Why are South American flights from Fort Lauderdale cheaper?

[Sugah Ray]

I have gone to MIA and Ft Lauderdale airports many times and never had a problem parking, flying, picking up people or coming back from the airport. Both airports are easy to navigate.

If the driving distance is not significant(if someone lives in Aventura for example) I would understand choosing Ft Lauderdale but if someone lives in SW Miami and the cost of the fare is similar, I think that person is just wasting time driving all the way to Ft Lauderdale.

IMO what makes most airports complicated are free standing terminals, frequent gate changes and long lines. The only airports I experienced those situations frequently are Atlanta's, LAX and JFK. Atlanta's airport is the worst I have seen in the US.

[deboinair]

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

Of course it is. And it doesn't exactly require an advanced degree to determine why: it's much, much, smaller than MIA. However, if one is taking a taxi to/from the airport, then the parking, pickup, etc. issues disappear and you're only concerned with what amenities are available inside the terminals. And on that basis, MIA is light years better than FLL.

I don't know where you are going with this, but I lived in Miami Lakes. So driving to an off site airport parking was $5 dollars a day. The shuttle took literally 8 minutes to get to the airport. I lived closer to MIA and would spend more.

[ldl5112]

Originally Posted by Sugah Ray

IMO what makes most airports complicated are free standing terminals, frequent gate changes and long lines. The only airports I experienced those situations frequently are Atlanta's, LAX and JFK. Atlanta's airport is the worst I have seen in the US.

Having worked at both ATL and MIA, I think ATL gets a bad rap. It's actually a pretty good airport to fly to/from/through, as long as you go into it with the awareness that it's a huge, busy airport. If people would just stop trying to schedule short layovers and would check the update screens frequently, they'd be fine. The folks flying with Delta especially need to realize that Delta is spread throughout several of the concourses. You can't just hope that the next flight will be next door to the arriving one. I personally wouldn't fly domestic through ATL with anything less than an hour and a half layover, more if you want to get something to eat. If flying international, give 3-4 hours minimum. I actually prefer ATL to MIA when flying, since you are free to travel throughout ATL once you're through security, and at MIA, you're basically stuck in the concourse your flight is leaving from (similar to FLL).