Handsdown probably the worse airport experience I've had in 30+ years of traveling. It was least expensive to fly here vs FLL and I can see why now. Of course we were staying in Miami Beach so it made more sense beforehand.
Let's start with when we arrived.... the paths to baggage and eventually car Rental was ridiculous....we zigzagged all over the place....poor signage, and broken elevators, escalators, and people movers made the path even more complicated.
Numerous Baggage claim belts were being serviced and forced numerous claims to be overcrowded. If you saw your bag....the people mob was so thick you couldn't get through in time to grab your bag.
Navigating our way to car rental.... first all the elevators were being serviced, there was no alternatives but one escalator the complete opposite end and we n3ver found the elevator that the signs on the broken elevators told you to go! Eventually making it to the correct upper floor and walking the maze....with the people movers in the "Sixt" tunnel also broken....we arrived at ...nope not car rental....but a tram! We had to ride the tram for what seemed to be a tedious amount of time. Finally arriving the only good part was only two people were at Hertz and the counter person was very polite.
Return to the airport....coming in to drop my daughter off....the signs weren't horrible....but they weren't great either. I dropped her off as she had a different flight than mine. I worked on taking the car back but first I needed to fill up....no issues there.
As I returned to the car rental Return the signage becomes ridiculous, vague and non existent. You enter and the only sign tells you a handful of rental companies that weren't mine....no advance warning on where my company may or may not be. Driving ahead a serious and set of companies....still not mine. Finally a third sign tells me that Hertz is on the third floor. Now there's only two lanes and since the first group turned in at the beginning you kind of feel like the right lane is going into level two and the left lane is going to be level three. The lanes are painted and tell you rental Return on the right and rental drop off on the left lane....it's confusing and only after you pick the wrong lane and do it again does it barely make since. Note there is no more signs and the only one you see at this stage is early...so your left making your own decisions!
As you come to the end of the long stretch the road is making a hard right and again no signage so as you stay left you quickly find yourself immediately ascending to level 4 which is now identified ahead of you and way to late. If your highly alert you'll barely catch that level three is out of the right lane but quickly turns abruptly in and under ramp four and also suddenly out of that immediate 90⁰ right turn.
So now you are stuck and you find yourself trapped in a long path going around level four drop-off for apparently people planning to rent cars? The signs don't really tell you a thing and you just have to pick pathways that seem like a hopeful exit. You make it out and your exiting and guess what....not a single sign tells you how to get back.....it literally abandons you and gives you highway options....apparently the airport neglected to realize how they failed to get people to the right places....and I'm sorry....Miami is a place where the inconsiderate drivers and the big mix of nationalities completely drive where ever and however they feel it suits them with no regard to others!
Finding a pause I had to hit my Google maps to navigate me back around to the rental Return. Now thankfully my flight was an hour later than my daughters....otherwise some serious anxiety would be pushing my blood pressure through the roof!
I now having seen the ramp for level three successfully managed to find the third floor....Hertz return entrance is considerably far away and you go around and over half a dozen speed bumps. That nightmare is over....now what.... the entire path to the airport is ridiculous with...
Read moreWhat an awful experience. The government should fine these people for ADA issues. The way they handle wheelchair assistance is the worse I've encountered in the world. That's not hyperbole. We requested wheelchair assistance when we purchased the tickets. When you return a rental car it's almost .25 miles until you get to the train. Then you check your bags then you finally get a wheel chair. The person pushing the chair was nice and dropped us off at our gate. I asked if she could leave the chair since we had a couple of hours before the plane left. She explained she could not. After she left, the plane was delayed and then the gate changed 20 gates down from us. We needed another wheel chair. There was no one at the desk, but there was a wheel chair in the corner. I grabbed it (in most airports an unused chair means it's available). The American Airlines gate attendant came running out and shouting at me about grabbing the chair acting like I was doing something illegal. I explained I needed it for my wife who was dumped and left at this gate and they changed gates. She chastised me and said I should have asked someone. I then turned and asked the empty chairs at the desk if someone can get me a chair. She said I should have found someone at another gate to help. This is a ridiculous way to do things and she said it's not her job but she would call for one even though I was rude. After 20 mins and seeing loads of chairs and handicap carts drive by each one explaining we needed to order one. I finally spoke to a chair person who said he couldn't help me personally, but he did call someone who eventually came. That person helped my wife to the new gate a plopped her into a seat and he left. The flight was delayed and my wife needed to use the restroom so we had to order another wheelchair and wait for someone to respond. She couldn't wait so had to painfully use her walker to the bathroom when I saw a lady with a chair and asked for help. She did and then took her to the front of the line at the gate. The flight was delayed again and she had other people she needed to help so she plopped my wife into a chair and left. A couple hours more go by the flight gets delayed 3 more times I ask the gate attendant how are we supposed to get her in the plane. He said he would order a chair when we board. My wife needed to use the restroom again because we had now been there for 7 hours so I firmly asked for another chair so she could use the restroom. Eventually someone came but by then it was actually time to board over 8.5 hours later than the original flight so they put her onboard where she had to take herself to the restroom on board and fight through a crowd of very tired people to get back to her seat! Other airports allow you to use a wheelchair the entire time you need it. I didn't need someone to push it. It's so illogical because paying all the people to push chairs cost more than the chairs. You need more chairs! We saw other people who were having the same problem. This is a deplorable way to treat your less than abled-bodied passengers and you should be ashamed of the lack of caring...
Read moreI flew into Miami international from Dallas fort worth international on March 2, 2025 to board a carnival cruise vacation the same day. As part of my luggage I also had to bring my medical equipment a home oxygen concentrator that was approved by American Airlines and tsa for my flight to Miami. I picked all my luggage and medical equipment up at baggage claim with no problem at Miami international upon arrival. As my wife and I unpacked on the cruise ship I notice a brochure from tsa stating that they had screened the luggage cart that I properly packaged (bubble wrapped) per American airlines that my oxygen concentrator held. Ok that was fine and dandy we were told that would take place. I proceeded to unpack my machine and plug it up to check for possible damages. No damage. Great. My wife and I enjoy a 7 day carribean cruise for her 50th birthday. We return to Miami from the cruise March 10th where we spend the night at a hotel near downtown. We check out our room March 11th return our rental car and arrive at Miami international 3hrs before our flight. We checked in our luggage and my medical equipment (oxygen concentrator) at the ticket booth and wait for wheelchair assistance. Wheelchair assistance arrives we proceed to tsa precheck to be processed. We get through and proceed to our terminal to depart. My wife and I wait approximately 2 hours before we leave for dallas tx dfw. We arrive at dfw Airport at 10:45pm cst. Proceed to baggage claim to pickup our luggage. We get to baggage claim and claim all 4 checked bags only to find that one bag is suspiciously light in weight. We proceed to open the luggage cart to find 2 Tsa cards 1 saying that they had opened it and screened it and the other card stated hazardous material for the reason they removed my oxygen concentrator without any prior notification. So I'm back home now in dallas tx with no home oxygen unit which I have to have around the clock due to my condition (alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency). My wife called the number instructed on the tsa card to only be told by the lady at tsa at miami international that there were no supervisors available and she was about to get off work and to call back tomorrow after explaining the necessity and importance to my quality of life that my oxygen concentrator is. I only have a 4 hour maybe 5 hour oxygen cylinder at home to get me through the night. I'm scared my health will start declining if my machine isn't returned in the next 24 hours. Please I beg anyone with essential and necessary medical equipment PLEASE do not travel through Miami international airport it could possibly turn into a situation of life and death. Due to laziness disregard of one's health and just pure incompetence in regards to this particular tsa division at this airport. A simple Google of my medical equipment would have informed the agency that it has no hazardous materials or batteries. It's clearly a...
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