Operations at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport are back to normal after an IT problem caused a headache for travelers.
Travelers eager to get home to start the new year told NBC 6 they didn’t want to end 2022 this way, but in the meantime, the airport said things are running as normal.
On Saturday morning, it was a crowded terminal at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
“We’re going to be in the airport for 12 hours before we even get a chance to leave Florida,” said Lawrence Montoya, a passenger whose flight was delayed.
Montoya and his family just got off a cruise and were hoping the headaches from the recent trip wouldn’t affect them.
“We had read about it and hoped that by the time we were on the cruise line, things would clear up. But now, this morning was a rude awakening,” Montoya said.
Commuters were counting down the minutes until they could get up and go home as the clock ticked down to midnight.
“But she just keeps pushing. We’re newly engaged, so hopefully we’ll be able to watch the ball drop and give each other our first kiss as an engaged couple,” said fellow passenger Cornell Freeney.
Freeney and his fiancee were stranded at the airport for hours.
“We have had several cancellations. Thankfully, we were able to get a reservation, but now we’re just waiting and stuck with our bag because we can’t check them in until our flight,” Freeney said. “But it just keeps happening. . pushed around.”
With several vacations coming to a chaotic end, some travelers ended 2022 with lessons learned.
“I think next time I’m going to try to fly, you know, a few days earlier, to try to avoid it or give myself a little wiggle room,” Freeney said.
The airport posted an explanation for the chaos saying an IT outage affected their security screening and other systems in Terminal 1.
A few hours later, they issued an update saying operations were back to normal and they apologized for the inconvenience.
According to flight tracking website FlightAware, there were at least 120 flights to or from Fort Lauderdale that were delayed.
