 
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ljeanbrown

Guest
Yes it is very crowded due to cruise ships on Sat. and Sun. Alot of people including myself fly into and out of FLL even if our cruise is out of Miami. It is a lot cheaper to fly into FLL, so you not only have the 5 or so ships from Port Everglades but the ones from Miami as well. Thats a lot of ships and thousands and thousands of passengers , all arriving close to the same time. We try to be the first off the ship and only take a taxi never the cruise lines shuttle service when we fly out of there. Another thing is to stay over a night and fly out first thing in the morning.
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
Jeez, you all are scaring me now. We have an 11 AM flight out of FLL.
(Flown out of there twice before and were at the airport by 9:45 both times for a 12:15 flight.) I plan to be in the first group to be called off the ship (hopefully) and to catch a porter at the pier and to tip him well to get us in a cab ASAP, but other than that, there isn't much I can do, is there?
 
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Bobjason

Guest
Our flight was at 1230. An earlier flight may better as the congestion may not be so bad at that time. The worst part of it all was standing in the huge, disorganized line with luggage trying to get to the ticket counter. We had 4 suitcases. A cart helped somewhat but it was so crowded you could barely maneuver it.
 
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ljeanbrown

Guest
Lady Jag,
check your luggage in curbside and go straight to security line and you should be OK, but it is tight. You should be at the airport when you want to be, it is the security line that is WOW! We fly Delta or US air and the lines are so long. They do pull you out of line if your flight is close, but you really need to be there 2 hours before your flight. At least that is how it has been on the airlines we have been on anyway. We found the earlier we got there the better, beating the buses is the key :thumb
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
Thanks, Laurie. That's exactly why I chose an earlier flight - I want to get the heck out of there before all the busses of people show up!!

I didn't even think of checking the bags curbside, but that is a great idea. We have e-tickets. Do we have to wait in that big line to check in with American Airlines before going to the security line?
 
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teddy g

Guest
i have a 3.50p departure from FLL on the same day as ship returns to port...can i assume that airport check-in lines should be thin considering ships port so early in the day? thnx.
 
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ljeanbrown

Guest
Lady Jag,
If you do curbside check in it should be a shorter line. For some reason people either really like to wait inside or maybe they think they have to but when we go the lines inside are always so long. We check our bags in at the curb and are given our boarding passes at the same time and then we just head to the security line and look at all the people in line inside wondering why they are all there =confuse
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
Oh - I'm one of those stupid people standing in that big line!!! :lol :dizzy :dizzy

Didn't know you could get boarding passes from the curbside check-in! I guess with e-tickets it'd be even easier, right?
 
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Einstein

Guest
A Gr8 reason to book a 10 Day cruise that arrives back in FLL on a weekday. :grin

.
 
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ljeanbrown

Guest
E,
Leave it to you to come up with that answer :lol


Lady Jag,
Oh I'm sorry , I didn't mean it like that. But now I know why some of the people are standing inside anyway :lol Yes it is very easy to get the boarding passes. One exception to this was on our cruise last May on US air, at our airport they did curbside check in but not in FLL. That is the only time that has ever happened at any airport , but lucky for us the line was really short inside :thumb
 
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PeabodyNVL

Guest
With many airlines, you can actually get your boarding pass printed from your computer at home. We did this with our trip to Vegas at the end of February. When you get to the actual gate, they may want you to come up and switch your electronic boarding pass for a hard copy.

United was actually trying to encourage this an had been offering 1000 extra bonus miles for doing this.

I believe on Spirit Airlines you can also print your boarding pass off at home.
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
Laurie - OH! I didn't take it that way at all! I'm always making fun of myself, so don't worry! :grin

I'm just SOOOO glad you told me about this! I called AA and asked them if we could do curbside check-in at LAX. Sometimes LAX has different procedures than most of the other airports. They checked and said, "Yes, definitely." So, we can check our bags at curbside and proceed to the security line and then the gate. This is going to save a BUNCH of time!! Thanks SO much!!

I hope it's the same in FLL. I'll check with AA just to make sure when we're at the airport. Thanks again!! :thumb
 
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ljeanbrown

Guest
Lady Jag,
No problem :thumb I'm glad you can do the curbside at LAX :jump not much longer for you to wait. Is your shopping all done and are you getting things together yet? We have this count down type of prep that we go through , it helps pass the time as the count down gets closer. We aren't cruising until Aug. but we need to get away sooner so we are flying to Tampa for a long weekend in May. We live in CT. so we need some warm weather right about now.
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
Shopping is pretty much done. Getting the 'boys' measured for tuxes this weekend and then ordering them online on Monday. Expecting the docs in the next week or so.

It's taking a lot of planning to get a long cruise and a short cruise prepared for when there's 4 of us! I'll have 4 days in between the 2 cruises - just enough time to do the laundry, pay the bills, do banking and pack again! Wish the 2 weren't so close together, but oh well. It'll be an "experience"....yeah, that's it! :grin

Can't blame you for wanting to escape the cold in CT! Have you thought about sailing out of Tampa while you're there? :? :?
 
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ljeanbrown

Guest
Lady Jag,
Yes we had thought about it but when we did that last time we really thought it would be nice to check out Tampa for more than just overnight. We have stayed overnight in Tampa prior to a cruise so this time we thought we would stay at the Marriott Waterside Hotel and Marina. It is right on the bay and near the cruise port. The hotel grounds connect to Channelside which is a nice plaza with shops, places to eat and movie theater. Then there is a trolley that you can take around the area and to Ybor City to look around. There is a lot to do in that area, plus the hotel pool is calling our names as well :lol
I'm glad you at least get the 4 days inbetween cruises. With all that laundry I would need time to do all of it before the next one :thumb Take pictures of the boys all dressed up in their tuxes I'm sure they look very sharp :thumb When we took our niece on a cruise last year she was 10 and she looked so cute all dressed up and she felt pretty special too. Just think they are all the next generation of official cruise-@ddicts.
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
Yes, I think we've created @ddicts!! :grin Tampa sounds like a neat place; hope you have lots of fun and most of all, warm weather! :wave :wave
 
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