What is FLL airport like?

If we have time to kill, is there anything of interest there, good shops and restaurants?

unfortunately, rubbish shops and nothing good to eat.

Try and kill time somewhere else.

Water taxi, Everglades tour, Galleria Mall........ how long do you have?

If we have time to kill, is there anything of interest there, good shops and restaurants?

Free WiFi.

Due to insufficient capacity at FLL most airlines will not check your bags more than 3 or 4 hours before your flight. If you are earlier than that you will end up sitting around doing absolutely nothing, as all the restaurants and shops are inside the secure area rather than outside near the ticket counters.

All terminals have restaurants pre security . That is according to the FLL website. Most airports/airlines don't accept luggage earlier than 4 hours before a scheduled flight.

FLL is a very uninspiring airport, and can get pretty crazy. If you have a lot of time to kill pre-cruise, I'd look into what post-cruise shorex your cruise line offers. They will drop you and your luggage off afterwards at the airport.

Roz

how long do you have?

I don't know how long we have. The flight doesn't leave until 2:00 pm. Even if we request the last disembark group, we will probably have 4 hours. I'll look into post-cruise tours.

There is not much there.

I would go to an area hotel for an early lunch and then head over to the airport.

Still give yourself time to get through security. I would arrive 90 minutes to two hours before your flight.

Keith

FLL one of my least favorite airports (I do have some favorites ;)).

Hard to believe with as much traffic that comes through this airport the public areas haven't been improved. :eek::(

My travel experience is still somewhat limited, but it was the worst airport I've been to. Weird/questionable security (got yelled at for trying to put my stuff in a tray on the line? Was told to just throw it on the belt), standing room only at the gates to the point that arriving passengers had trouble getting off the plane, only one set of bathrooms in the terminal I was in, broken display panel at the luggage carousel, and a stoner kid working the info desk telling me it had been broken for weeks. He also told me the taxi drivers would all rip me off.

I grew up in south Florida so none of this crappiness arrived as a shock.

Don't plan on finding anything to do (or maybe even finding a seat) here.

First of all, I will say that I have only been in the SW terminal. As of March, there were no actual restaurants before security in the SW. The food options beyond security are not what I call inspiring (you know it's pretty bad when you are excited to see an Auntie Anne's pretzels because it just may be your best option).

It is also incredibly crowded. We got stuck in the "you can't check your luggage" fiasco. We were also told by SW agents that we couldn't go through security once we did check our bags. Finding seats once you are through is a challenge and there is only one rest room air-side in the entire SW terminal. You know it's bad when there are lines for the MENS rest room!

Still, it gets us to and from our cruise (at a decent price since we fly SWA), so we deal. It just will never be an experience we look forward to (unlike how I am looking forward to crab dip and a glass of wine in a couple of weeks when flying through Baltimore!).

WOW! I had no idea it was so bad there. I love the idea of having an early lunch at a hotel. (Maybe even a Bloody Mary.) We can then head off to the airport relaxed.

WOW! I had no idea it was so bad there. I love the idea of having an early lunch at a hotel. (Maybe even a Bloody Mary.) We can then head off to the airport relaxed.

If your cruiseline/carrier offers Luggage Valet you won't even have to have your luggage with you or worry about it...just a suggestion.

Don't plan on finding anything to do (or maybe even finding a seat) here.

 

First of all, I will say that I have only been in the SW terminal. As of March, there were no actual restaurants before security in the SW. The food options beyond security are not what I call inspiring (you know it's pretty bad when you are excited to see an Auntie Anne's pretzels because it just may be your best option).

 

It is also incredibly crowded. We got stuck in the "you can't check your luggage" fiasco. We were also told by SW agents that we couldn't go through security once we did check our bags. Finding seats once you are through is a challenge and there is only one rest room air-side in the entire SW terminal. You know it's bad when there are lines for the MENS rest room!

Ditto all this--my experience in SW terminal was the same in June. Maybe someone can tell us if the other terminals are as bad. Like I said, I haven't flown much (just got over a fear of flying recently), but I've been in and out of RDU, BNA, MCO, BWI and MSY in the last couple of years, and other than an insanely long security line leaving NOLA one weekend, hadn't seen anything as bad as FLL.

I think RDU/BNA in particular had spoiled me.

Ditto all this--my experience in SW terminal was the same in June. Maybe someone can tell us if the other terminals are as bad. Like I said, I haven't flown much (just got over a fear of flying recently), but I've been in and out of RDU, BNA, MCO, BWI and MSY in the last couple of years, and other than an insanely long security line leaving NOLA one weekend, hadn't seen anything as bad as FLL.

 

I think RDU/BNA in particular had spoiled me.

Have used Terminal 2 several times flying with Delta .... :eek::eek:... I actually thought Terminal 1 with Southwest wasn't "as" bad, but that's not saying much. ;)

Some useful information is available in http://www.broward.org/Airport/About/Documents/Airportseaportbooklet101910.pdf.

There are baggage storage concessons in every terminal. See the Public Baggage Storage heading in http://www.broward.org/Airport/Services/Pages/Default.aspx

Flying in to FLL on Monday, it actually wasn't too bad for me in January. I did live in Boca right out of college. The craziness of FLL beats the wheelchairs of West Palm Beach any day.

I got to airport around 11:30 for a 2:30 flight in February. As a solo I checked luggage, cleared TSA much easier than my previous flight out of La Guardia. Sat for a sandwich and a cocktail. Maybe it's all relative.

There isn't a lot to see in the airport, but it certainly isn't horrible. It's clean, modern, and organized. One of the terminals has a Chili's Too pre-security, but I don't recall anything else pre-security other than maybe a coffee stand.