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Thursday, June 28, 2007
Airport horror in the Sunshine State
I think I may just have discovered the worst airport experience in the US. It is not JFK or LAX (it is fashionable to rubbish them, yet I love them both).

No, this traveling horror goes by the three letters FLL: Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport in Florida.

I passed through FLL en route to the Bahamas last week for a filming trip. Let’s ignore the fact that all the flights were late (that is not the airport’s fault).

Let’s concentrate instead on a woefully inadequate immigration system that has people standing in lines for hours in hot rooms with not even a seat. The immigration room has an overflow for the overflow. When asking one of the assistants if this waiting and queuing was normal he cheerfully replied, “Oh, yes.”

The immigration staff themselves have a look when you stand in front of them that basically says “Ok, you’re up to no good… convince me why I should let you in the United States. “

This used to be the look experienced at JFK, LAX, SFO all the big gateways. These days the officers in those cities are pleasant, friendly and invariably say “Welcome” at the end of the process. I got the decided impression my officer was disappointed he could find no fault. His colleague made up for it by delaying my producer who then missed two flights and had to stay overnight.

Anyway, back to FLL. The signage is awful. Think I am wrong FLL? Pretend you don’t know the place, Mr. FLL Director, come out of customs and immigration and show me where there are decent signs telling you how to make your connection and which airline is where.

Getting from terminal to terminal either involves a bus, which is rarely seen, or a tram that shuttles around the multi-storey car park. The tram is a joke because your luggage has to go into the caboose all of which takes time and effort. The security staff were surly, the shopping miserable.

Oh, I don’t doubt you have your favourite “love to hate” but believe me it will be a very long time before I willingly subject myself to the FLL experience.

(For the record we have sent this blog to the Director of Aviation at FLL and have undertaken to publish the reply).
Posted by Richard Quest: 11:51 AM
8 Comments Add a comment
Richard, I have found both FLL and MIA to be abominable in the US. That being said, LHR for passengers changing terminals remains a travesty that begs to be fixed. I do hope that the open skies agreement forces BAA to reconsider its "services".
Posted By SD from Boston : 1:37 AM ET  
Warning:When Traveling to Orlando, Florida do not video tape the I-4 expansion project or you may be subjected to strict scrutiny and assault. I posted a video on youtube to show the world how freeway workers treated me during a recent visit. The title of the video is Freeway workers or hit men? Check it out.
Posted By Anonymous : 4:17 PM ET  
Miami would be my choice for place of arrival to avoid in the states. When traveling to Florida as final destination, I make a point of coming in via New York! It's less stressful.

One time at Miami, after a bleary transatlantic flight that had left me sleep-deprived, deafened, and voiceless, I finally reached the front of the long immigration line to find the officer perched up in his desk with his right hand pointed down toward me index finger out, other fingers curled and thumb upward in a sort of make-believe pistol poise. Perplexed, I handed him my passport, but he made no move toward it and muttered something like "the hand". His hand remained pointed vaguely toward me in that strange pistol conformation while my passport remained stuck in the air below and in front of him. I recall a brief exchange of words that has only left me with the impression that he asked me why I didn't understand English, generally berated me in terms that have left my memory, and concluded with me saying, as I recall, "well, I'll place the passport on the desk and you may pick it up however you prefer". Then he said "you can go back to the end of the line"!

Not that I cared particularly about whether they let me in or not, since I would have been rather relieved to have had an excuse for why I had not been able to fulfill my duty visit.

Fortunately for my befuddled patience, he relented in the next moments. Possibly because I asked for an explanation - I no longer recall that part. But the weird image of an immigration officer with his had out in a pistol shape and pointing silently down toward me as I approached his desk has remained.
Posted By Peter T. Breuer : 11:45 AM ET  
Heathrow, hands down. I queued for a queue to get into a queue to wait in line for an escalator.... I hate Heathrow. Now, Perth was gorgeous - a tiny little airport with gorgeous weather, with no amenities but really it was so nice to just sit outside anything else would be an excess of riches. And Chicago has that wonderful tunnel with the rainbow neon, and Denver has the train with the angry-sounding voice that snarls at you to get away from the doors... those are fun airports.
Posted By Anne, NT Australia : 1:53 AM ET  
I fly out of FLL every week. There are 4 terminals. Use mostly Terminal 3 for American & Terminal 1 for Continental. Always flying to Nassau or the Bahamas Islands.
Good Things: Free Wi-Fi and it works.
Coming from Nassau or Freeport you clear Customs in Bahamas. Other Islands we come in through Terminal 4, Customs there has been very quick for me the three time I've used it.

Bad things: I take early morning flights out of FLL, Terminal 1. At 6 AM none of the restaurants are not open. And there are a couple of hundred people there at that time waiting for their flights.
Worst of all the larger Chillis restaurant does not open until 10:00AM. (I suppose they close for lunch). On the other hand to be fair the Chillis in Terminal 3 opens at 7:00AM for Breakfast.
Please avaoid the airport on a weekend, all the cruise ship passengers are arriving, so the secusrity quese are long. Oher wise TSa handles the security efficiently.
MIA: No free Wi-Fi in the AA lounge Concourse A, they have a T-Mobile deal which guarantees you'll not be able to connect even if you want to pay. I was told if I wanted to leave the lounge and go out into gates that there was a one free Wi-Fi somewhere.
Really bad is Concourse C, not one ATM and just one small stand serving snacks, restrooms are dirty.
Really good is Concourse A, part of which is new, got several eating choices and in large and spacious. Problem is that its a damn long walk to Gate 51, even further when you arrive and have to go to Immigration & then customs. I get through Immigration in about 5 mins, then have to wait 45 mins or more for my luggage. It comes up on the wrong carousel, but there is only two, so maybe I shouldn;t comlplain. Trouble all the AA flights luggage comes up at the same time, so massive log jam at customs, still the customss guys do get us through pretty quickly.
Maybe I shouldn't complain, my son just went through Heathrow and was shocked at the inefficiency and petty hand luggage rules that should have been changed by now.
Posted By Pierre : 5:16 PM ET  
Hands down I will concur that MIA is among the worst major airports in North America. Considering it is a major hub for flights south, unfortunately it is hard to avoid. Apparently the signs "Pardon our dust due to construction" have been there for ten years (according to a local I was chatting with). Worse yet, the signage is terrible and the monitors with flight/gate info are "hidden" on the back side of the central customer service area. Lines have no cohesion and it can very hot with stale air. Staff are rude and harried. I will avoid Miami airport at all cost in future.
DA, Victoria, BC
Posted By Anonymous : 4:07 PM ET  
Perhaps Mr Quest does not have experience of Indian airports, they are the worst ,shabby including a true to Indian character, unfriendly and rude immigration staff
Posted By Manish India : 12:53 PM ET  
You clearly don't travel in So. FL much. I traveled every week to every other week out of So. FL for 7 years. FLL is a clean, friendly, nice airport and the line in immigration is quite short. You should try to have your stay in the Miami airport meet those adjectives. Good luck. Been flying through Miami since 1990. It hasn't changed at all, just gotten even ruder, dirtier, the lines longer and only on a very lucky day you are not in immigration for 45minutes.
Posted By Thyme 4 Change : 2:59 AM ET  
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