Photo by Armando Raul Rodriguez
Audio By Carbonatix
Staring down the barrel of Thanksgiving with the fam, you may well be packing your bags and scheduling your Uber right now. And you probably don’t need yet another study to inform you that flying out of Miami International Airport (MIA) or Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport (FLL) over Thanksgiving weekend is not going to be a Zen-like experience.
We’re going to tell you anyway.
According to a new study based on 2023 Thanksgiving holiday travel, MIA had the longest average peak security wait time, while FLL had the highest percentage of delayed flights. For the study, Jettly, a private jet charter service, crunched U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Bureau of Transportation Services data for the 34 largest airports in the nation to determine its rankings.
You’ll never guess who sucks the most.
Here is a list of the top five airports the for longest security wait times and delayed flights during the Thanksgiving travel season.
Graphic by Jettly
With an average security-line wait time of 54.1 minutes during Thanksgiving weekend in 2023, MIA earned the dubious No. 1 spot, edging out Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City at 53.6 and 53.2 minutes, respectively. Travelers flying through FLL had to wait 48.8 minutes through security in 2023 – placing fifth on the list behind Seatle-Tacoma International (SEA), which registered 49.7 minutes.
In terms of flight delays, FLL led all U.S. airports with a whopping 21.2 percent of flights experiencing delays during Thanksgiving travel. Orlando International (MCO) and Tampa International (TPA) were the only other Florida airports among the top ten for most delayed flights, with 19.8 percent and 17 percent.
Look at it this way: You’re gonna have to arrive super-early anyway, so if you’re flying out of Miami this week, you probably made the right airport choice. If your tickets say FLL – well, godspeed.
