Florida Airports Lead The Way In Cancellations And Delays

Florida airports are about to get really busy. With the holidays rapidly approaching it's estimated that 2 in 3 Americans plan on traveling this holiday season. 42% by plane. Of those, over a third are worried about delays and cancellations. Here's one - 75% of people are willing to pay more to fly directly to their destination in an attempt to avoid travel issues. I fall into this category. I recently planned a holiday trip from Florida to head up north and yes, I paid more for a direct flight. Delta once rerouted my connecting flight to Minnesota and then stuck me there over night because of weather. Not doing that again.

Not well, actually. But it's really not all our fault. I'll get to that.

An analysis of U.S Department of Transportation data reveals the airports with the most delays and cancellations.

Most Delays:

Most Cancellations:

A flight is considered delayed if it leaves more than 15 minutes after it's scheduled time. Cancelled is, well, cancelled. 31.85% of FLL departures were delayed. 2.59% were cancelled.

Stuff happens in Florida. Back in August, Hurricane Idalia "canceled more than 1,000 flights and delayed nearly 900 more." And that didn't really affect Fort Lauderdale much. Back in April, Fort Lauderdale got around 2 feet of rain which flooded the runways, closing the airport. More than 1,100 flights were cancelled and a lot more delays as the airport turned into a lake. This is what the board looked like on that day.

We get some pretty extreme weather in Southwest Florida, too. So I think it's a big deal that RSW is not on this list. Miami is 6 on the Most Delayed list. Here's the full study.

Vacations and travel are supposed to be fun right?  What could be worse then getting to your destination to find that your luggage has been lost? No one wants to wear their plane clothes any longer than they have to.

Unfortunately, it's happening all too often across the United States and apparently, especially here in Florida.

I've been a victim of lost luggage in the past and it just plain sucks.  That's all there is to it.  We spend so much time packing and planning, to make sure we've got everything we need for a trip.  Then to find out you've got nothing, and don't know when or if your stuff will ever reach you.  UGH!  Super frustrating.

With summer in full motion, the crew over at Forbes, put together a list of the worst airports in the country for lost luggage.

In order to complete the list Forbes Advisor compared the nation’s 100 busiest airports using TSA data across four metrics.

The worst airport for lost luggage isn't in Florida.  Phew! Taking the number one spot is John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.  Also among the top 10 worst were Los Angeles, Norfolk, Boston, Harry Reid in Vegas, Newark, Daniel K. Inouye in Honolulu and Dulles in Washington DC.  You can read the full study completed by Forbes here.

So, how did the 5 Florida airports rank in the top 25 worst for lost luggage?  Let's take a look

Between 2013 and 2022, Miami International Airport had the second highest number of both property loss claims and property damage claims

https://www.miami-airport.com/

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport had the ninth highest number of property loss claims over the past decade and tied for eleventh with LAX for property damage claims

https://www.fort-lauderdale-airport.com/

Only about 29% of property loss claims were fully reimbursed.

https://www.orlandoairports.net/

Just over 24% of property loss claims were fully reimbursed.

https://flyrsw.com/

Less than 20% of property loss claims were fully reimbursed.

https://www.tampaairport.com/