Holiday Travel Rush Is On At South Florida's Airports

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - 'Tis the season. Close to half a million travelers are expected this weekend alone at Miami International Airport.

"I can't believe how long this line is and it's not even close to Christmas Eve," said Margery Lowe from Ft. Lauderdale.

Lowe is heading to Jamaica. After taking in the long lines, she started to worry if she would make her flight.

"Try to go early enough so we avoid this but this is excessive," she said.

This weekend, along with the first weekend of the new year, are the busiest at MIA. Over the holidays, more than 2.4 million travelers are expected at the airport through January 6th.

It has already been a headache for people on arriving flights. Nearly two dozen flights were canceled as of Friday morning. On Thursday close to 30 were diverted because of bad weather on the East Coast.

Some people, however, found that traveling at this time of year isn't bad at all.

"We travel every season during the holidays and we find it that it works out good for us," said Matt Riggs who was heading back to Phoenix. "We've had no problems so far, everything has been great."

Riggs is following the recommendations from the airport, arrive two hours early for domestic flights and two and a half for international flights. Some take the recommendations very seriously.

"We don't want to be late," said Moses McRae.

McRae and his girlfriend arrived early Friday morning at MIA for a flight that didn't depart until 5 p.m.

"This is the first time that I've ever gone out for the holidays," said McRae.

As for Lowe, she hopes the long line is the only hiccup during her vacation. She knows, however, over the next two weeks, to expect long lines anywhere.

"I guess it's any day and any time this time of year," she said.

Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is anticipating 1.7 million travelers from now until January 2nd.

MIA said the number of travelers this year is expected to increase about 50-thousand over last year.