US travelers passing through Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport are facing another bruising travel day as flight cancellations and delays ripple across the country’s aviation network. Spirit Airlines and JetBlue, the airport’s two dominant carriers, are at the center of the disruption, with more than a dozen flights canceled and scores delayed, stranding passengers, clogging terminals and underscoring the fragility of the system at one of America’s most delay-prone airports.
Fresh Turmoil at a Key South Florida Gateway
The latest wave of disruption hit Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Sunday, February 8, 2026, with cancellations and delays mounting through the morning and into the afternoon. Data from airport operations and flight-tracking services show more than a dozen flights scrubbed and a far larger number running late, affecting departures and arrivals across the United States.
While total numbers are evolving throughout the day, Spirit Airlines and JetBlue account for a significant share of the issues, reflecting their outsize footprint at Fort Lauderdale. On similar recent days, Fort Lauderdale has tallied dozens of cancellations and well over one hundred delays, with some travel industry trackers reporting more than 100 late departures and a cluster of cancellations concentrated among low cost and leisure carriers serving domestic and near international routes.
Passengers report long lines at check in, congested gate areas and extended waits on the tarmac as aircraft shuffle for available slots. For many travelers, today’s disruptions are not an isolated event but another entry in a growing list of headaches tied to operations at Fort Lauderdale, an airport that has seen everything from weather related chaos to capacity cuts and holiday gridlock in recent months.
Spirit and JetBlue at the Heart of the Disruptions
Spirit Airlines, headquartered just a short drive from Fort Lauderdale, remains the airport’s largest carrier and is again bearing much of the scrutiny from frustrated passengers. The airline’s network strategy, heavily concentrated on high frequency, price sensitive routes, leaves little margin for error when schedules come under stress. Recent months have already seen Spirit trimming routes and scaling back its ambitions as it works through a second bankruptcy restructuring, and any operational wobble quickly ripples across hubs like Fort Lauderdale.
JetBlue, Fort Lauderdale’s second major player, is also prominently represented on today’s board of delayed and canceled flights. The carrier has been aggressively reshaping its South Florida footprint, expanding service from Fort Lauderdale and targeting routes where Spirit has historically been strong. That growth has added competition and choice for travelers but has also added complexity for an airport still adjusting to a shifting mix of airlines and destinations.
On days of broad disruption, these two airlines often make up the bulk of Fort Lauderdale’s schedule, so even a relatively small percentage of cancellations quickly translates into hundreds of passengers stuck in limbo. Families heading for Caribbean vacations, students returning to university cities like Boston and Philadelphia, and business travelers flying to key domestic markets such as New York, Atlanta and Dallas have all found their plans upended.
Weather, Runway Work and a National System Under Strain
Today’s problems in Fort Lauderdale do not exist in isolation. A series of winter storms in recent weeks has battered air travel across the United States, creating rolling backlogs of aircraft and crew that take days to unwind. Major carriers have struggled to normalize operations at key hubs after snow and ice shut down or slowed airports in the Midwest and Northeast, and those lingering effects continue to wash through the system.
Closer to home, Fort Lauderdale is undergoing routine runway maintenance in early February, with overnight closures on alternating runways scheduled between February 2 and February 6. While the work is planned for off peak hours and designed to minimize disruption, any reduction in operational flexibility at a busy airport can increase vulnerability to knock on effects from weather elsewhere or from minor technical issues that might otherwise be absorbed without major schedule changes.
More broadly, the national aviation system is still adjusting to a new phase of demand and capacity. Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to trim schedules at dozens of US airports during a protracted government shutdown, a move that directly hit Fort Lauderdale and contributed to long lines and crowded terminals. Those cuts laid bare how thin staffing and tight schedules can be when demand runs high and any external shock, from policy disputes to winter storms, hits the network.
Fort Lauderdale’s Growing Reputation for Travel Headaches
For frequent travelers, today’s turmoil fits a pattern that has made Fort Lauderdale one of the most talked about and often criticized airports in the country. Recent independent analyses of holiday travel performance ranked Fort Lauderdale as the worst major US airport for holiday season reliability, citing a high percentage of flights delayed or canceled and security lines that stretch far longer than the national average.
In peak periods such as Thanksgiving and Christmas 2025, Fort Lauderdale recorded thousands of disrupted flights, with some days seeing hundreds of delays and dozens of cancellations packed into a single 24 hour stretch. Television footage from those periods showed traffic barely moving on the access roads, lines snaking through terminals and passengers camping out on the floor near power outlets as they waited for new departure times.
Part of the challenge lies in the airport’s role as a leisure gateway. Fort Lauderdale is a launch pad for Caribbean cruises, Florida beach vacations and Latin American city breaks, which means a disproportionate number of passengers are flying on fixed itineraries with limited flexibility. Missing a flight can mean missing a cruise departure or losing a prepaid vacation package, ratcheting up the frustration when operations go awry.
Stranded Passengers, Missed Connections and Human Impact
Behind the statistics on cancellations and delays are thousands of individual stories. At the departure gates this morning, parents tried to keep children entertained as boarding times slid repeatedly. Elderly travelers, some in wheelchairs, waited for gate agents to confirm whether they would make tight connections in Atlanta or Charlotte. Cruise passengers checked their port arrival times again and again, weighing whether to rebook for the next day or race to catch up with a ship at its next stop.
Many travelers arriving into Fort Lauderdale faced their own hurdles. Rerouted flights landed hours late, pushing arrivals into the early morning. Rental car counters saw surges of frustrated customers trying to salvage road trips when onward connections evaporated. Hotels near the airport filled with stranded passengers seeking last minute rooms using compensation vouchers or their own credit cards when airlines declined to cover overnight stays.
For airline staff on the ground, days like these are emotionally draining. Gate agents and customer service representatives juggle rebooking options, hotel negotiations and a constant stream of questions from anxious passengers. Flight crews, already working the maximum hours allowed, find themselves reassigned, delayed or held on reserve as operations teams try to match available aircraft and crew with prioritized routes. The resulting stress is evident in tense exchanges at customer service desks and tearful conversations at gate podiums.
What Travelers Can Do Right Now if Flying Through FLL
For passengers with flights scheduled today or in the coming days through Fort Lauderdale, the most important step is to treat schedules as fluid rather than fixed. Airlines are adjusting departure and arrival times throughout the day, sometimes moving flights by thirty minutes and, in other cases, by several hours. Checking flight status frequently through airline apps or text alerts is critical, and travelers should assume that the information printed on earlier boarding passes may already be out of date.
Arriving early at the airport remains sound advice, particularly at Fort Lauderdale, where security checkpoint wait times have been measured among the longest in the country. Travelers facing tight connections should speak with gate staff as early as possible to explore alternatives; in some cases, airlines can reroute passengers through different hubs or onto partner carriers to preserve onward travel plans.
Those whose flights are canceled entirely will need to navigate a patchwork of airline policies. Some carriers are offering travel waivers that allow ticket changes without change fees, although fare differences may still apply. Others may rebook passengers automatically on the next available flight, which could be later the same day or in some cases the following day, depending on route demand and available seats. Travelers who booked through online travel agencies or third party platforms should be prepared for an extra layer of coordination, as rebooking may require contacting both the airline and the original booking service.
Systemic Pressures on Budget Airlines and Regional Hubs
Today’s disruptions also highlight the mounting pressure on ultra low cost carriers and secondary hubs that have become critical to the way Americans travel. Spirit Airlines, in particular, has been squeezed by rising costs, competitive pressure and a string of operational challenges that have pushed it into repeated restructurings. Analysts note that when an airline runs a lean network with few spare aircraft and tightly packed schedules, even modest turmoil can leave it with limited room to maneuver.
JetBlue, while positioned differently as a hybrid carrier with a stronger focus on customer amenities, is not immune from these dynamics. Its recent expansion at Fort Lauderdale, including new routes competing directly with Spirit to Caribbean and Latin American destinations, has added to the volume of flights funneled through an airport already classified as one of the country’s most disruption prone. The result is a crowded marketplace operating on tight margins of time and capacity.
Meanwhile, Fort Lauderdale’s own trajectory has shifted. After years of rapid growth, the airport has recently seen passenger numbers pull back, particularly on international routes. Nonetheless, daily schedules remain dense, and infrastructure improvements, including runway work and terminal upgrades, have to be undertaken while the airport continues to process tens of thousands of passengers each day. That balancing act leaves limited flexibility when storms, staffing shortages or regulatory actions intersect with peak travel periods.
What This Means for Future Travel Through Fort Lauderdale
The current turmoil is prompting fresh questions about whether Fort Lauderdale can continue to serve as a reliable hub for the region’s booming tourism and cruise industries. Travel advisors and consumer advocates have begun steering some clients toward alternative airports, including Miami International and Palm Beach, especially during high risk periods such as holiday weekends and peak winter storm windows.
Airport leaders point to ongoing investments in runway maintenance, terminal improvements and technology upgrades as key to improving reliability, but those changes will take time to deliver visible benefits to travelers. In the interim, Fort Lauderdale’s track record of delays and cancellations means that savvy passengers are building more buffer into their itineraries, particularly when connecting to cruises or international flights that offer limited rebooking flexibility.
For now, the scene at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on February 8, 2026, serves as another reminder that US air travel remains vulnerable to cascading disruptions. As Spirit Airlines, JetBlue and their competitors work to stabilize today’s operations, passengers across the country will be checking their phones, watching departure boards and hoping that the next announcement from the gate brings clarity rather than another delay.