Delays stall Thanksgiving, Hanukkah travelers

Winter storm delays travelers at FLL, MIA

DANIA BEACH, Fla. – A massive winter storm delayed travelers leaving South Florida for Thanksgiving and Hanukkah.

Officials at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International and Miami International Airport reported dozens of delayed flights on Wednesday.

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FLL officials said as of 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, 25 departures were delayed and there were an additional 16 delayed arrivals.

Those delays were in addition to the fifty delayed flights reported at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday, officials said. The total for FLL was 91 delayed flights, primarily from Charlotte, N.C. north along the eastern seaboard.

"I'm nervous because I'm catching a flight in Jacksonville, so I'm flying to Jacksonville and then Dallas," said Christine Cohen.

"It's still early in the daytime, so probably later on the day it might get hectic here, so I'm happy I'm leaving now and not later on," said Damon Senior.

"There is only one bar in this place. I'm going to hit it right now and let's see what happens after that," added Sameer Toswami.

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But some would've happily stayed in South Florida.

"My flight was coming out of Newark and I thought they closed the airport down or something. To me, I would have been happy as anything," said Mel Jacobs. "I would have stayed here for Thanksgiving. You are telling me I would've been at the beach toady? I am going home to 18 degrees. You want to go to Cleveland?"

FLL officials said their biggest challenge Wednesday night was the roadway leading into the airport on the lower level.

"Overall, operations have been good despite the high volume of flights, the challenges with the weather and the fact we are operating with one runway," said Gregory Meyer with the Broward County Aviation Department.